Bruce said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Well, we've already had a rehearsal with Simon on the last [MAIDEN] tour. Simon was tagging along with BRITISH LION, as Steve was doing shows [with both bands]. But it was kind of insurance for us because we weren't sure… We were hoping Nick [IRON MAIDEN's longtime drummer Nicko McBrain] was gonna make the tour, but there were some times during the show when, not so much his drumming, but his physical body was really… We were worried. We were, like, 'We do not want to end up with Nick in hospital, and we do need to have a backup.' And Simon was suggested by Steve, and we all went, 'Yeah, but how do we know it's gonna work?' So we said to Nick, 'Look, in the middle of the tour, we've got a couple of days in Portland, Oregon. We're gonna rent a rehearsal place and we're gonna just give Simon a go just to see if it works, just in case.' So we did. And a couple of us were, like, 'I don't know how this is gonna be, but hey…' And honestly, I was pleasantly shocked. I was, like, 'Wow.' We went through the whole set without a break. And this guy had not rehearsed with anybody. He just, like, turned up with MAIDEN. We went through the entire set of the tour that we were on at the time, and it was all there. I thought, 'My God, we could do a show tonight if we had to. That's unreal.'"
Explaining why Dawson was the right man to replace McBrain, Dickinson said: "The incredible thing was with Simon, which, obviously, when it was suggested, after Nicko decided to retire, or retire from live playing, that Simon should take over, and there were other drummers that people thought were kind of in the frame. And one of the reasons that we didn't pick those other type of drummers was 'cause, although they were very good drummers — nothing wrong with their drumming — they all wanted to sound like Nick. And you can't replace Nicko. You shouldn't even try to replace him. You don't want a Nicko clone. You want a drummer that plays the material but plays kind of their own style. And if I'm honest, if I closed my eyes at moments during that rehearsal [with Simon], it was like having [late MAIDEN drummer] Clive Burr back in the band, 'cause he's got that feel. It's that big band swing time feel. He has all the same influences and everything. And I was just, like, 'Oh my God. Wow.' So I'm actually really excited. We start [rehearsing for the tour] next — not next week. Hang on. I actually go back to Europe tomorrow. And then we've got, like, 10 days and then we start. So we will be going through it. I've got my little speaker set up in my little Airbnb at the moment. I've got the whole setlist on there."
Bruce went on to say that "Run For Your Lives" will mark the start of "a new chapter with Simon, and I look forward to it. There's no shame in that," he added. "We are doing the best we can do for the music."
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