In a new interview with Metal Hammer España, IRON MAIDEN guitarist Adrian Smith shared his views on the December 2024 departure of drummer Nicko McBrain, MAIDEN’s first lineup change in 25 years. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): ”I think the MAIDEN drumming gig is one of the toughest, for sure. It’s very, very physical. And Nick, he had this stroke… He had a sort of a — not a full recovery. And that, unfortunately, really affected his playing. But thank God he’s doing okay now. But, yeah, it’s a serious thing. And this is life. And let’s face it, we’re not kids anymore.”
Adrian continued: “It was very difficult. Very difficult. I mean, he tried the tour before last we did, Nick did his best [to keep playing with MAIDEN], but he knew himself that he couldn’t do what he used to do. So, we had to make the change for the band to continue. And it was heartbreaking, really. Nick was such a big — and he still is, really — a big part of the band, and he always will be. He just had a massive presence. And people love him. We all love him. And he’s an incredible drummer.”
Last October, Smith told Germany’s Metal Hammer about Nicko’s December 2024 announcement that he was retiring from touring with MAIDEN and Simon Dawson’s addition as McBrain’s replacement: ”Yeah, it was never gonna be the same. Obviously, Nick was a massive part. He’s a big personality. It would never be the same. But it was unfortunate. He had a stroke and physically there’s nothing he could do about it, really. He tried — we all tried to help him.”
He continued: “I think the MAIDEN drumming gig is one of the hardest, physically. For two hours live you’ve gotta be really, really on the front foot. And, yeah, he did great to get through those [last couple of] tours, and it was quite amazing — a tribute to him, really. And he was incredible over the years. A lot of people loved him. Well, we all loved him — Well, we still do. [Laughs] And he’ll always be a part of the band, even now. So [it was] very sad. Simon’s come in, and he knows Nick was a massive part of it. But Nick gave him his blessing and wished him luck. He said to me — I still talk to Nick — he said, ‘Good luck for the tour’ and everything. ‘Cause he still wants the band to do well because he still feels like he’s a bit of a part of it, and he is, really. But it’s nice to keep the music alive. It’s bigger than all of us, really, I think, is to get out there and keep that thing, whatever it is, out there and going.”
In September 2025, IRON MAIDEN bassist Steve Harris told Rock Candy magazine about McBrain’s exit from the band: “To be honest, we didn’t really have a choice and had to make the change after Nicko suffered his health issues. It was what it was, and we had a decision to make as to whether we wanted to carry on or not. Obviously we had a tour booked at the time that it happened, and the rest of us all wanted to continue. But ultimately, after we got through all that, it was Nick’s decision to step away and we all respected the fact that he’d decided to do that.”
McBrain announced his retirement on December 7, 2024 in a statement on MAIDEN’s web site and social media. The now-73-year-old musician also said that night’s concert at Allianz Parque in São Paulo, Brazil would mark his final show with the legendary rock band. He has since been replaced by Simon Dawson, a former session drummer and Harris’s longtime bandmate in BRITISH LION.
In July 2025, Nicko told “Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk” about his exit from MAIDEN: “I had my health issues, which was one of the primary reasons that I decided to hang it up with the guys. And I wasn’t doing the songs justice because of the handicap that I had. And it wasn’t fair on everybody else either in the band. They supported me 100% through the ‘The Future Past Tour’, and that was fantastic. I couldn’t have asked for a better bunch of brothers to support me through my darkest hour.”
Elaborating on the physical ailments which contributed to his decision to retire from touring with IRON MAIDEN, Nicko said: “Primarily, I was fed up with touring in terms of the travel and not having days to recoup my body… I wasn’t so much slowing down, although we did play the songs that… I got told off at rehearsals last year because I was playing the songs too fast, ’cause I’d been playing with [my Florida-based side project] TITANIUM TART [which plays MAIDEN songs] before I went off and did the rehearsals in Australia with MAIDEN. And I actually got told off for playing too quick. So it wasn’t a question of not being able to drive the band. It was just not being able to drive the band with the drum fills that I’d been used to playing for 42 years. So the question mark was raised about the performance side. And that’s quite right…So that was part of the decision that I made.”
In January 2023, Nicko was at his home in Boca Raton when he suffered a stroke with partial paralysis.
When Nicko first went public with his stroke in August 2023, the drummer said in a statement that the episode left him “paralyzed” down one side of his body and “worried” that his career with the band was over.
Six years ago, McBrain was diagnosed with stage 1 laryngeal cancer and opened up about it in a single interview in 2021 but otherwise kept it mostly under wraps.
McBrain officially joined IRON MAIDEN in December 1982 for the 1983 “Piece Of Mind” album and tour, replacing Clive Burr, after McBrain’s previous band TRUST had supported IRON MAIDEN during the U.K. leg of the “Killers” tour in 1981. McBrain brought a degree of finesse and technicality that was largely missing from IRON MAIDEN’s early output. Whereas Burr was often lauded for his heavy-handed, punk-oriented style, McBrain was largely the opposite, playing with a degree of dexterity and flair that helped primary songwriter Harris take MAIDEN down more adventurous paths. He eventually became the third longest-tenured member of MAIDEN, behind Harris and guitarist Dave Murray.
Photo credit: John McMurtrie