According to BocaNewsNow.com, Rebecca McBrain — wife of IRON MAIDEN drummer Nicko McBrain — was arrested on February 24 and charged with battery after she allegedly tried to stab two people in her home with a decorative lance. Although the stabbing attempt failed, Rebecca was allegedly successful in hitting the victims with logs that had been sitting in a firepit behind her home.
Rebecca McBrain, who is 50, was released on $3,000 bond.
A photo of Nicko and Rebecca attending the opening party for the Hard Rock Café in Boston, Massachusetts on August 7, 2007 can be found at BostonNightclubNews.com.
According to a 1994 article in the Sun Sentinel, Nicko and Rebecca met in 1984 at the Button South in Fort Lauderdale. They married five years later and have made a home in Boca Raton around their son, Justin, who is now 19 years old.
“It’s very peaceful here. And there are great golf courses,” Nicko said about living in Boca Raton.
He added: “This is a great community. After the humdrum life on the road, the last thing I want to come home to is craziness.”
Rebecca comes from a big family in West Virginia and did some modeling while studying at Marshall University in Huntington. In 1985, she was a finalist in the Miss West Virginia Pageant.
Back in July 2003, Nicko McBrain was arrested for allegedly hitting a parking lot attendant — on purpose — with his black Jaguar after a disagreement over McBrain‘s VIP credentials before a concert at Jones Beach Theatre in Wantagh, New York. “It’s one of those things that happened that shouldn’t have happened, but it did, and over time, you sort of look at it and go, ‘Gosh, that was silly,'” Nicko said in an August 2004 interview. “And the other guy that was involved with it, I’m sure he’s sitting there thinking [the same thing].”
Rebecca McBrain photo courtesy of Palm Beach County Jail
Former IRON MAIDEN singer Paul Di’Anno‘s previously announced U.S. tour, which was originally scheduled to kick off in January and was then postponed until May/June, has once again been called off. According to Paul, the trek “is now being rescheduled to the later part of this year.”
In other news, fan-filmed video footage of Di’Anno performing a brand new song, “You’ve Been Kissed By The Wings Of An Angel Of Death”, on March 24 at The Rock Temple in Kerkrade, The Netherlands can be seen below.
Di’Anno completed his first North American tour in early 2010, 17 years after he was deported following a prison term for guns and drug offenses.
On August 27, 2011, Di’Anno played his first show since serving time in a U.K. prison after he falsely collected U.K. government benefits by claiming he suffered nerve damage to his back that prevented him from working.
Due to a number of health issues, including a knee problem which will require surgery soon, Di’Anno announced in July 2012 that he will stop touring next year.
Michael Salenius, Di’Anno‘s Swedish booking manager and tour manager, told BLABBERMOUTH.NET that this year will be “a big, fantastic” last touring year for Paul, with a lot of solo shows, festival appearances and Di’Anno vs. Blaze Bayley concerts. You will also see various guest musicians joining Paul on stage.
Di’Anno recorded two classic albums with IRON MAIDEN before being fired and replaced by Bruce Dickinson. He went on to front a number of other bands, including KILLERS and BATTLEZONE, and released several solo records.
IRON MAIDEN frontman Bruce Dicksinson spoke to FlightGlobal.com about his recently launched aircraft maintenance business, Cardiff Aviation Limited, which is based at the Twin Peaks Hangar at St Athan, Vale of Glamorgan in Wales, United Kingdom. Dickinson, a qualified commercial pilot, and his company are leasing the 132,000 square-foot hangar from the Welsh government. Check out the report below.
Cardiff Aviation specializes in heavy maintenance of Airbus and Boeing commercial aircraft, and can address virtually any planned or unscheduled engineering or maintenance challenge, project or issue.
As well as maintenance of airliners and other large aircraft for several major and independent airlines, Cardiff Aviation will have facilities to complete the full range of ancillary aircraft maintenance activities for commercial, business and specialist aircraft, including storage and maintenance, interior and exterior refurbishment, technical and flight training, and has the expertise and approvals to certify aircraft from many jurisdictions, including the USA.
Bruce is joined in this venture by experienced aviation entrepreneurial resource and investment.
Dickinson wanted to be a pilot from the age of five (until his “fascination with guitars took over”) and has flown aircraft for a number of airlines, from British World Airlines to Astraeus Airlines until it folded in November 2011.
Dickinson told CNN.com in a 2007 interview, “Aviation’s been kicking around my family for as long as I can remember; my uncle was in the RAF. But I always thought I was too stupid. I was useless at math and majored in history at university, so I thought history majors don’t become pilots, let alone rock stars. And then our drummer learned to fly, so I said if a drummer can learn to fly, then anyone can.”
He added, “I never dreamed I would end up flying an airliner. I ended up flying IRON MAIDEN around on tour in a little eight-seat, pressurized, twin-engine plane. Basically, we were flying round all the world’s major airports, flew across the Atlantic and back, which was quite an adventure. At the end, I thought, I really want to fly something bigger, but I can’t afford it — I can’t buy my own 707. If I’m going to do that, I have to get a job.”
IRON MAIDEN‘s Maiden England ‘88 is out this week as a CD, DVD and Double Picture LP. Check out a 12-minute album sampler below:
Now available for the very first time on DVD, this live show was filmed across two sold-out nights at Birmingham N.E.C Arena, UK in November 1988 during the band’s Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son World Tour. Disc one contains the concert which has been specially upgraded and extended from the existing 1989 longform VHS release and now includes three previously unreleased encores: ‘Running Free’, ‘Run To The Hills’ and ‘Sanctuary’ thereby completing the full concert with a total running time of 110 minutes.
Maiden’s own Film Producer and Director Andy Matthews went back to the 1988 edit and painstakingly remastered each shot digitally; colour correcting and grading to give the image the best possible look from that time. As well as the VHS stereo sound track by Martin Birch, the band’s producer between 1981 and 1993, the DVD also includes a brand new 5.1 audio surround mix by Maiden’s current producer Kevin Shirley. The concert was meticulously directed and edited by bass player and founder member Steve Harris, so as to capture the performance from a fans-eye view of the stage, focusing fully on the music, the elaborate stage production and the lighting. Add into the mix an electrifying set list and of course Eddie, and Maiden England now offers a snapshot of a bygone era in which the band, as they continue to do today, devote their all in delivering the ultimate live experience for their fans.
Disc two is an extensive bonus disc featuring an exclusive documentary charting Part 3 in the History of Iron Maiden. This 40-minute film comprises recent interviews with the five band members and manager, Rod Smallwood. Picking up the story in the aftermath of the ‘84/85 World Slavery tour, this interesting and insightful documentary sees the band speak candidly about their memories of an exciting and occasionally turbulent period from which would emerge the albums Somewhere In Time and Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son. As the eighties began to draw to a close, so did another chapter in Maiden’s compelling history.
Other special extras on the bonus disc include Twelve Wasted Years. First released as a longform VHS in 1987 and available for the first time on DVD, this documentary runs for 90 minutes and includes archive interviews and dynamic live footage from the band’s beginnings in the now legendary Ruskin Arms pub, via London’s Marquee club and three World Tours. Five promo videos for the singles from the aforementioned albums are also featured and have been carefully restored and improved upon from the original films using the very latest software with the audio remastered in digital stereo.
Manager Rod Smallwood comments “We’ve been busy upgrading this concert footage for a long time, with our in-house Film Producer and Director Andy Matthews working tirelessly to weave his magic yet again!. The 1989 VHS video has been largely unavailable for many years and we know how eagerly our fans have been awaiting the new version so we wanted to give it the best possible treatment. The current Maiden England World Tour which continues later this year revisits much of the set list and production from the initial 1989 VHS release so it will be interesting to compare just how much has changed in terms of our 2013 live show production, especially with all the advances in modern technology and the improvements we’ve been able to make to the set.”
The Maiden England ‘88 concert soundtrack is also available on 2CD album, Limited Edition double vinyl picture disc and Digital Download formats. The audio had previously only ever been available before on CD as part of EMI’s 1994 Sound And Vision Series packaged alongside the VHS, but with two tracks fewer than the video contained. ‘Can I Play With Madness’ and ‘Hallowed Be Thy Name’ were not featured as there was no space on the 1CD disc. Now with the three encores also included the double disc offers a total of five tracks previously unavailable on CD making this the first full and complete audio recording release of this historic tour.
Check out the Maiden England ’88 trailer below:
Maiden England Disc One:
‘Moonchild’
‘The Evil That Men Do’
‘The Prisoner’
‘Still Life’
‘Die with Your Boots On’
‘Infinite Dreams’
‘Killers’
‘Can I Play with Madness’
‘Heaven Can Wait’
‘Wasted Years’
‘The Clairvoyant’
‘Seventh Son of a Seventh Son’
‘The Number of the Beast’
‘Hallowed Be Thy Name’
‘Iron Maiden’
‘Run To The Hills’*
‘Running Free’*
‘Sanctuary’*
* Previously unreleased
Disc Two: The History Of Iron Maiden Part 3:
The History Of Iron Maiden – Part 3
12 Wasted Years
‘Wasted Years’ Promo Video
‘Stranger In A Strange Land’ Promo Video
‘Can I Play With Madness’ Promo Video
‘The Evil That Men Do’ Promo Video
‘The Clairvoyant’ Promo Video
Iron Maiden have uploaded an exclusive Maiden England ’88 playlist to Spotify, featuring the following tracks recorded live at Birmingham NEC on November 27th and 28th, 1988:
‘Moonchild’
‘Infinite Dreams’
‘Can I Play With Madness’
‘The Clairvoyant’
‘Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son’
British hard rock legends IRON MAIDEN recently teamed up with Cheshire family brewers Robinsons to create a new beer, Trooper. Real ale fan and history aficionado Bruce Dickinson, Maiden’s vocalist, played a major role in developing the unique flavour of the beer, entailing ongoing visits to Robinson’s brewery in Stockport. Dickinson’s on-stage Union Jack flag-waving military character is an iconic element of the band’s live concerts and ‘The Trooper’, written by bassist Steve Harris, is one of Maiden’s most popular songs and one of the highlights of any Maiden show.
The makers of Trooper Premium British Beer have detailed the process, ingredients (and passion!) into making such a fine brew below.
First up, the water.
“Water used for brewing is drawn from one of two brewery boreholes up to 180 metres (600 feet) deep. (That’s as deep as Blackpool Tower is high, trivia fans!). The water that sits under the brewery has filtered down through thousands of metres of sandstone from the Buxton Hills and it is the perfect water for brewing with.”
Trooper ingredients part two, the malt:
“Malt is made mainly from barley but also from several other cereals, especially wheat. The malting process mimics the natural germination of the grain in the field. Barley is steeped in water and then spread on floors until the shoot and rootlets start to emerge. It is then dried (kilned). The grain looks somewhat unchanged at the end of this process but a lot of the starch has been converted to sugar and the grains are more friable (crumbly). The extent of the kilning determines the colour of the malt and hence the beer, as well as influencing flavour. The Malt we will be using in Trooper is Tipple malt. Tipple is Suffolk spring barley and we can get a high extraction of sugars from this particular malt – it gives Trooper a bit of a biscuitty note!”
Hops:
“Hops in the UK are mainly grown in Kent, Worcestershire and Herefordshire. In the copper we use mainly hops from these areas. Hops provide bitterness and other flavours and assist in extending the keeping qualities of cask conditional beer. Hops used in the Hopnik provide particular flavours and aromas which come from varieties grown all over the world including the UK. Each variety has its own individual flavour profile. Sometimes a blend is used, sometimes just one variety, in order to produce a beer of the desired character. In Trooper beer we are going to be using Goldings & Bobek Hops – this will create a Zesty aroma with out creating too much bitterness.”
Last but not least… yeast:
“The yeast that will be used to convert all those sugars into Alcohol are one of Robinsons longest serving employees! We have used the same strain of yeast for nearly a century! The yeast will munch away on the sugars for about 3 days before it goes off to be packaged.”
Dutch classical guitarist Thomas Zwijsen paid tribute to late IRON MAIDEN drummer Clive Burr by performing an acoustic version of the MAIDEN classic “Run To The Hills” on March 15 in Grenoble, France. Check out video footage of the performance below.
Clive Burr died on March 12 in his sleep at his home at the age of 56 after suffering from multiple sclerosis for many years.
Clive joined MAIDEN in 1979 and performed on the first three albums — “Iron Maiden” (1980), “Killers” (1981) and “The Number Of The Beast” (1982). Prior to that, he was a member of SAMSON, the band Bruce Dickinson fronted before he, too, joined MAIDEN.
Zwijsen‘s album “Nylon Maiden” will be released in Japan on March 27 via a new deal with King Records. The CD contains unique arrangements of IRON MAIDEN tracks on classical guitar.
The Japanese CD version of “Nylon Maiden” will contain two bonus tracks and the Japanese digital version will contain three bonus tracks.
“Nylon Maiden” Japanese version track listing:
01. Aces High
02. Rainmaker
03. The Trooper
04. Dance Of Death
05. Can I Play With Madness
06. Blood Brothers
07. The Clairvoyant
08. Wasting Love
09. Wasted Years
10. The Clansman (featuring Blaze Bayley)
11. The Talisman (featuring Tony Newton)
Bonus tracks:
12. Phantom Of The Opera
13. Run To The Hills
Extra bonus track digital download:
14. The Evil That Men Do
Zwijsen recently finished a South American tour with Blaze Bayley (WOLFSBANE, IRON MAIDEN) and is currently on tour through Europe, promoting “Nylon Maiden” and their latest joint effort, “Russian Holiday”. Later this year, Zwijsen and Bayley will tour in Australia.
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