Simon Dawson is the new drummer

Everyone is overthinking this.

Dear old Nicko had a stroke. He (pretty miraculously) got the band through the tour he was booked in for. An amazing achievement by any standards.

It was likely very hard going for him to get through it. But he soldiered on and did an exceptional job.

Steve drives the band and needs someone he’s comfortable with. Les Dawson is perfect. Right age range, can play in various styles.

They said that Nicko is still in the band. So SD will be drumming on next year’s tour. Keeps options open for studio stuff and Nicko.

If you look at their past, newcomers were often treated differently in terms of credits and royalties. That’s why he’s the 2025 drummer.

If it works out well, they’ll keep him on. Until then, they’re not going to insult Nicko with ‘here’s the new drummer’. He’s the new guy until enough time passes.
 
OilyOarsome said:
Everyone is overthinking this.

Dear old Nicko had a stroke. He (pretty miraculously) got the band through the tour he was booked in for. An amazing achievement by any standards.

It was likely very hard going for him to get through it. But he soldiered on and did an exceptional job.

Steve drives the band and needs someone he’s comfortable with. Les Dawson is perfect. Right age range, can play in various styles.

They said that Nicko is still in the band. So SD will be drumming on next year’s tour. Keeps options open for studio stuff and Nicko.

If you look at their past, newcomers were often treated differently in terms of credits and royalties. That’s why he’s the 2025 drummer.

If it works out well, they’ll keep him on. Until then, they’re not going to insult Nicko with ‘here’s the new drummer’. He’s the new guy until enough time passes.
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Nailed it.

I've looked up Simon's work via YouTube clips and come away with confidence that he can certainly play the parts. From a musical standpoint, Maiden's catalog is far from the most difficult stuff out there; any professional drummer could do the gig. What will be the challenging part of the gig is FEEL. After playing together for over forty years and literally thousands of gigs and recordings, those guys are so locked in rhythmically that their timing together is intuitively telepathic now...and that is not something that can be replicated or achieved in a matter of rehearsals over a few months. That said, the music itself will not only be fine, it may even be sharper because everyone will be focused on getting it "right" - ESPECIALLY Simon, as this is his big break after decades of performing and he wants to do well for Steve, the band, the legacy and himself.

I've been struggling to put together the backstory of how we got here once I got past the emotion of the announcement. Obviously management and the band made a decision long before now. I'm assuming they've played with Simon already and he not only was on standby for this tour, he's prepped for the RFYL setlist. We all know Maiden works in year-long cycles regarding their tours; the timing of announcing the '25/26 run during the current tour was unusual, to say the least. We're in December; May 2025 is logistically right around the corner. Post holiday break, that's really not a lot of time to rehearse for an elaborate show featuring a key new member.

No conspiracy theories here; I'm just realizing that a LOT has been going on behind the scenes while navigating a spectacular world tour and the emotions of performing for the final time with a cherished brother.

Last thought: when I saw them in November at the Forum, when Nikko hit the downbeat on the intro to "Fear Of The Dark," I literally FELT it. I've seen Maiden over a dozen times since 1985 and this was by far the most powerful performance of that particular song I've ever heard them play after thousands of plays. I should've realized then that although the band still sounded amazing that change was in the air because age notwithstanding, I thought they were nowhere near ready as a band to shut it down.
 
chaosapiant said:
Good ol Les
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Les-Dawson-in-1991-010.jpg


This pic of him looks like something South Park would use
 
Let me see if I’ve got the timeline right. In February 2020, Joe Lazarus is the drum technician for Simon Dawson as they tour the United States with British Lion. Joe Lazarus was not the backup drummer during the Future Past tour due to commitments with Twin Atlantic and Phil Mogg. However, he continues to perform with the Iron Maiden cover band High On Maiden throughout 2023 and 2024, while also recording videos at Steve’s house in Essex. Nicko suffered a heart attack in January 2023 and informed the band via email the following day. On February 28, 2023, British Lion announced a 14-date tour across the UK and Europe between May and July 2023 and the dates matched the route of Iron Maiden’s tour. British Lion increases their activity in 2023 , but does not travel to North America for the 4 dates in 2023. Maybe Simon was around anyway? British Lion tours the UK in January 2024 and after that tours the world in close proximity to Iron Maiden for the rest of the year. Meanwhile, Joe Lazarus uploads his last Maiden cover (Seventh Son of a Seventh Son) on April 11th 2024. He is increasingly resembling an exact replica of Nicko, even mimicking specific gestures from the Maiden England video.

