Nicko McBrain suffered a minor stroke in January 2023 which left him paralysed on one side.  However yesterday in an interview with SiriusXM, the 71-year-old Iron Maiden musician said he is “85 to 90 percent back to strength”.

McBrain also discussed the band’s ongoing ‘Future Past’ World Tour, which marks their first live shows since the release of their 2021 album Senjutsu. “It’s fantastic,” McBrain said.

The 'Future Past' world tour saw a date in Belfast at the Belsonic music festival in June of 2022 and has an upcoming Dublin date.

The group are set to perform a sold out show at the 3Arena Dublin on November 24th this year.

Speaking of the tour McBrain said: “It started off a little shaky for me, but as the time [went on] and the more shows we performed, I started to get a little bit more strength and they’d been really rocking out well. And the last couple of months have been fantastic.”

McBrain admitted that he had to adapt his drumming techniques to accommodate his physical limitations, even changing some well-known fills in certain songs. “Some fills that everybody knows me for on certain songs, I’ve had to improvise those at rehearsals to be able to actually play the songs,” he said. “But I’m definitely getting stronger.”

McBrain credited his manager, his bandmates, and the band’s fans for their support and love during his recovery process. “They’ve shown me so much love, it’s amazing,” he said.