Bruce Dickinson on Who Iron Maiden’s New Drummer Reminds Him Of

Iron Maiden‘s Bruce Dickinson revealed during a recent interview at the Musicians Institute in Hollywood that the band’s new drummer Simon Dawson reminds him of another well known drummer, but it’s not Nicko McBrain whom he recently took over for.

Within the chat with MI Conversation Series host Ryan J. Downey, Dickinson broke down how Dawson came to be named Iron Maiden’s new drummer after McBrain’s retirement decision. It was during this discussion that Dickinson compared Dawson to a very well known drummer for Maiden fans, but it wasn’t the guy he was replacing.

Who Does Simon Dawson Remind Bruce Dickinson Of?

Amidst the conversation, Dickinson revealed that one of the reason’s Dawson was chosen for the band was that he was one of the few drummers considered that varied off how McBrain tended to sound.

“You can’t replace Nicko. You shouldn’t even try to replace him. You don’t want a Nicko clone,” explained Dickinson (as transcribed by Blabbermouth). You want a drummer that plays the material but plays kind of their own style.”

READ MORE: 5 Things to Know About Simon Dawson, Iron Maiden’s New Drummer

He then added, “If I’m honest, if I closed my eyes at moments during that [initial] rehearsal [with Simon], it was like having 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.”

“I was just, like, ‘Oh my God. Wow,’ recalled Dickinson of first hearing Dawson play. “So I’m actually really excited.”

How Simon Dawson Joined Iron Maiden

According to Dickinson, Dawson’s big opportunity happened in the midst of their previous Iron Maiden tour. At the time, Steve Harris had also been out playing with British Lion and Simon was along for that run.

He admits that the decision to audition Dawson was “kind of insurance for us because we weren’t sure.” Admittedly, while the band hoped that McBrain would be able to make the tour, Dickinson shared there was concern over how physically McBrain would be able to handle the rigors of the run.

“There were some times during the show when, not so much his drumming, but his physical body was really… We were worried,” said Dickinson. “We were, like, ‘We do not want to end up with Nick in hospital, and we do need to have a backup.'”

READ MORE: Nicko McBrain Opens Up on Retirement From Iron Maiden

It was Harris who suggested Dawson and it went better than Dickinson ever expected.

“Honestly, I was pleasantly shocked,” recalled the singer. “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.'”

Iron Maiden in 2025

Iron Maiden are about a month out from their 2025 return to the road. The band will kick off the Run For Your Lives world tour on May 27 in Budapest, Hungary.

At present, only dates in Europe and the U.K. are booked with shows set to run through Aug. 2 in Warsaw, Poland. See all of their scheduled dates, cities and venues and get ticketing information through the Iron Maiden website.