Now for the speculation part. According to Joes dad Steve Lazarus, Joe had been the backup drummer for the past three tours up until this point (January 2023), probably referring to the two separate Legacy of the Beast tours and perhaps the Book of Souls tour? Steve Lazarus left the Maiden camp somewhere just before Legacy of the Beast tour and is probably not aware of how the backup drummer discussion is shaping up from that point on, but Joe is working with British Lion and more interesting as Simon's drum tech. In February 2023, Steve Harris must have made the decision that Simon would be the new backup drummer as Joe wasn't going to be available for the tour. Simon likely spent February to May 2023 rehearsing the Future Past setlist and has since likely spent some time preparing Maiden songs from the first nine albums for the Run For Your Lives tour.

Is it possible the entire British Lion camp has rehearsed the Maiden set, just as Nicko used his band Titanium Tart to rehearse the Maiden setlist? Maybe David Hawkins and Grahame Leslie are guitar backups? I don't think Maiden will stop until either Bruce or Steve is done. In December 2024 Steve Lazarus had his online meltdown when the announcement was made, but Joe remained composed. Simon was announced only as the drummer for 2025, despite the tour being clearly planned to span 2025–2026. This may be due to his age, as he is only six years younger than Nicko. Perhaps Steve intends to give several drummers a chance, starting with the oldest as a logical choice. When the time comes to record a new album, it’s possible that neither Nicko nor Simon will be ideal candidates. It will be interesting to see if Joe continues to be involved during the 2025 tour, playing with High-On Maiden and recording Maiden-related videos.
 
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I wonder if Joe could step into British lion as the drummer now Simon has moved over to Maiden? This could mean Joe gets to play with Steve and they can see how they gel whilst Simon covers for 2025 and if all goes well with Joe in BL then he then takes over from Simon in Maiden in 2026.

That makes sense more than chucking Joe into Maiden now as Steve has been playing with Simon for over 12 years so it would be easier for Simon to step in now rather than Joe.

If this was perhaps the plan I hope Joes dad hadn’t fucked it all up attacking Steve Harris on Facebook.
 
AncientMariner_Essex said:
I wonder if Joe could step into British lion as the drummer now Simon has moved over to Maiden? This could mean Joe gets to play with Steve and they can see how they gel whilst Simon covers for 2025 and if all goes well with Joe in BL then he then takes over from Simon in Maiden in 2026.

That makes sense more than chucking Joe into Maiden now as Steve has been playing with Simon for over 12 years so it would be easier for Simon to step in now rather than Joe.

If this was perhaps the plan I hope Joes dad hadn’t fucked it all up attacking Steve Harris on Facebook.
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Why oh why would they ever plan for someone else to take the drummer seat for 2026?! Just because they left that part out when it was announced? Simon must be beyond terrible if that would ever be put out on the table.
 
srfc said:
Why would British Lion need a new drummer? They work around Steve's schedule
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I think that because Simon Dawson is 66 and would probably play 2 or even 3 nights in a row lots of times during a tour. That would be harder for a drummer than for Steve. But that doesn't mean he's out, of course.
 
Ruflux said:
I'm definitely curious to see what the drummer situation with British Lion looks like next year and on, but Joe's busy with his own stuff and I kind of doubt he's really interested in joining Steve's pub band. It's not exactly a forward-pushing career move.
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lol, Steve’s pub band has recorded 2 albums and toured the world following iron maiden. Don’t think joes career offers him more than that at the moment.
 
Letting Joe Lazarus join the band means he'd be cashing on the fame of being the last surviving Iron Maiden member. Steve Harris probably doesn't want that.
 
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