Nicko McBrain’s Hand Injury Changed His Approach to Drumming
Iron Maiden drummer Nicko McBrain revealed that a hand injury he sustained two years ago forced him to change his approach to playing, but he insisted his band was performing with more “passion” than ever.
In a recent interview with Kaaos TV, McBrain discussed how he prepared for a tour. “It's about four weeks of going through the songs, then I'll play a little bit," he said. "I have to get this [left] hand working. I've got a pulled ligament in my wrist, which I got two years when we started the last tour. So, I can't just, like I was when I was younger, go out cold. I have to warm myself up because I’m an old git. Your body starts changing, but the thing is with Maiden, we all still really, really have a passion to play live."
You can watch the video interview below.
Addressing a follow-up question about the band’s future, McBrain said Iron Maiden have got "a lot of life left in us." "We've not ever, that I can recall – unless anyone else in the band has without a band gathering – decided whether or not we want to carry on," he said. "We just carry on. I've always made it clear to Steve [Harris] and the guys that if I can't drive the band physically, then I'd step down.”
McBrain Insisted he was nowhere near that. “It's so important that the band carries on and plays as much as we want because we have the passion," he explained. "If it came as a chore, and I'll quote Jan [Gers], if we ever became a parody of ourselves, that would be the time to hang it up. The thing is, we're not.”
Maiden recently launched their Legacy of the Beast tour, inspired in part by the video game of the same name. “We've got a lot of production, more so than we normally have,” McBrain said. “Lots of effects, lots of special staging. … We dusted down some of the old songs and we fit the production in with these three different realms which are within the game Legacy of the Beast. Of course, you've got all of the Eddies. There's a lot of Eddies going on there. There's a lot of fireworks, a lot of wonderful effects. Bruce [Dickinson] has staged some wonderful theatrics. But for us, as a band, it gives us an opportunity to play some of the older stuff we haven't played in a long time.”
The European leg of the tour runs until Aug. 11.