Mcbrain, Nicko
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Real Name/Full Name: Michael Henry Mcbrain
Born On: June 5 1952
Genres: Rock
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Mcbrain, Nicko Biography
With a character like Nicko, you never forget the first time you meet him! We were playing our first ever show abroad in Belgium and he was playing in a band called McKitty when I first saw him. He was sitting outside a caf�, dressed in a white suit, panama hat and winklepicker shoes. I thought he was a pimp or something from the way he was dressed! Larger than life, as he always has been and always will be, he had obviously had a couple of drinks and was chatting off, and I thought, �Wow, who is this character?� It was quite an amazing experience to meet him and it still is really, he�s just a whirlwind. I suppose he�s calmed down a little bit over the years, but not a lot - but you wouldn�t really want him to.
He was with Trust when they supported us in �82 and we thought he was a fantastic drummer, so when Clive left the band, we approached Nick and asked if he�d like to try out and it worked fantastically.
It�s hard to describe what he�s like if you haven�t met him. I know people see him on the videos and that, and they think he�s crazy - and he is! But there�s a lot more to him than that. He flies planes and does all sorts of other things. He�s a more complex guy than you might think. He�s just really good fun to have around. I�m a bit on the shy side, so when we go out to meet people, I usually take him with me, because he�s a laugh and he�s got so much verbal, he takes the pressure off me. I just have to stand smiling in the background!
He is without a doubt the entertainer of the band. I really do think he could be a stand-up comedian if he wanted to. He half does that when he does his drum clinics. He tells these little stories and comes out with all these jokes. Often they�re in Spain or Italy or somewhere like that, and half the time, I�m sure the audience don�t really understand him, but he�s laughing at his own jokes anyway, so they laugh along with him! It really is a sight to behold, so I would recommend anyone to see his drum clinics, whether they�re into drums or not.
Technically, he�s a great drummer and he can play all kinds of music. Drummers from other bands sit round the back of him to see what he�s doing, but he�s got his kit set so he doesn�t even look at what he�s hitting half the time. He just puts his head down and plays.
He�s got his first songwriting credit with Maiden on �Dance Of Death� with �New Frontier�. About time � he�s only been in the band 20 years! But the first one is probably the hardest to bring in to the other band members, especially when you�ve been in the band so long, and he�s up and running now, so I think it will give him the confidence to write stuff in future. Any variation in writing is a good thing and everyone is encouraged to write in this band; the only criteria is that it�s got to be bloody good!
ironmaiden.com
Michael Henry McBrain (born June 5, 1952 in Hackney, London, England) is the drummer for heavy metal band Iron Maiden. The nickname "Nicko" is from Michael�s childhood, where his favourite stuffed animal was named �Nicholas the bear� � which he apparently carried everywhere. Due to this, his parents called him �Nicky�. �Nicko� was spawned when Michael was meeting a manager from CBS Records, with the keyboard player Billy Day. Billy introduced him as �My Italian drummer � His name�s �Neeko��. Michael liked the moniker, so he decided to use it as a stage name, having first adapted the spelling slightly.
In the 1970s, he appeared on some Pat Travers albums, and also played for Streetwalkers from 1975 to 1976; he also appeared in the band McKitty in the early 1980s. It was during a McKitty gig in Belgium that he first met Iron Maiden bassist Steve Harris. He joined Iron Maiden in 1983 for the Piece of Mind album, replacing Clive Burr, after his previous band Trust had supported Iron Maiden on the road during 1982. He has been with Iron Maiden ever since.
He has been cited as a major influence of many modern drummers over a wide range of styles, and often holds drum clinics for fans and would-be drummers alike.
Strangely, unlike most heavy metal drummers, McBrain has refused to use a double bass drum pedal, since he considers it to be "too complicated", and "un-drummerish". Instead, he has developed an incredibly fast technique on the single bass drum pedal, following Steve Harris' gallops with no problem whatsoever. The first (and last) song Nicko McBrain recorded using a double bass drum was "Face in the Sand," on the Dance of Death album, 2003. He subsequently announced that it had been one of the hardest things he had ever had to play and that, for that reason, the number would not be included in the set list of the Dance of Death World Tour. On this album Nicko McBrain also contributed, for the first time in Iron Maiden history, to the songwriting, writing the bass line for the song "New Frontier."
He has filmed several short videos for Iron Maiden fans on the band's official website and keeps a diary of the band's latest tours. These diaries reveal his endearing, wacky sense of humour and also his immense affection for his fans - often referred to as "Boys and Girls" or "Kids", told to "take care" and wished "God bless".
Nicko converted to Christianity in 1999 after an experience in the Spanish River Church, near his Boca Raton, Florida home. His wife Rebecca, a Christian, had been praying for him, and on entering the Church Nicko 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."
Outside of Iron Maiden, Nicko is a keen golfer and continues to play live during Maiden downtime both in his drum clinics and his McBrain Damage band.
Nicko McBrain uses Premier drums and Paiste cymbals. The long-time endorser of Sonor drums switched brands in the late 1990s. For the A Matter of Life and Death album, he brought his "beast" snare drum "out of retirement", it was purchased in 1975, making it the oldest drum in his kit.
He recently formed a side project band called 7x70 with Dan Spitz of Anthrax and Vanilla Ice.
McBrain currently manages the New York metal quartet Voices of Extreme (or V.O.X).
| Artist | Mcbrain, Nicko + |
| Artist Type | Musician + |
| Bd | June 5 1952 + |
| Birth Date | 5 June 1952 + |
| Genre | Rock + |
| Member Of | Travers, Pat +, Streetwalkers +, Trust +, Iron Maiden +, Entire Population Of Hackney, The +, and 7X70 + |
| Page Type | Main Info Page + |
| RID | 1,799,670 + |
