IRON MAIDEN drummer Nicko McBrain spoke with Rebecca Rodriguez from Miamiherald.com about his 47-year love affair with his drums and his life on tour with Maiden. Here are a few excerpts from the chat:

A member of Iron Maiden since 1983, McBrain said he was first inspired by a Joe Morello drum solo in the song 'Take Five' that he saw when he was 10 years old on the family's black and white TV. He created his first drum set out of two kitchen knives and his mother's enamel-finished cooking pot. ''I was blown away by Joe Morello's solo. So I ran to the kitchen, got a pair of knives and beat the daylights out of that cooker,'' he said. ``I met Joe about 10 or 15 years ago and told him my mum wanted a word with him about that cooker.''

After much pleading, McBrain's parents eventually relented and bought him his first real set the following summer-the John Grey Broadway model, which consisted of three drums and a cymbal.

Fast-forward four decades and McBrain - who listens to bands like LED ZEPPELIN and THE WHO - is ever the rock star-wearing his blond hair long and his tattoos proudly. ''I have two tattoos. On one arm I have a dragon, since I was born in the year of the dragon,'' said McBrain, who was born in 1952 in Hackney, London. ''On my other arm, a samurai to protect me from the dragon,'' he said with a deep laugh.

McBrain joined Iron Maiden, which formed in 1975, when the group's popularity was ascending. The band has sold more than 70 million albums, including The Number of the Beast in 1982 and Piece of Mind in 1983. In 2005, Iron Maiden was inducted into the Hollywood Rock Walk on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles.

Read the entire interview here.