IRON MAIDEN drummer Nicko McBrain spoke with Mark Morton from Examiner.com about a number of topics including about Flight 666, the dangers of golf, pizza etiquette, and Anvil. Here are a few excerpts from the chat:

Examiner.com: Was there an extensive group discussion about participating in this movie, or was it an executive decision from Rod Smallwood (manager) saying that you had to do it?

McBrain: "No, no, no, Lord almighty. There were many, many discussions. It kicked off one night after a show in Europe. We were talking amongst the band – we do talk to each other, contrary to popular belief. Bruce came up with the idea about getting our own jet airliner and touring around the world.

We discussed the places we’ve never been to, places we wanted to go to, how much money it costs to tour these places, and how cost-prohibitive these places were. And Bruce said, “Well, we’ll have our own magic carpet!” Then we started thinking that that might be a great idea; we could get a 747! And Bruce said that he was thinking more along the lines of a 757, because he wasn’t rated for the 747. Then we pitched it to Rod, and discussed the logistics of where we wanted to go. And originally, the idea for taking the 757 was so we could take all our gear, have Bruce pilot it, and bring all of our family along. Then someone said, “Well, we have to take all the journalists of the world with us, too, because this is an historic event!”

'Hhhhhmmmm,' said Rod, 'why don’t we document this here bloody trip. It is historic, after all. Nobody’s ever done this before - customize a 757 and whatnot. Even better, we should have a documentary crew 24/7 for the duration of the tour!' Boy, that’s when it went down like a fountain in a 2-man submarine, believe me. There was a bit of rumbling, a bit of grumbling, some trepidation…my lord, trepidation! So yeah, it wasn’t a matter of 'yeah, let’s all do it.'

There were a few of us who weren’t very happy with the idea of these people coming and living with us for two months, with access to us 24/7. There were a couple of meetings we had where we ended up convinced that it was the best thing to do, because it was so historic. And to be very honest with you, I’m glad we did it, because we came out with this wonderful Flight 666 movie.

And I have to take my hat off to Rod Smallwood, because he oversaw the running of how the film was presented, chronologically. He did a fantastic job editing that film with Scot McFadyen and Sam Dunn. But yeah, we had a bit of a problem with agreeing to give these guys access to us, but through the love-hate relationship, we came out with more love than hate. And I’m pleased to say that Scot and Sam and all the crew are now very much a part of the Iron Maiden family."

Examiner.com: Did anyone even have any apprehension about stepping on the plane to begin with? I mean, when the initial press release went out about the event, my first reaction was, “wow, if this plane goes down, anyone who has ANYTHING to do with Iron Maiden will be wiped off the map!”

McBrain: "If one goes, we all go! All for one and one for all; that’s Iron Maiden. We’ll take that to the grave with us, you know! It’s not really any different from when we’re flying home from a show in Europe or if we’re on a Virgin flight from New York to London. People concern themselves too much with 'what if'. But no, no problems at all."

Examiner.com: When I was watching Flight 666, it made me think about Anvil! The Story of Anvil, and how your movie is somewhat of the flipside to theirs. You both are bands that struggled very hard to make it in a genre that the general public did not understand, you never gave up. But where your hard work eventually clicked, theirs, for whatever reason never did. What are your feelings on that?

McBrain: "Yeah, you’re absolutely right. But, you know what I love about them? They’re true to form, true to what they love, true to what they do.

We were very fortunate to be at the right place at the right time, and knew who we knew. We’ve been blessed with two of the best managers in the business and have been for nearly 30 years.

And, it seems that the boys from Anvil didn’t really have that. The one thing you can rely on is that they remained true to their faith in what they do and what they believe in. they stood by their guns and never compromised.

The problem there is that they didn’t have anyone who believed in them as much as they believed in themselves. And I think that’s what Maiden what we are and how we’ve survived through today is class, panache, a good-looking frickin’ drummer, and good management."

Read the entire interview here.