Australian Musician editor Greg Phillips catches up with legendary Iron Maiden drummer Nicko McBrain at The 2018 NAMM Show​ in Anaheim, California. Their complete video interview can be enjoyed below.

When asked why he's never utilized a double-bass drum setup, McBrain answered: "The way I grew up playing, being inspired by… I know Mooney (Keith Moon) had two bass drums, but contrary to belief, he didn't use the left one. He only used it to mount a couple of tom-toms."

"I don't know. It was just old-school for me," continues Nicko. "And I see these guys — Dave Lombardo and Thomas Lang and Terry Bozzio, just to name a few — these guys that are just masters. And the thing is it's another digit, if you like, it's another limb, and if you're gonna do it, you have to practice at it and go for it, and these guys have done that. And I'm just a lazy old-fashioned git that likes to play one bass drum. And that's my style; I've just stuck with that. And it's not that I don't care for double-bass-drum players — I think there's some wonderful players out there that really can… Derek Roddy, for crying out loud — all these guys, super fast. Master of blaster beats, or whatever they're called. It's beyond me."

"So, yeah, I do appreciate them. And the talent is amazing that these guys… how they play these double-bass parts. But I've just always been old-school. Not many of us left, you know."

In other news, Iron Maiden's Nicko McBrain has announced the launch of his first drum store, Nicko McBrain’s Drum One.

Located in Manchester, the retail capital of the North of England on the Trafford Park business estate, the store features Planet Paiste, the UK’s largest dedicated Paiste show space and the Sonorsphere where customers will find the biggest selection of Sonor products in the country. All major drum and percussion brands will be stocked. Formerly Manchester Drum Centre, established since 1983, Drum One acquired the business on November 1st 2017 following the retirement of long term owner and operator Rob Pearson. The business continued to operate under the name Drum Centre until the formal launch of Drum One on January 25th.

The project reunites Nicko with Craig Buckley, former GM at Premier Drums who is his partner in the business. Sam McGoran long term manager at Drum Centre remains as sales manager and becomes a share holder in the business.

Nicko McBrain comments: “I am extremely excited to be a part of this wonderful adventure. It is a departure from my usual day job but nevertheless it is one that I am ready to take on. I’m so very grateful to Craig and Sam for giving me this wonderful opportunity to embrace and serve the retail side of the percussion world and YOU! I am looking forward to the commitment, dedication and experience that is Nicko McBrain’s Drum One.”

Craig Buckley adds “It is an absolute pleasure to be working with Nicko again, we had such a good time working together during my time with Premier. When this opportunity was originally offered to me in the Summer I mentioned it to Nicko and he wanted to be involved immediately and since then we have been planning the restructure, the rebranding and the social media platform in a bid to have everything ready for our announcement at NAMM. We felt it was important to keep disruption to the business minimal when we took over so we took the decision to run simply as Drum Centre until we had all of the branding and shopfitting changed to the way we envisaged. The support we have received from the manufacturers and distributors since the takeover has been fantastic and I want to thank them all on behalf of Nicko, Sam and myself for their commitment.”

“We are planning a significant web presence for the business with an extremely well thought out web site and on-line retail facility which will be completed by Spring 2018. We are very keen to develop the actual store itself into a social hub for drummers, we will be holding regular in-store events hosted by manufacturers and clinics will be held at local venues. We want drummers to come along and hang out at the store whether they are buying or not, the kettle is always on.”

"Drum One is going to be an adventure and we want as many drummers as possible to be a part of it!”

The rebranded Drum One will be fully open and operational from February 1st. Visit the store's official website here.

Nicko McBrain’s Drum One Limited
Astra Business Park
Guinness Road
Trafford Park
Manchester
England
M17 1SQ