Iron Maiden Choose Simon Dawson as New Touring Drummer

Iron Maiden works quickly, apparently, but I guess they didn’t really have a choice in this one. Nicko McBrain, the band’s original drummer who’s been with Maiden for 42 years, announced his retirement from touring yesterday (December 7). Maiden has already found a replacement in Simon Dawson.

If he looks familiar, that’s because he literally is familiar with the band. Dawson was previously an Iron Maiden session drummer and is currently the bassist in Steve Harris’s other band British Lion.

The band announced it on social media earlier today:

“An Announcement from Iron Maiden

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.”

Welcome back, Simon. We know you’ll fill the shoes quite well.