Iron Maiden have announced their new touring drummer: Simon Dawson, a former session drummer and Maiden bassist Steve Harris’s longtime bandmate in British Lion. Dawson will be stepping in for Nicko McBrain, who retired from the road as last night’s show in São Paulo, Brazil.
The heavy-metal legends broke the news today (December 8th) with the following statement posted to social media: “As ‘The Future Past Tour’ concludes after 81 shows to over 1.4 million fans, from Ljubljana to the Coachella Valley and from Western Australia to Sao Paulo, Iron Maiden are delighted to announce that stepping in behind the kit for 2025 is a name familiar to many of our fans — Simon Dawson, a former session drummer and Steve’s rhythm section partner of the past 12 years with British Lion.
“A native of Suffolk, England, Simon first teamed up with Steve Harris back in 2012. He debuted on three tracks on the first British Lion album and all of the second critically acclaimed The Burning, plus the many subsequent tours in the US, UK, Europe, Australia, Japan, New Zealand &, most recently, both Mexico and South America.
“Iron Maiden celebrate their 50th Anniversary next year with ‘The Run for Your Lives Tour’ starting in Budapest on May 27th.”
McBrain announced that he was quitting touring with Maiden yesterday before the São Paulo show. “After much consideration, it is with both sorrow and joy, I announce my decision to take a step back from the grind of the extensive touring lifestyle,” he wrote in a heartfelt statement.
The 72-year-old drummer, who suffered a stroke in January 2023, had been playing with Maiden for 42 years.
“Tonight is a very special night, as some of you, I think probably all of you, will know,” Maiden vocalist Bruce Dickinson said onstage in São Paulo, addressing McBrain’s retirement, “because this morning we announced, Nicko announced that he was stepping back for playing live drums with Iron Maiden.
“For 42 years Nicko’s been in this band. He was a drummer before I was a singer, he was a pilot before I was a pilot, and now he’s not leaving the band, but he’s just not playing live with us anymore.
“So, we have a lot more music to get to tonight, and I want the rest of the night to be a celebration of Nick, a celebration of the joy that he’s brought to everybody around the world, not just here in Brazil,” Dickinson concluded, as the band launched into the third song of their set, “The Writing on the Wall.” “All right? And with that, on we go!”