In a new interview with Rock Of Nations With Dave Kinchen & Shane McEachern, longtime IRON MAIDEN drummer Nicko McBrain once again opened up about his decision to retire from touring with the band. The now-73-year-old British musician, whose real name is Michael Henry McBrain, announced his retirement on December 7, 2024 in a statement on MAIDEN’s web site and social media. He also said that night’s concert at Allianz Parque in São Paulo, Brazil would mark his final show with the legendary rock band.
Asked if walking away from MAIDEN was a hard decision for him to make, Nicko revealed (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “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 continued: “It wasn’t one of those decisions where I was, like, ‘Ah, did I make the right decision?’ I knew back in 2019 that I was planning on hanging it up. And I’d made rumors to the guys — I’d spoken to Davy [MAIDEN guitarist Dave Murray] about it back then, and I hadn’t really mentioned it to Steve [Harris, IRON MAIDEN bassist]. I’s kind of brushed upon it, but it wasn’t talked about in depth.
“So, yeah, it was hard,” he added. “Any time you’ve been in a band or working for someone for 42 years, it’s a difficult decision. But it was made easier for me because I had it in my mind earlier on anyway, and having the stroke kind of put the cherry on it and I thought, ‘This isn’t fair for the rest of the guys.’ And so that, that helped it out immensely.”
Nicko was also asked about recent rumors that Murray was contemplating retirement from MAIDEN. The drummer said: “Well, yeah. We’ve all been away from our families, and David’s family expanded, and Tasha, his daughter, had a little baby, baby boy, I believe. And he’s a granddad. And he’s ensconced himself in Maui with his wife, Tamar. And I talk to him about longevity and stuff and how physically demanding it is for us playing our kind of music — I think for anybody at our age playing any kind of music [is demanding], to be honest. [Laughs] Some are a little easier than others. I mean, we are high octane, from start to finish.”
Nicko continued: “So, I would probably say that, in my opinion, I think that this is not likely to be the end, but I think if they do go carry on — I know 2027 is a year off for ’em, and that’s okay. That’s all great. That’s like sitting back for a year and going, ‘Oh, breathing time. Back to family.’ But that’s another year older. I mean, Harry [Steve Harris] will be 71. That’s okay. I mean, I was 72 [after] I had my stroke … so age catches everybody up. Father time, he’s gonna get you in the end. I just think with Davey, he’s got more reason to wanna be at home, perhaps. I haven’t spoken to him in a couple of years about ideas of retiring. … But, yeah, everybody’s got their own thoughts about that, and I can’t really speak for anybody else. But I made my decision, and I’ve been happy about that. I do miss being on stage, looking out and seeing our wonderful fans that we have around the world. I miss that. I miss my little walks with Janick [Gers, MAIDEN guitarist] or on my own and meeting in a coffee shop during our days off or days of the show. I do miss that. I don’t miss the travel and living out of a suitcase. That I do not [miss].”
McBrain also talked about the possibility of MAIDEN making another studio album and the likelihood of him appearing on it. Nicko said: “Watch this space. That’s a question mark. And I can’t answer it, because I don’t know. I did speak to Bruce [Dickinson, MAIDEN singer] — in December I [appeared at] a Monsterpalooza [convention] with him in California. And I said to him, ‘Do you wanna do another record?’ ‘What do you think”, he said, ’cause he is the baby of the band. He’s got that baby gene in him. Look, he’s just been in a studio and finished a new album, solo album, after ‘The Mandrake Project’. But he said he wanted to do one, but he didn’t know if anybody else wanted to. So that could change. That was three months ago. They obviously still talk to one another, and I don’t see why not. And if they do, I would be delighted to go in and do a couple of tracks. I don’t think I would do the whole album because [of] my handicap [following my stroke].”
Last October, Nicko told Jason Green of Waste Some Time With Jason Green that his health issues, including the partial paralysis he experienced when he suffered a stroke more than three years ago, contributed to his decision to stop touring with MAIDEN.
“I had a stroke in ’23, in January, January the 19th, to be exact,” he said. “And it left my right side paralyzed down to the waist and just slightly below. I couldn’t move my leg very well. Anyway, it left me with a handicap of not being able to play fast single-stroke rolls, 16th notes, 32nd notes, a tempo like that, and then on from there. You need two hands to do that kind of speed, and [my right arm] just didn’t work [the same way] anymore. So, we used to have to change the drum fills on various songs over the last two tours, the ‘Legacy Of The Beast’ tour part two, and then ‘Future Past’. But going forward, there were songs on this new set that I knew I would have difficulty playing, and we wouldn’t wanna change them, like the parts we changed, say, in ‘Trooper’, for instance; I didn’t play the big drum fills anymore. So, we agreed. I had a big conversation with Steve and I told him, ‘Look, I’m finding it very difficult with all the traveling and the recuperating time.’ We didn’t have days off, so to speak. And he said, ‘Okay, I get it. And maybe it’s best.’ And so it was more of 80 percent me, 20 percent in agreement with the rest of the guys to hang it up. And that’s why I retired.”
Last September, Harris told Rock Candy magazine editor Howard Johnson about MAIDEN’s first lineup change in 25 years: “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 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 percent 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 [in 2024] 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.”
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 Murray.