Nicko Interviewed by a Fan
An Iron Maiden fan, mf666, had the chance to talk to Nicko at one of his drum clinic and reported his fantastic night on the Iron Maiden BB. There is a lot of fun trivia and some interesting news as to future plans (as Shadow already pointed out, these can only be held as rumors for the moment). For instance, there is talk about the number of History DVDs to be released, some German dates that will be announced by next week and, most interestingly, a starting recording date for the new album: November 2005.The full interview is interesting on many other Maiden-related matters. Many thanks to mf666 !!!
Double Bass Pedal - Face in the Sand
The first question was "why do You use one Bass pedal only" or something like that from one of the crowd.
He said that he over all the past years he ever played "only" with one pedal. There never was a reason the play with 2. Its okay to do it that way. He said he can do it fast enough and there is really no reason to do it with 2. It also gives a different sound to the whole drumming as doing it with double bass over the whole time ( he said a lot more about it but i cannot repeat it at all)
The only exception was done on the DODeath-album he said - on FACE IN THE SAND of course. It was done just to fill out those seconds of the song we all know and can hear on the CD.
He said he really DIDN'T like it and he will NEVER do it again!
Feet Warm Up - Wickerman
He said that at the beginning of a concert it is a bit diffcult to do fast pedal drumming!
Nicko said: During the ROCK IN RIO gig he had a serious Problem during THE WICKERMAN! At the End of the 2nd chorus his bass feet HURT A LOT !!! He couldn'T do the bass drum for one beat measure! He made a Tom fill in !!!
On the ROCK IN RIO ALBUM You can hear this he said !!!
Then he said, he is over 50 now and he need to do a little warm up session before a concert to warm up his feet to prevent problems - especially to his pedal foot! In earlier years he never did it but now he need to do it.
He made a laugh when he said for double bass drumming he would needed BOTH feet to be warmed up - hahaha. So another reason for not doin double bass drum was found :-)
He played some minutes of WICKERMAN then..... !
Then he told only a bit about DOD:
He said the girl in DOD-Album-booklet is even more beautiful WITHOUT the nice mask on her face! :-O
Does somebody know the name of that girl please ?? ;-D
NEW MAIDEN DVD - Incomplete Shows
Then came my 1st Question - I told him that I collected some question from the Maiden-forum and I send him Your greetz first! I think I was a bit overprepared and nervous - I first asked him how many question I could ask - hahaha - Then he said : "Oh dear, Questions from the forum - there are a lot of terrible things going on" - He said: there is also some really good stuff written. But some people are writing very terrible things also !
But then I could ask my question ....that some people are a bit (!) unhappy to have incomplete shows on the new MAIDEN DVD. There is also a rumour that not much material is in the archive to be released from the early years.
Nicko said: The new DVD is a retrospective from the early Years - Its not a LIVE AT HAMMERSMITH DVD or something like that he said. You will get a time line thing - not a concert.
4-6 more Dvds could and will be out like this later he said - but there is nothing special planned yet how much DVDs it will be in the end!
I was still a bit unlucky about the answer i got cause i really wanted to know which complete shows are in the archive.
DORTMUND 83
Then I asked about Dortmund 83 - if the full concert is really lost:
SAD to say this: He confirmed that the ZDF really destroyed the rest of the Rockpop-Festival.
He said it was THE ONLY TIME Eddie was killed on stage and the drum kit was destroyed at the end of the show during a Maiden Concert ever!! So, this document is lost forever. SHAME (By the way - I also will do some research request writing a mail to ZDF-Archive people soon - lets see what they will say)
For more DEEP Concert and Archive questions like i wanna hear (in that much detail) I have to ask Steve he said.
My opinion after his answer: I think they will release some complete shows after their MAIDEN-career. MAIDEN are also Money-Maker-Champions like KISS and they are releasing appetizers only on the next DVDs (like Hammersmith 82) - So, people - please expect now more incomplete concerts on the next DVDs to come out
Then he surprised me !! He asked me: - So, whats your next question? :-)
STEVE Drumming on VXI ?
