Simon Dawson is the new drummer

____no5 said:
British Lion drummer joins Iron Maiden? Steve hasn’t learned anything since Blaze. Make Maiden small again! How disappointing.

EDIT: some hope below though I won’t hold my breath.
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Unless they forced the new drummer to play with his kit in a weird position (talking hypothetically here), like they wouldn't shift the tuning for blaze, I really didn't see the issue
 
Well, while Nicko contributed a whole lot to Maiden's sound and identity, Bruce was writing between a third and a half of the songs of Maiden's albums. Replacing him would mean a whole different approach in the studio, and ironically, The X Factor was the first album where the modern Maiden sound started to develop.

I don't think adding a new drummer would alter the band's writing process that much.

However mentioning X Factor reminds me of a 1995 review, when the album had just been released. The review opened with a statement that more or less said "at this point, it should be apparent to anyone listening to Iron Maiden that the band will continue existing as long as Steve Harris wants it".
 
matic22 said:
They don't soundcheck and doing it in the arenas/venues would increase the possibility of a leak.

If they did, they did it in Perth.
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Yep of course, definitely so that it must have happened in Perth.
Apologies for writing stuff too fast without thinking and they wouldn't want to risk of leak playing in some venue/arena.
 
some thoughts and notes:
they probably tried Simon, made an audition, probably when nick had his stroke, last year. because the tour was announced and they should have had a b-plan.
so now i think they can play faster songs like be quick or be dead. i wonder if they can play a little longer or with variations in setlists.
another thing is: i think british lion must get a new drummer, cause it would be extremely hard for a drummer to play maiden and bl in a row with no rest...
some details that confuse me: "Iron Maiden are delighted to announce that stepping in behind the kit for 2025 is a name familiar to many of our fans"
"for 2025" is an interesting choice of words. not any absolute word like "joins", "now steps in Maiden" etc...
and there is no new post on simon's instagram page which is kind of weird.
also i didn't like that they underline where he is from, "a native of suffolk"... is this so important? to be an english from the beginning or whatever.
but nothing against the guy, i liked his playing when i saw BL, and now the youtube videos from 9 years ago. of course he's no clive or nicko yet but he has a quality and tasteful playing. and it's really steve's call, it must be hard to please him in the rythm section.
 
Starblind said:
some thoughts and notes:
they probably tried Simon, made an audition, probably when nick had his stroke, last year. because the tour was announced and they should have had a b-plan.
so now i think they can play faster songs like be quick or be dead. i wonder if they can play a little longer or with variations in setlists.
another thing is: i think british lion must get a new drummer, cause it would be extremely hard for a drummer to play maiden and bl in a row with no rest...
some details that confuse me: "Iron Maiden are delighted to announce that stepping in behind the kit for 2025 is a name familiar to many of our fans"
"for 2025" is an interesting choice of words. not any absolute word like "joins", "now steps in Maiden" etc...
and there is no new post on simon's instagram page which is kind of weird.
also i didn't like that they underline where he is from, "a native of suffolk"... is this so important? to be an english from the beginning or whatever.
but nothing against the guy, i liked his playing when i saw BL, and now the youtube videos from 9 years ago. of course he's no clive or nicko yet but he has a quality and tasteful playing. and it's really steve's call, it must be hard to please him in the rythm section.
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I was thinking about that. I think that we may read to much into that. 2025 tour is a big deal, Nicko leaving now may be a problem sales wise so this choice of words is probably just to calm people that tour in 2025 is happening. This is probably why they communicated who new drummer is so quickly.
 
Meliegree said:
I was thinking about that. I think that we may read to much into that. 2025 tour is a big deal, Nicko leaving now may be a problem sales wise so this choice of words is probably just to calm people that tour in 2025 is happening. This is probably why they communicated who new drummer is so quickly.
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That's why they announced the shows and put them on sale in September instead of the usual November. I'm sure of it.
 
Starblind said:
…
"for 2025" is an interesting choice of words. not any absolute word like "joins", "now steps in Maiden" etc...
and there is no new post on simon's instagram page which is kind of weird.
…
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I didn't necessarily expect that. Contrary to what is sometimes believed these days, people don't have to document their entire lives on social media. On the contrary, sometimes you get to know people personally and realize that their lives and their social media are quite different...

As I see it, they mainly wanted to provide some information about next year. But it is indeed interesting that he wasn't called a “new band member”.
 
Starblind said:
...
also i didn't like that they underline where he is from, "a native of suffolk"...
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I didn't like this part either. It is weird and outdated.
As if it is not important about him as a person what he has achieved or which styles he has already played as a drummer, but his nationality.

Judas Priest are also English, even have an album "British Steel" but they never said their members nationality is crucial.
 
I think the only two people in consideration were Simon and Joe. Steve just picked the drummer he's been playing with since 2012 and he's about their age. Joe seems to be well-liked by the band based on the social medial posts. He is very good playing Maiden, but I guess Steve again wanted someone who could bring something different to the sound, like with Blaze.

Watching some clips of Simon's playing shared here (some are from 10 years ago though), it seems he's not just a rock drummer. Playing groove metal in the 90's, covers of prog bands, and probably grew up with the same bands/drummers as Nicko. His style is more modern/aggressive than Nicko's, a bit akin to Clive's, but not quite at all. There shouldn't be songs limitations, right.

He uses double bass?
 
____no5 said:
British Lion drummer joins Iron Maiden? Steve hasn’t learned anything since Blaze. Make Maiden small again! How disappointing.

EDIT: some hope below though I won’t hold my breath.
Click to expand...

Or maybe he just recruited a drummer that he'd already played with and liked, i.e. the exact same thing he did to get Nicko.
 
matic22 said:
He liked Nicko, but I don't think he played with him before recruiting him.
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Nicko played in Maiden as a substitute drummer while Clive was away for his father's funeral.

edit: this post was clarified as "false news" :)
 
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DorotheaMe said:
I didn't like this part either. It is weird and outdated.
As if it is not important about him as a person what he has achieved or which styles he has already played as a drummer, but his nationality.

Judas Priest are also English, even have an album "British Steel" but they never said their members nationality is crucial.
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Judas Priest also based their success on the americanization of their sound. Maiden, on the other hand, takes band pics with the union jack in the background, writes songs in praise of Winston Churchill and is known for not doing things the MTV way. I'd say it matters... Whether we like it or not that's another issue.
 
Starblind said:
Nicko played in Maiden as a substitute drummer while Clive was away for his father's funeral.
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I thought that theory was debunked. And I think it was confirmed by Nicko that the only time he played with Maiden before Piece Of Mind sessions was that Belgian TV show.

All I know about Nicko and Beast On The Road is that he was on a retainer contract due to Clive's growing unreliability.
 
wizardry said:
Judas Priest also based their success on the americanization of their sound. Maiden, on the other hand, takes band pics with the union jack in the background, writes songs in praise of Winston Churchill and is known for not doing things the MTV way. I'd say it matters... Whether we like it or not that's another issue.
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To be consistent with this image, Bruce has even made the sacrifice of announcing that he is in favor of Brexit. ;)

The only thing that doesn't fit is that he lives in Paris. Hmm, the image needs to be revised and modernized. :D
 
matic22 said:
I thought that theory was debunked. And I think it was confirmed by Nicko that the only time he played with Maiden before Piece Of Mind sessions was that Belgian TV show.

All I know about Nicko and Beast On The Road is that he was on a retainer contract due to Clive's growing unreliability.
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That’s correct. The story about Clive being away on The Beast on the Road tour to attend his father's funeral is untrue.
 
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