Nicko McBrain

Forostar said:
I think this sad news hadn't arrived Maidenfans yet, or at least I missed it.

Peter "Mars" Cowling died three months ago, on March 20th. He was 71 years old. I am not sure if Nicko has (literally) said it but I'm pretty sure Mars was the finest bassist player he played with, next to Harris. Here they jam with Adrian on Nicko's 60th birthday:

Nicko played on two Pat Travers albums with Mars:
  • 1977 Makin' Magic
  • 1977 Putting It Straight
Expect more attention for this man when he comes on in the battle between bass players.
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Aw man, that's really sad :( I think he made a surprise appearance at Nicko's latest RNRR party in December, and played a couple tunes with the band!
 
Lego said:
Nice! Never heard this before. But, his earliest known credit is on this 1970 LP by Cockerel Chorus:

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@Lego According to discogs this is from 1973. Do you know if he played on the whole LP? If not, on how many songs?

And @lira did Nicko play on the whole Giltrap album? If not, on how many songs?

I asked this because of the following overview I made, in which Nicko's work is heavily represented:
Albums by current Iron Maiden members - an overview
 
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Forostar said:
According to discogs this is from 1973. Do you know if he played on the whole LP? If not, on how many songs?
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Nice one Cyril is a novelty football song, I'm not sure it was anything more than a single, e.g. the name Cockerel Chorus is a reference to Tottenham Hotspur so it's probably not a real band
 
There is a whole album on which the song is featured:
https://www.discogs.com/Cockerel-Chorus-Party-Sing-A-Long/release/6335791
R-6335791-1419834804-9080.jpeg.jpg



The single itself is also from the same year (1973), according to:
https://www.discogs.com/Cockerel-Chorus-Nice-One-Cyril/master/399597

Another single that was also on that album:
 
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He is credited along with drummer Ian Hoyle, but it does not say whether they worked separated or together. If together, one probably did drums and the other percussion. What I know is Ian Hoyle was the touring drummer. Nicko only played on the album.

There's a version of the LP which comes with the insert (mine doesn't), so there's a slightly chance it contains that kind of information.
 
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lira said:
He is credited along with drummer Ian Hoyle, but it does not says whether they worked separated or together. If together, one probably did drums and the other percussion. What I know is Ian Hoyle was the touring drummer. Nicko only played on the album.

There's a version of the LP which comes with the insert (mine doesn't), so there's a slightly chance it contains that kind of information.
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I assume you talk about the Giltrap album here. If together, then big chance Nicko did the drums then indeed (can't imagine he did (only) percussion)!
But it is just as well possible that they did a few songs each (drums).
 
Forostar said:
I assume you talk about the Giltrap album here. If together, then big chance Nicko did the drums then indeed (can't imagine he did (only) percussion)!
But it is just as well possible that they did a few songs each (drums).
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Indeed. If he worked on a few songs only they would credit him as an additional musician or colaborator...
 
About Cockerel Chorus, I suspect Nicko only played on the songs from the Nice One Cyril single, as he worked for Youngblood, the company who released it.

According to Discogs, the LP was released by Hallmark Records and that includes the "Nice One Cyril" song. So on the LP they probably used other session musicians... but I divague
 
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On the subject of Nicko's connection with Gordon Giltrap I already posted this on the "Bruce's book" thread but I'll post it here too, as it is relevant to both threads:
Black Abyss Babe said:
I was struck by the revelation that Nicko had played on (a version of) "Heartsong" the Gordon Giltrap piece - the theme to the BBC's "Holiday" programme. This is genuine news to me. The drummer on the album was called Simon Phillips and the single was the same version as far as I know. So I started digging to try and find out which version had featured Nicko and eventually found this from 2011 on Gordon Giltrap's own website:-

http://giltrap.co.uk/news/f/archives/General_News/2948

A possible clue to Dave's "surprise" in there as well?

From the Giltrap news piece we also learn that Nicko is a member of the Grand Order of Water Rats - this is a charitable organisation masquerading as a dodgy handshake club. I first heard of them when I was researching Robin Hood as they own a music venue in London - The Water Rats - which was previously called The Pindar of Wakefield on account of it having a tenuous link with the ballad of that name (in 1517 it had a landlord named George Green, aka George of the Green who was a pindar or pinner of Wakefield and became associated with the character in the Robin Hood ballad. He later becomes a folk hero in his own right, the subject of ballads and plays.)

According to the Water Rat's website Nicko is a "blue collar rat":

http://www.gowr.co.uk/all-water-rats/v/208
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I didn't know about the one posted by @lira, though :).
 
Forostar said:
I assume you talk about the Giltrap album here. If together, then big chance Nicko did the drums then indeed (can't imagine he did (only) percussion)!
But it is just as well possible that they did a few songs each (drums).
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One could be the "official" drummer and Nicko the more reliable one for the studio recordings.
 
I decided to contact Gordon Giltrap himself and he said that Ian Hoyle was in the band Accolade with him in the late 60's and played on the first album they made before Giltrap left. Nicko played on his 2973 album for Philips called GILTRAP. Nicko was the only drummer on that album.
 
I am not sure about 2973, I can't find that number in relation with the title on internet. Maybe the number is mentioned somewhere on the LP, or in the Philips catalogue. Nonetheless, we know what we wanted to know. :--)
 
Forostar said:
I am not sure about 2973, I can't find that number in relation with the title on internet. Maybe the number is mentioned somewhere on the LP, or in the Philips catalogue. Nonetheless, we know what we wanted to know. :--)
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I bet it is a typo and he meant "1973 album GILTRAP". ;)
 
Black Abyss Babe, I talked to Gordon Giltrap about this and he said Nicko never recorded "Heartsong". I also asked if Nicko played with him around this time as he once mentioned Nicko almost joined GGB in the late 70's. He refused to comment that. I wonder why...
 
Forostar said:
I decided to contact Gordon Giltrap himself and he said that Ian Hoyle was in the band Accolade with him in the late 60's and played on the first album they made before Giltrap left. Nicko played on his 2973 album for Philips called GILTRAP. Nicko was the only drummer on that album.
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So I wonder what Ian Hoyle is doing in this album? His name appears before Nicko in the drums credit (back cover of the LP).

GhostofCain is correct, the album is simply called GILTRAP.
 
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