Iron Maiden ditch hell-raising for Christianity, green tea and snooker

Beer and Jack Daniels are no longer on the menu for the aging heavy metal band formed 42 years ago.

Instead their dressing room ‘rider’ list now includes fruit, roast chicken and bread, washed down with a cup of tea.

And in the modern corporate world they have to pay for it all themselves.

Maiden’s born again Christian, drummer Nicko McBrain, turns 65 in June. He admitted the days of dressing room booze are way behind them.

He said: “We have tea, green tea, herbal tea, fruit, cold cut meats, a roast chicken in the fridge and various breads.

“It’s not very rock and roll, we used to do that, loads  bottles of wine and different beers. We had to pay for that. You get a rider, you go through all that stuff and you still have to pay for it, not the promoter.

“We are very basic, there’s usually a couple of bottles of montechez, which is a bit expensive for our guitarist Adrian, he likes his white wine, we used to have some reds in when I was drinking but I’ve been tea total for two years now.

Added Nicko: “I turned to Christianity way back in 92. I gave my heart to Jesus. My wife became a born again Christian before I did. I came home from tour and she was sitting in bed reading the Bible every night.

“I was baptised as a kid and went to Sunday School but that was it. I picked up the Bible, started reading it and then I went to a service and I really got moved with an amazing spiritual moment. 

“I’m not a perfect Christian but when you are born again you help people and do Christian things for folks.”

Snooker fanatic Nicko also organised the world tour dates to fit in with the World Finals in Sheffield last month. When the tour was announced last year he told co-manager Rod Smallwood he needed a weekend off

“I said the tour  was okay on one condition I said I want Bank Holiday weekend off because it’s the snooker final weekend. I said if I can have the weekend off we can do the tour. 

“Rod was true to his word We did two shows in Frankfurt on the Friday and Saturday night. I flew back from Frankhurt and on Tuesday I had to go to Hamburg. I love the game although I’m no good at it. I got VIP treatment, it was  phenomenal.

The two which kicked off in the United States last February, this week takes in shows at Sheffield, Leeds and Newcastle and the UK dates conclude with two nights at London’s O2 Arena on May 27/28.