Drummer Nicko McBrain would love to record with Iron Maiden again, but after suffering a mini-stroke, he admits his parts would have to be “simple” to play.
The 74‑year‑old sticksman stepped back from touring with the Run to the Hills hitmakers in 2024, ending more than four decades on the road.
He was hospitalised in 2023 after suffering a stroke and feared he might never drum again.
Despite not being behind the kit for the heavy metal legends anymore, Nicko hasn’t ruled out laying down some drum parts for Bruce Dickinson and co, though he admits they’d have to adapt for him to be able to pull it off.
He told Metal Hammer magazine: “If Iron Maiden went into the studio, I’d be delighted to get back on with them.
“But it’d have to be something more simple really.”
He suggested anything like Stranger In A Strange Land or Wasted Years would be easy enough.
Nicko previously spoke to Rock Of Nations With Dave Kinchen and Shane McEachern about his decision to retire from touring with Iron Maiden after 42 years, admitting he thought he would have to jack it in a lot sooner.
He said: “To be very, very honest with you, when we made the Senjutsu record back in 2018, 2019, I thought then I would do the tour of that album and then I’d probably hang it up. And then knowing that the ‘Run For Your [Lives’ tour was coming up] – at the time we didn’t know that that was the name of the tour, but I knew that in 2025 it would be the 50th anniversary [of the band]. And I thought, ‘Well, I’ll come out of retirement for that, if they want me.’ Because we hadn’t planned on [the] Legacy Of The Beast or The Future Past [tours at that point]. It was all Senjutsu, and that was gonna be over a two-year world tour, and I thought that that would do for me. So I had it in my mind that I would probably retire after that tour.
“But then, of course, we know what happened – the wonderful, great pandemic hit and ruined all the best-laid plans of a lot of businesses and people, personally as well as bands going out on tour. So that kind of put the spanner in that works. And it was decided that we would do the ‘Legacy’ tour and not a Senjutsu album tour. It was gonna be like a mix of all kinds of stuff. Anyway, we did that, and then I had my stroke in ’23. But there was the end of the Legacy [tour] and then The Future Past tour came along. So, the guys let me go with it and they carried me on their shoulders, which is phenomenal. I’m so eternally grateful to each and every one of ’em for that, and our management team.”
Nicko said he never wrestled with the choice, explaining that it wasn’t a moment of, “Did I make the right decision?” because he’d already been thinking about stepping back as early as 2019. He
only “brushed upon it” with founding member Steve Harris, noting that the two never went into it in any real depth.
He admitted that walking away after after such a long tenure was still a major call, describing it as “a difficult decision,” but one he’d quietly prepared himself for long before it became public. His stroke ultimately “put the cherry on it,” making him feel it wouldn’t be fair to keep pushing on and helping him accept that the time had come.