I was so sursprised in that moment that really got a little black out. I am very sorry about this ! The only question comin to my mind was the stupid one about that Steve did some Virtual XI Drumming?! I know this would be a big laugh for all and so I asked: There is a rumour that Steve did a few drums on VXI? And we really all laughed :-) - He talked a bit more about the forum and things which are going on there. Good ones and not so good ones. HE HEARD THAT QUESTION BEFORE last year!
Finally he said: No, I am the drummer and i did all the drumming since 1983 :-) Do not believe all rumours !
I regret this question a bit after ...but some more questions found answers later anyway - so no problem.
Part II
Why holding the stick in the left hand reversed ??
Gives a better feeling and better push he said - He demonstrated it playing another cool drum song.
Why did You change from Sonor to Premier?
I think most of you know the answer already. I concentrated on some photos during this....
Where Eagles Dare
Then, without any question Nicko started to tell us something about his entry in Maiden and about Piece of Mind.
He said he joined 6.1.1983 (or 9.1.1983, sorry, I am not sure anymore - too much infooverload and camera handling!! - Will check later when i got the Video hopefully if it is very imporant to someone)
Steve said to him:
You are the new one - We need to do something special to introduce You to all!
Then Steve and Nicko went into recording room alone!
STEVE TOLD NICKO then:
IMRESS ME (Arms crossed)
And then Nicko started to work out the intro of the Song. The first try of the intro was too long !!! Yesterday, Nicko made the long intro version in front of the drumkit in a phantomimic way and singing the "taaa taaa taaam taaataaataa" - haha.
BUT: Steve was not impressed and he wanted to go, he said: It is too long
- Nicko remembered this all very well like it was yesterday - so this recording session is very much legendary for him!
I think he talked around 20 minutes about this topic - It was great because i like that song so much!!!!
Nicko said it was the first song written for POM and it was done before going to Bahamas later to record the whole album.
Steve already wrote the lyrics for that song and they started to try out the drum at bass line for the song. Nicko made some tries on the drum kit yesterday how the intro of that song sounded in the very beginning !!
He also made some funny singing and crazy dancing when he sang the bass line ( da da taa taa taa ddaaaa daaaa) of that song AND THEN he played Air Guitar !!! Singing and performing EAGLES in front of the drumkit !!!
Sorry, Air Bass!!!!! I made nice photos about that Nicko Air Bass playing :-) LOL
After that he got back to the drums played it on Drums completely !!! Drums only of course - No other instruments - UNBELIEVEABLE !
It sounded much better yesterday then on REAL DEAD ONE - Especially the intro. Killer !!!
Songs on the next tour
All in front of me - just 2 metres away - Finally he said: We may play this one on the next tour he said !!!! ( i was happy !!) - So this can be one of the songs !! That also means that the Setlist of the next tour is not fixed yet !! So, it doesn't make sense to ask questions about songs which will be played. Its too early now
For me it was the best section of the meet!
In my mind was a new question at that time: When this song is so great why did they drop it from the setlist in 1986 ?? But I didn't asked that - maybe next time :-)
The Drumkit
He played all songs on a Drumkit provided by the shop! Not his big drumkit. It is a bit smaller - not with all the Toms around. That also was better for my photos ;-) . It can be bought at the shop now signed by Nicko !!
Fear Of The Dark
Simply someone screamed "Fear Of the Dark"! Nicko started to sing that ....the crowd sang it, too. So he did the complete song on drums :-)
The Trooper
was done after .......... :-)
TOURING 2005 and 2006!!
Will be next summer without a new album - Album will be done in NOV!! - Another Tour in 2006 with the album !!
Some dates for Germany will be out next week he said - also some more for Europe ! - The Dates are all in schedule now - He doesn't know more, too - Please don't ask me for other dates - Sorry
but keep in mind: FESTIVAL TOUR ALSO IN SUMMER 2006 with the new album!! The Tour in 2005 starts in MAY !!!
Groupies
Haha, someone asked that! What about groupies? He made some jokes: Yes, Of course ;-)
In the end he said: All are married and have children - so no groupies he said (Is Steve married again ?? I missed that maybe)
Before Entering Stage
Most nervous Man of the Band is: Nicko himself he said. When he is alone or in the dressing room .... he puts out a lot of dirty air out of his ass then he said - hahaha ( he also has a special name because of doing this - Nicko booze or something like that)
He really said that and we had a lot of laugh! :-)
Drum tuning
there was a guy in the crowd .... he wanted to know how to get the right drum sound and how to tune it! There was a lot of technical stuff in the answers I cannot repeat.
He explained the whole drum kit then ! He also made a Tom appart from the Drum kit and did a little tuning to it.
RUN TO HILLS
he simply started to play that song - at that the end we did the oooo ooooo ooooo and screaming part. Very good !
And a special long Drumming track as final he did!
At the end of the show he said that he believes in God - Xmas is close, so best wishes to all.
He said he is (REALLY ! You could feel that is was not only said ! ) very happy and thankful that we all had been there last night. And that he can live his life like it is. He has a fantastic life because of us fans he said. This makes his life very special....
MAIDEN Members in the Forum
I had a smalltalk with him at the signing. He remembered me from the show before and HE started the talk again to me.
In short words: Nicko browses the Forum once a week ! Bruce is also doing ! He told this to me when I got the autographs after the show. I asked him if he has a user in the forum. Nicko: "No, I haven't yet. But will come ! - You can see then that it is me" when I answer to the terrible threads in the Forum.
SO, I GOT THE BEST. A fantastic MAIDEN EVENING for only 5 EUROS !
I hope I have not forgotten an important detail and that You liked this review ;-)
5 Comments
"Then he said, he is over 50 now and he need to do a little warm up session before a concert to warm up his feet to prevent problems - especially to his pedal foot! In earlier years he never did it but now he need to do it."
This proves that Nicko is from 1954 and not older as many people believe?
Nick's 51, isn't he? I didn't think he was terribly older.
QUOTE
Then I asked about Dortmund 83 - if the full concert is really lost:
SAD to say this: He confirmed that the ZDF really destroyed the rest of the Rockpop-Festival.
He said it was THE ONLY TIME Eddie was killed on stage and the drum kit was destroyed at the end of the show during a Maiden Concert ever!! So, this document is lost forever. SHAME (By the way - I also will do some research request writing a mail to ZDF-Archive people soon - lets see what they will say)
For more DEEP Concert and Archive questions like i wanna hear (in that much detail) I have to ask Steve he said.
My opinion after his answer: I think they will release some complete shows after their MAIDEN-career. MAIDEN are also Money-Maker-Champions like KISS and they are releasing appetizers only on the next DVDs (like Hammersmith 82) - So, people - please expect now more incomplete concerts on the next DVDs to come out
Then he surprised me !! He asked me: - So, whats your next question?
SAD to say this: He confirmed that the ZDF really destroyed the rest of the Rockpop-Festival.
He said it was THE ONLY TIME Eddie was killed on stage and the drum kit was destroyed at the end of the show during a Maiden Concert ever!! So, this document is lost forever. SHAME (By the way - I also will do some research request writing a mail to ZDF-Archive people soon - lets see what they will say)
For more DEEP Concert and Archive questions like i wanna hear (in that much detail) I have to ask Steve he said.
My opinion after his answer: I think they will release some complete shows after their MAIDEN-career. MAIDEN are also Money-Maker-Champions like KISS and they are releasing appetizers only on the next DVDs (like Hammersmith 82) - So, people - please expect now more incomplete concerts on the next DVDs to come out
Then he surprised me !! He asked me: - So, whats your next question?
Dortmund is not lost, because it is on bootleg, straight off German TV
QUOTE(dogigniter @ Nov 12 2004, 06:06 PM)
Dortmund is not lost, because it is on bootleg, straight off German TV
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Yeah, I used to have a bootleg taken right from TV of the Iron Maiden (song)performance where they killed Eddie.
Thank you alot for posting the chat with Nicko!! Awsome!!