Legendary Iron Maiden drummer Nicko McBrain has opened up on the effects that the stroke he suffered last year have had on his playing ability with the band. Speaking at the Piper's Pub venue in Pompano Beach, Florida on Friday (July 19) during a show with his side project Titanium Tart (see what he did there?), Nicko described the serious medical emergency as "touch and go". "Strokes aren't fun," he continued (as transcribed by Blabbermouth). "Some people get really bad reactions to 'em, like [they become] paralyzed, they can't speak, they can't walk and do whatnot. I couldn't play — I was paralyzed on the right side. Fortunately, the Boca Raton Regional Hospital had this incredible OT [occupational therapy] section, and there's a girl called Julie Blum that looked after me, and in three months, she had me playing again. And it ain't the old Nicko, it's not the old one by a long shot, but at least it's part of me. And my band, bless their hearts, Steve Harris and the rest of the guys turn around and say, 'If you can't do something in a song, we just won't do that song.'
"When we were rehearsing last year for The Future Past Tour, we were doing Caught Somewhere In Time to open," he explained. "Now there's a middle section, it's all snare drum on the record. I can't play it. As you probably noticed, those of you nerds that are in the audience that go, 'He didn't do the drum fill.' Well, that's why, 'cause I fucking can't do it. So anyway, Steve turned around to me and I said, 'Okay, I've got an idea. if I do the double on the snare,' and I played it for him and he went, 'No. Have you got anything else?' I went, 'Yeah I'll play it on the cymbal.' 'No. You got anything else?' 'That's me spent, mate.' So he turned around and he thought about for about half a minute. He's standing in front of my drum set and he's going, 'Why don't you play it straight?' I went, 'What?' 'Play a straight fill through it. Go ahead.' I went, 'You're a fucking genius, Harry.' And there's me, the drummer, supposedly, [I'm] supposed to come up with all these ideas, and there's Harry: 'Play it straight, Nick.' I didn't even think of that. And so we rehearsed it from thereon in, and we play it straight, which I'm sure 90 percent of you don't give a fuck about that bit anyway."
Later this year, Iron Maiden will resume their Future Past world tour via shows in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, the USA, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Argentina.
