Nicko McBrain

Lego said:
Well, that was very cool to see and hear him doing some straight-ahead grooving- a reminder that he got his start as a pop/funk session drummer! And whatever snare drum is on that studio house kit sounds amazing, especially under his hands.
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Is there no video of this available anywhere? Looked it up but to no avail.
 
The Flash said:
Is there no video of this available anywhere? Looked it up but to no avail.
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I watched the episodes on Hulu, but if you don't have an account there may still be some clips up on the official Late Night with Seth Meyers web site.
 
I might be opening a can of worms with this post, but as some of you might remember (there is even a post about these events on the first page https://forum.maidenfans.com/threads/nicko-mcbrain.19107/#post-336983), Nicko did a series of drum clinics in 2011. I was quite tempted to attend, but work commitments made it impossible. However, some fellow Maiden fans from the official fan club went to some of them. To their dismay, Nicko did make some rather crude and unfortunate jokes, racist and homophobic. Many were shocked and raised their concerns in different discussion fora (this is one is still online http://www.drummerworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=83280).

Nicko did mention some years later having got into trouble as a result of his comments, suggesting that Premier were not at all happy with the publicity.

Were any of you at any of those clinics? What is your take on those comments?
 
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Wow :blink:. That's the problem with most of people who love to talk, just for the sake of talking: in this unstoppable flow, there is necessarily a fair amount of stupid bullshit.
And I love the comment saying in substance: no, it wasn't racist, some his black roadies were laughing.
 
I presume the voice we're talking about is what is described before as his "Idi Amin impression" as can be heard in parts of black bart blues, the backwards message in Still Life and on various listen with nickos. I don't believe Nicko means anything racist by it, but I can understand it not being acceptable today. I wouldn't be happy if he was putting on an Irish accent for joking about, which possibly he would be if he was a little bit older than he his.

Without seeing what the comments actually were it's hard to judge. But I'd be fairly certain Nicko just has rather dated attitudes given he is a pensioner rather than actual hatred, probably not realising anything he said would have been taken as offensive.

Again sometimes a joke can just be a joke, Bruce made what would certainly be considered a homophobic joke about Rob Halford at the Reading festival in 1982 but we know he does not have prejudice towards the gay community.
 
harrisdevot said:
Wow :blink:.
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I am pretty sure you are going to love this:

http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/i-like-the-music-but-not-the-musician.307829/page-7

The comments on Steve are hard to believe though.

harrisdevot said:
And I love the comment saying in substance: no, it wasn't racist, some his black roadies were laughing.
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Some of the comments that were reported on the official fan club forum back in the day were pretty shocking. One of the jokes that I remember apparently referred to a black person in the UK wanting to buy some port and asking for directions, with Nicko saying that he could go to Southampton's port and then home. :mad:

Some people found it funny, some were offended (with a reason, if you ask me), especially considering there were children in the audience.
 
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srfc said:
But I'd be fairly certain Nicko just has rather dated attitudes given he is a pensioner rather than actual hatred, probably not realising anything he said would have been taken as offensive.
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That is what I think too, but one would have thought that he would have realised that what was acceptable in the early 80s and could be seen as funny is not anymore.
 
GhostofCain said:
I am pretty sure you are going to love this. The comments on Steve are hard to believe though.

Some of the comments that were reported on the official fan club forum back in the day were pretty shocking. One of the jokes that I remember apparently referred to a black person in the UK wanting to buy some port and asking for directions, with Nicko saying that he could go to Southampton's port and then home. :mad:

Some people found it funny, some were offended (with a reason, if you ask me), especially considering there were children in the audience.
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I absolutely share your opinion, but which comments on Steve do you refere to please?
 
What shines through from those comments is indeed rather unfortunate. I'm not sure they could be dismissed as off comments either, since they seem to have been an integral part of his routine. On the other hand, I'm also not willing to play judge on something that happened seven years ago and already had the appropriate backlash, apparently. Much less so about something Steve apparently said at one point somewhere in the 80's.
 
Well, to be honest, I was surprised this hasn't surfaced yet on this forum. He actually made those comments in 1982, in an interview with NME. Steve and Bruce were interviewed, and while Bruce appeared as a very open and clever guy, Steve looked quite closed, and I must say, stupid. I bought this in the late 80s, along with a huge collection of english magazines, and it affected me a lot. I would not share too much about me, but, let's say that I'm not White at all, so obviously reading this was a kind of blow. It perfectly represents the statement of a certain time, and a certain "milieu". I used to go quite often in the East End in the late 80s, and some streets had black people on one side, people from Pakistan on the other; white people living in another street, and those people didn't share anything. That said, and without trying to find any excuse for these comments (partly due to the terrible tension during the interview, NME clearly intending to mock the two main members of a heavy metal band - remember they never talked about the genre at the time), I must say he has apparently changed. I know that one of his best friends is a guy of Pakistan origins, he clearly gets along very well with The Ravenage drummer, and I've never felt any kind of reserve towards me because of my physical appearance. He has been quite friendly on a number of occasions, so let's say that the very young and stubborn guy from a rather harsh neighborhood has evolved with time and (mostly) travels.
As for the comment on his son dating a black guy, I had already read it, but I've never read anything to substantiate that, and, believe me, I've got a huge collection of interviews with the guy.
 
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harrisdevot said:
Well, to be honest, I was surprised this hasn't surfaced yet on this forum. He actually made those comments in 1982, in an interview with NME. Steve and Bruce were interviewed, and while Bruce appaeared as a very open and clever guy, Steve looked quite closed, and I must say, stupid. I bought this in the late 80s, along with a huge collection of english magazines, and it affected me a lot. I would not share too much about me, but, let's say that I'm not White at all, so obviously reading this was a kind of blow. It perfectly represents the statement of a certain time, and a certain "milieu". I used to go quite often in the East End in the late 80s, and some streets had black people on one side, people from Pakistan on the other; white people living in another street, and those people didn't share anything. That said, and without trying to find any excuse for these comments (partly due to the terrible tension during the interview, NME clearly intending to mock the two main members of a heavy metal beand - remember they never talked about the genre at the time), I must say he has apparently changed. I know that one of his best friend is a guy of Pakinstan origins, he clearly gets along very well with The Ravenage drummer, and I've never flet any kind of reserve towards me because of my physical appearance. He has been quite friendly on a number of occasions, so let's say that the very young and stubborn guy from a rather harsh neighborhood has evolved with time and (mostly) travels.
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Wow, now I am shocked as I thought there was no truth at all on those comments from Steve. :eek::eek: Do you happen to have a copy of the interview?

In terms of integration, the UK is miles ahead many other countries (I was not born here but became a British citizen and have always felt really appreciated and welcomed), but there are still issues that need to be addressed.
 
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I have the magazine. I shall try to scan it (it's a large format) and I shall post it. He was very specifically adressing people from Pakistan.
 
GhostofCain said:
One of the jokes that I remember apparently referred to a black person in the UK wanting to buy some port and asking for directions, with Nicko saying that he could go to Southampton's port and then home. :mad:
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That's unacceptable and can't be passed off as just a joke. The offensiveness is 10/10 in that it means black people are not welcome in the UK, whereas the alleged humour is 1/10 in that the only humour to be found is that "port" can have two meanings.
 
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