Iron Maiden drummer Nicko McBrain is featured in a new interview with 97.9 GRD. He talks about the band's new album, Senjutsu, frontman Bruce Dickinson's health following a bout with COVID-19, and looks back on joining Iron Maiden.

On joining Iron Maiden in 1982, replacing Clive Burr

Nicko: "I did a tour with Maiden on the Killers' album (in 1981). When the Killers album came out, Adrian (Smith / guitars) had just joined the band, and Paul Di'Anno I was still singing. I had a band called Trust back in '79 or '80, and we ended up doing a tour with Maiden; that was the most amount of time I spent with them. But, I met Iron Maiden in 1979 on their very first European gig. 

I was playing in a different band called McKitty - this was before Trust - we toured on the same bill. There was one gig and that was when I first met Steve Harris (bass) and the gang. It was a trio band, and the guitar player's guitar amp blew up, so Charlie Tumahai - who was the bass player - and I did an improv solo, and Steve was standing on the side of the stage, and he said he'd never seen anything like it in his life. So he remembered that, and when things went wrong with Clive, the fact that I had toured with them and made friends with them with the Trust tour, I was the first drummer that sprang to mind.

Now, here's a weird thing: I took over the store from Clive, and later that year, I think in '83 or '84, Clive ended up doing an album with Trust. Not a lot of people know that."

For Senjutsu - loosely translated as ‘tactics & strategy,’ the band once again enlisted the services of Mark Wilkinson to create the spectacular Samurai themed cover artwork, based on an idea by Steve Harris. With a running time of a little under 82 minutes, Senjutsu, like their previous record The Book Of Souls, will be a double CD/Triple vinyl album.

Steve says: “We chose to record at Guillaume Tell Studio in France again as the place has such a relaxed vibe. The setup there is perfect for our needs; the building used to be a cinema and has a really high ceiling so there’s a great acoustic sound. We recorded this album in the same way we did The Book Of Souls in that we’d write a song, rehearse it and then put it down together straight away while it was all fresh in our minds. There’s some very complex songs on this album which took a lot of hard work to get them exactly as we wanted them to sound, so the process was at times very challenging, but Kevin is great at capturing the essence of the band and I think it was worth the effort!  I’m very proud of the result and can’t wait for fans to hear it.”

Bruce Dickinson continues: “We’re all really excited about this album. We recorded it back in early 2019 during a break in the Legacy tour so we could maximize our touring yet still have a long set up period before release to prepare great album art and something special as a video. Of course the pandemic delayed things more - so much for the best laid plans – or should that be ‘strategies’!?  The songs are very varied, and some of them are quite long. There’s also one or two songs which sound pretty different to our usual style, and I think Maiden fans will be surprised -  in a good way, I hope!"

Senjutsu is available in the following formats:

- Standard 2CD Digipak
- Deluxe 2CD Book Format
- Deluxe heavyweight 180G Triple Black Vinyl
- Special Edition Triple Silver And Black Marble Vinyl (Details to follow)
- Special Edition Triple Red and Black Marble Vinyl (Details to follow)
- Super Deluxe Boxset featuring CD, Blu Ray and Exclusive Memorabilia
- Digital album [streaming and download]

Tracklisting:

"Senjutsu" (8:20) - Smith/Harris
"Stratego" (4:59) - Gers/Harris
"The Writing On The Wall" (6:13) - Smith/Dickinson
"Lost In A Lost World" (9:31) - Harris
"Days Of Future Past" (4:03) - Smith/Dickinson
"The Time Machine" (7:09) - Gers/Harris
"Darkest Hour" (7:20) - Smith/Dickinson
"Death Of The Celts" (10:20) - Harris
"The Parchment" (12:39) - Harris
"Hell On Earth" (11:19) - Harris

"Stratego"

"The Writing On The Wall" video: