Nicko McBrain announces memoir and first spoken-word tour

Nicko McBrain paired Hello Boys and Girls! with his first spoken-word tour, giving drummers a live route into the stories behind Iron Maiden’s kit, not just a memoir on the shelf. The book, Hello Boys and Girls!: The Must-have Heavy Metal Memoir for 2026, will be published in hardback, ebook and audio on October 22, 2026, and An Evening With Nicko McBrain will begin in Frankfurt on October 26 before moving through Germany, the Netherlands, Scandinavia, Ireland and the UK. Iron Maiden’s rollout came in two steps, with the book announcement dated May 12 and the tour reveal dated June 12.

The official book copy calls the memoir a “thrilling, hilarious and deeply personal autobiography,” built on “backstage stories, laugh-out-loud anecdotes and raw honesty.” McBrain said it was an honor to write his autobiography, to “walk down memory lane,” and to bring those stories on the road. That is the real draw for drummers: hearing one of metal’s most recognizable players talk through endurance, recovery and life inside a legendary drum chair in his own voice, in theatres instead of arenas.

Iron Maiden’s biography traces Michael Henry McBrain back to Hackney, East London, where he was born in 1952 and started drumming on his mother’s pots and pans before getting his first drum kit at 11. By 14, he was semi-professional, playing wedding bands around London, then worked with Streetwalkers, Pat Travers Band and Trust before joining Iron Maiden in 1982. The band says McBrain has played on 14 studio albums, multiple live albums and dozens of world tours, helping drive a catalog that has sold more than 100 million records worldwide.

The story also folds in the less-expected parts of McBrain’s life, including The Sooty Show, classic cars, a Florida restaurateur sideline, cancer and his recovery from a near career-ending stroke. That context gives the spoken-word format extra force after Iron Maiden said McBrain’s final gig with the band came in São Paulo on December 7, 2024. With the touring life behind him, the new project turns decades of drum-seat history into something smaller, more conversational and much more personal.