McBrain, Nicko (UK)

Nicko McBrain is more famous than any drummer has a right to be, with a style as punchy and distinctive as his battered, lived-in face. He enjoys the rare distinction of being both the jester in the Iron Maiden pack and the ace.

“I can't think of any other drummer that would have fitted in so perfectly,” says Steve Harris. “Nick plays the drums the way most guitarists play their guitars, riffing right along with you, note for note. I’ve never known anything like it! He doesn’t just hold the beat, he drives the whole thing along, and as the bass player having to keep up with him every night, that’s great for me. It means none of us is ever allowed to give less than 100 per cent.”

Ask Nicko himself and you get a more modest take. “Every drummer worth his salt has his own unique way of doing things,” he says. “I just do what I do and, luckily for me, what I do sounds great in Iron Maiden.”

Nicko joined the band in 1983 in time to record Piece Of Mind, still regarded by many as one of Maiden’s greatest albums. It’s impossible now to imagine what classics like ‘Where Eagles Dare’, ‘2 Minutes To Midnight’, ‘Can I Play With Madness’, ‘Be Quick Or Be Dead’ or ‘Man On The Edge’ would sound like without Nicko’s full-spectrum drums thundering behind them.

Live on stage is where Nicko’s larger-than-life presence has really been felt. Clive Burr, his predecessor, was a fine drummer too, and an argument could be had over which of the two was technically better. For most of us, Nicko wins hands down. But there’s never been any doubt about who was the more entertaining stage personality. The Mad McBrain, as he’s known to fans, is almost as freaky on stage as Maiden’s mascot Eddie, leaping shirtless from his drum stool to lead the cheers.

Off stage, he once described himself as “Mr Excess All-Areas”. On a flight to a record company party in Germany for the Seventh Son of a Seventh Son album we sat in First Class, and Nick had already charmed the stewardesses into giving us a jug of Bucks Fizz before takeoff. He then handed out signed black-and-white photos of himself on stage with Maiden. By the time we landed, every tired-looking business passenger had heard of Iron Maiden.

“I’m a born entertainer, me,” Nicko laughed, and we all laughed with him because we knew it was true. Behind this laugh-a-minute façade there’s a real person. Michael Henry McBrain was born in Hackney, East London, on June 5, 1952. As a child he was nicknamed ‘Nicky’ after his favourite teddy bear Nicholas The Bear. His first musical experience came from his father’s love of trad-jazz, and young Nicky’s hero was Joe Morello of the Dave Brubeck jazz band.

“I used to pretend I was Joe Morello hitting the tubs. I'd go into the kitchen and pick up a pair of knives and start hitting the gas cooker.” Fed up with his antics, his parents bought him his first proper drum kit when he was 12. “Most kids wanted a bicycle, but all I wanted was drums. When my mum and dad finally got me one it was like all my birthdays and Christmas rolled into one!”

He says he seemed able to play “almost straight away — I don’t know how, I just could.” By 15 he was a veteran of several part-time pub bands. His tastes broadened to include contemporary Sixties sounds, and his dad’s jazz collection became infiltrated by The Shadows, The Animals, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. On the recommendation of another drummer he began landing session work on countless recordings, from pop albums to rock."

His first proper band was The 18th Fairfield Walk, doing Otis Redding and Beatles covers. Then he joined the Wells Street Blues Band, a purist blues group. Nicko played gigs with names now barely remembered, but real progress came in 1975 when he joined Streetwalkers, formed by ex-Family members Roger Chapman and Charlie Whitney."

Although Streetwalkers never broke out, Nicko kept busy with session work, most memorably with the Pat Travers Band and the French punk-metal group Trust, who supported Maiden on tour in the UK in 1981."

Steve Harris remembered him from earlier when Nicko played in a trio called McKitty, who shared the bill with Maiden at a Belgium open-air festival. “I remember McKitty’s guitar got messed up halfway through the set and Nick ended up doing this sort of solo jam thing. And he was just amazing! Then when Clive left, Nick was one of the first people I thought of.”

Of course nobody — not even Nicko — is perfect, and he admits he has his “funny moods,” as he calls them, from Mr Party All Night to Mr Grumpy. “But that’s just the way it is. Maybe I need to do that sometimes to get psyched up for a gig. Believe me, the way I play — the way this whole band plays — you better be psyched up for it, otherwise you’ll get left behind!”