IRON MAIDEN’s BRUCE DICKINSON TALKS REHEARSING WITH NEW DRUMMER SIMON DAWSON – “IT WAS LIKE HAVING CLIVE BURR BACK IN THE BAND, HE'S GOT THAT FEELING"

Iron Maiden are gearing up for a milestone in their storied career with the “Run For Your Lives” world tour. Kicking off in May in Hungary, the trek will traverse Europe, with announced dates running through August. This tour will be the band’s first with new drummer, Simon Dawson, in place of recently retired Nicko McBrain. Dawson previously played with Steve Harris in his other band, British Lion.

Iron Maiden frontman, Bruce Dickinson, took part in the Musicians Institute’s MI Conversation Series on Monday (April 21) in Hollywood, CA. Video, as well as photos from Musicians Institute, can be found below.

During the conversation, Dickinson was asked by host Ryan J. Downey if the band have started rehearsing with Simon Dawson for the upcoming tour, to which he replied, “We’ve already had a rehearsal with Simon, on the last tour. We had… Simon was tagging along with British Lion, as Steve was doing shows. But it was kind of insurance for us because we weren’t sure – we were hoping Nick [Nicko McBrain] was gonna make the tour, but there were some times during the show when, not so much his drumming, but his physical body was really – you know, we were worried. We were, like, ‘We do not want to end up with Nick in hospital, and we do need to have a backup.’ And Simon was suggested by Steve, and we all went, ‘Yeah, but how do we know it’s gonna work?’

“So we said to Nick, ‘Look, in the middle of the tour, we’ve got a couple of days in Portland, Oregon. We’re gonna rent a rehearsal place and we’re gonna just give Simon a go, just to see if it works, just in case.’ So we did. And a couple of us were, like, ‘I don’t know how this is gonna be, but hey.’ And honestly, I was pleasantly shocked. I was, like, ‘Wow.’ We went through the whole set without a break. And this guy had not rehearsed with anybody. He just, like, turned up with Maiden. We went through the entire set of the tour that we were on at the time, and it was all there. I thought, ‘My God, we could do a show tonight if we had to. That’s unreal.’

“And the incredible thing was, with Simon, which obviously when it was suggested, after Nicko decided to retire, or retire from live playing, that Simon should take over, and there were other drummers that people thought were kind of in the frame. And one of the reasons that we didn’t pick those other type of drummers was because, although they were very good drummers, nothing wrong with their drumming, they all wanted to sound like Nick. And you can’t replace Nicko. You shouldn’t even try to replace him. You don’t want a Nicko clone. You want a drummer that plays the material but plays kind of their own style. And if I’m honest, if I closed my eyes at moments during that rehearsal, it was like having [late Iron Maiden drummer] Clive Burr back in the band, ’cause he’s got that feel.”