Replacing Nicko?

Jason Bonham’s mother had health issues at that time IIRC. That’s why he left the tour.

I wouldn’t hate it, but I’ve never been super impressed with Jason Bonham. Would love to be proven wrong!

Edit: just saw that someone else pointed out the health issues
Well, the most curious part of the statement for me is this...

"Honestly, the guy has taught me so much — about business, being positive. I'm an English guy; I can be really negative half the time. Even if the sun is shining, 'but it could rain. "

I think this could be a hint. As I said before, you just don't let go a drummer who was there for 10 years and was actually better than his replacement, who had much less groove and played Alex's parts differently and sight read the parts. Jason pointing out that he is English, despite living in US for years is strange...

But again, it could just come down to Sammy Hagar being a cunt. Another strange thing is no statement from Sammy, who is always vocal about everything.

At this point, I'd say that there is a 50% chance that Jason Bonham is the new drummer of Iron Maiden.
 
Well, the most curious part of the statement for me is this...

"Honestly, the guy has taught me so much — about business, being positive. I'm an English guy; I can be really negative half the time. Even if the sun is shining, 'but it could rain. "

I think this could be a hint. As I said before, you just don't let go a drummer who was there for 10 years and was actually better than his replacement, who had much less groove and played Alex's parts differently and sight read the parts. Jason pointing out that he is English, despite living in US for years is strange...

But again, it could just come down to Sammy Hagar being a cunt. Another strange thing is no statement from Sammy, who is always vocal about everything.

At this point, I'd say that there is a 50% chance that Jason Bonham is the new drummer of Iron Maiden.
I’m fairly certain it’s much more likely Sammy Hagar being Sammy Hagar than Bonham joining Maiden. But we’ll see!!
 
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Well, the most curious part of the statement for me is this...

"Honestly, the guy has taught me so much — about business, being positive. I'm an English guy; I can be really negative half the time. Even if the sun is shining, 'but it could rain. "

I think this could be a hint. As I said before, you just don't let go a drummer who was there for 10 years and was actually better than his replacement, who had much less groove and played Alex's parts differently and sight read the parts. Jason pointing out that he is English, despite living in US for years is strange...

But again, it could just come down to Sammy Hagar being a cunt. Another strange thing is no statement from Sammy, who is always vocal about everything.

At this point, I'd say that there is a 50% chance that Jason Bonham is the new drummer of Iron Maiden.
It's about Hagar wanting to play with Kenny again. Sammy does what Sammy wants, because he is rich as hell and plays music for fun. So Arnoff came in, they hit it off again, and Sammy's like "man, it's so fun hanging with Kenny again! And I always fire my solo band members at some point, so guess it's time now!"
 
The one Finn I'd like to actually have had some contribution to Iron Maiden (and funnily enough, also extremely related to Nightwish) is Holopainen himself, since apparently he and Harris met sometime in the 00s and the latter confessed to being a big Nightwish fan. I'd like to live in the alternate universe where they started talking about recording music and how Holopainen especially at the time provided keyboardist-for-hire services to many Finnish metal bands, both in the studio and live and all the remaining Maiden albums had his keyboard work on them instead. Alas!
That would be a cool re-imagining type project, have Tuomas compose some orchestral parts to lay behind say, an album's worth of Maiden songs and release it. I've never been a giant fan of Paschendale like a lot of fans are, but that song has the sort of grandeur that would be a perfect fit for something like that. Empire of the Clouds too, of course.

As for Kai himself, brilliant technical drummer. However, I always loved the "feel" of Jukka's drumming, and never got a great sense of feel from Kai's work. Can't describe it since I'm not a musician, but there's this weird indescribable difference between the two, even playing the same songs. I suppose the same could be said for Clive vs. Nicko. Clive had more of an indelible feel to his drumming than Nicko does, while Nicko seemed more versatile to me. I dunno.
 
It better be Lazarus. I've been on board with him stepping in ever since I saw him play Maiden songs and found out there's a connection between him and the band. Seems like an obvious choice. Okay, he has some plans for next year, but come on... You don't say "no" to this kind of opportunity.

They don't need a big, distracting name. At this point of their career they need a craftsman, someone who's gonna be basically a session drummer for them and that's fine.

While Nicko retiring makes me feel sad, I'm at the same time very excited to hear what the band is going to sound like with a new guy. I think this brings many, many opportunities in terms of setlist and energy level. And if the new drummer works, I'm all for a new album with him.
 
They don't need a big, distracting name. At this point of their career they need a craftsman, someone who's gonna be basically a session drummer for them and that's fine.
Yea, they need someone young but with a pro musician career at same time, a machine behind the kit that can handle 18-19 setlist setlist almost every night.
 
Funny story, he came up to me during one of the opening band's sets in Chicago, said he liked my shirt and said he couldn't find Maiden shirts where he lived. So, me and my then-girlfriend drove him (since he didn't have a US license) to a metal shop, where he bought a Number of the Beast shirt (pictured below before heading back to the venue). Very trusting dude, apparently!
464219945_10226195869953204_2301690076493302350_n.jpg
 
Watching old maiden clips and every time it cuts to Nicko I feel sad. It feels wrong now. But I'm sure it's the right decision
 
Funny story, he came up to me during one of the opening band's sets in Chicago, said he liked my shirt and said he couldn't find Maiden shirts where he lived. So, me and my then-girlfriend drove him (since he didn't have a US license) to a metal shop, where he bought a Number of the Beast shirt (pictured below before heading back to the venue). Very trusting dude, apparently!
View attachment 40321
The last time I heard something about Nick, it was the unfortunate news of his failing health.
A great extreme metal drummer though, no doubt about that.
 
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