Nicko McBrain
Birth name Michael Henry McBrain
Born 5 June 1952
Hackney, London, England
Genres Heavy metal, blues rock, hard rock
Occupation(s) Musician, songwriter
Instruments Drums, percussion
Michael Henry “Nicko” McBrain (born 5 June 1952 in Hackney, London) is an English musician, best known as the drummer of the British heavy metal band Iron Maiden, which he joined in 1982.
Having played in small pub bands from the age of 14, upon leaving school McBrain paid his bills with session work before he joined a variety of artists, such as Streetwalkers, Pat Travers, and the French political band, Trust. He joined Iron Maiden in time to debut on their fourth album, Piece of Mind (1983), and has remained with them since, contributing to a total of thirteen studio releases.
McBrain first wanted to learn the drums at a young age after watching Joe Morello performing with The Dave Brubeck Quartet on television. At the age of ten, he started to play drums with pots, pans and other kitchen utensils, before, to his parents’ dismay, he began drumming on the gas cooker with a pair of knives and chipped off the paintwork. McBrain recalls that he was eleven or twelve before his father bought him his first drum kit, “which was basically one snare, one tom-tom, one cymbal, two drumsticks and a pair of brushes.”[2] He soon started playing Rolling Stones and Beatles covers with school bands, before he began regularly playing “pubs and weddings” by the age of 14.
Although he obtained a degree in engineering at Southgate Technical College at his parents’ request, upon finishing his education, McBrain paid his rent by undertaking session work, before deciding to join his first “proper” band, “The 18th Fairfield Walk”, later known as “Peyton Bond”. A small pub band, which he decided was “never gonna go anywhere” as they only performed Otis Redding, The Beatles and The Who covers, McBrain soon left to join “The Wells Street Blues Band”, which renamed themselves “The Axe” in 1969. Although this group would play their own material, the band split up after an argument between the singer and the guitarist, and McBrain began playing with Billy Day, a singer and keyboardist, and Michael “Mickey” Lesley, a guitarist, in 1971. At that point, he was known as “Nicky”, a nickname given to him by his parents after his teddy bear, Nicholas,[1] until an intoxicated Billy Day introduced him to Dick Asher, head of CBS Records, as “Neeko”, while they were recording at CBS Studios, Whitfield Street. McBrain liked the name, changing it to Nicko “so that it sounded more English”, and decided to keep it even after leaving the group.
In 1975, he began playing with Streetwalkers, before joining Pat Travers, singer Jenny Darren and then the French band, Trust, with whom he met Iron Maiden for the first time, while touring together in 1981. In 1982, the band asked McBrain to replace their previous drummer, Clive Burr, and, as news of Burr’s departure had not yet been announced, made his first appearance with Iron Maiden on German TV disguised as Eddie.[10] He formed a close partnership with bassist, Steve Harris,[10] and completed what many critics consider the band’s “definitive” line-up, releasing a series of gold and platinum selling albums throughout the 1980s.
Although the band’s line-up changed during the 1990s, McBrain remained in Iron Maiden and, since the return of Adrian Smith and Bruce Dickinson in 1999, the group has undergone a resurgence in popularity, and are now considered by some as “bigger than ever”.
Although he writes the drum parts for all the band’s songs, McBrain registered his first and only album songwriting credit for “New Frontier”, from 2003’s Dance of Death,[15] which expresses his opposition to human cloning, arising from his religious beliefs.[16] However, McBrain had received two previous songwriting credits for non-album tracks: 1984’s “Mission From ‘Arry”, which was actually a recording of a backstage argument with Steve Harris, and 1992’s “Nodding Donkey Blues”, which were B-sides of the singles “2 Minutes to Midnight” and “Be Quick or Be Dead”, respectively.
Personal life
McBrain is married to Rebecca McBrain (nee Dempsy) and has two sons: Nicholas (born 1983) and Justin (born 1992). He lives in Boca Raton, Florida.
McBrain converted to Christianity in 1999 after an experience in the Spanish River Church, near his Boca Raton home. His wife, Rebecca, had been asking him to attend with her, and upon entering the church, McBrain soon found himself crying as he experienced a “calling”. Recounting the tale, he said “I just sat there thinking, ‘I didn’t drink last night… why can’t I stand?’ I had this love affair with Jesus going on in my heart.”
In 1988, McBrain appeared as a guest on the The Sooty Show, in which he played drums with Sooty and Sweep. In reference to his appearance on the show, McBrain’s drum kit has since been decorated with a Sooty puppet, which is often dressed accordingly with the band’s corresponding tours.
McBrain has a pilot’s licence, for which he has a twin engine rating.
In 2009 he opened a restaurant called Rock ‘N’ Roll Ribs in Coral Springs, Florida.[46] The restaurant received positive reviews on an episode of Check, Please! South Florida[47] and was awarded “Best Ribs of 2012” by New Times Broward-Palm Beach.
McBrain is a fan of snooker and has attended the World Snooker Championships at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield. He also enjoys playing golf in his spare time, along with his band mate Dave Murray, and is a friend of Swedish golfer and Florida resident Jesper Parnevik, whom he met at Ullna Golf Club in Sweden. Since he is a lifelong enthusiast of Jaguar Cars, the manufacturer built a custom XKR-S model to McBrain’s specifications in 2012.
Discography
Streetwalkers
Downtown Flyers (1975)
Red Card (1976)
Pat Travers
Makin’ Magic (1977)
Putting It Straight (1977)
Trust
Marche ou Crève (Original French Release)/Savage (English Language Version) (1981)
WhoCares
“Out of My Mind” (2011)
Solo
Rhythms of the Beast (instructional drum video) (1991)
Iron Maiden
Main article: Iron Maiden discography
Piece of Mind (1983)
Powerslave (1984)
Somewhere in Time (1986)
Seventh Son of a Seventh Son (1988)
No Prayer for the Dying (1990)
Fear of the Dark (1992)
The X Factor (1995)
Virtual XI (1998)
Brave New World (2000)
Dance of Death (2003)
A Matter of Life and Death (2006)
The Final Frontier (2010)
The Book of Souls (2015)