Nicko McBrain and his new British Drum Co. kit

British Drum Co is a drum company which has been in existence only for a few years, but one that is developing dynamically and making great-sounding and beautiful drum sets and snare drums. They have already created quite a big family of artists, and in November 2019 it was announced that Nicko McBrain himself had decided to join the roster.

Nicko McBrain in 2019

Three days ago, Nicko published a video in which he presents his new British Drum Co set taken on the post-covid part of Iron Maiden‘s Legacy of the Beast tour. The presentation was recorded in Zagreb, before the opening show of the European leg of the tour.

“This is my new BDC Legend drum set. […] This British Drum Company is one of the best drum companies I’ve ever used. The guy that makes these drums is out of the Premier family – master drum builder, Mr. Keith Keough. These are the drums: 6″x8″, 8″x8″, 10″x10″, 12″x12″, 13″x13″, 14″x14″, 15″x15″, 16″x16″ hanging toms. The floor tom is 18″x16″. The bass drum is 24″x 18″.”

“[…] I decided to take the inner [‘Senjitsu’] album sleeve artwork. I also decided to put in different images. I like to represent different Eddies, so to speak. […] On the 6-inch tom, I put a Christian cross with a Buddha in it. In Japan in the feudal days, Christianity was a bit outlawed so they stuck a Buddha on the cross to get around it. Next door [the 8″ tom], I’ve got my Jaguar logo from my favourite car company in the whole wide world. Over here [on the 10″ tom], ‘Iron Maiden’ Eddie. I’ve got ‘Killers’ on this one [12″ tom]. I’ve got the original Trooper Eddie on this one [the 13″ tom]. I’ve got the new ‘Senjitsu’ Eddie from the inside of the album on this drum [the 14″ tom]. Over here [the 15″ tom], I’ve got the ‘Number of the Beast’ Eddie and on this one [the 16″ tom], I’ve got ‘A Matter of Life and Death’ Eddie. On the bass drum, there’s two Eddie artworks. One is the ‘Trooper’ artwork from the tour […]. He’s got a different outfit and he looks different than the first Trooper, which is on the 13-inch tom. I’ve [also] got the ‘Senjitsu’ Eddie, which is not part of the album artwork […]. The snare drum is a BDC Talisman snare drum. It’s a signature drum that Keith made for me. It is 1.5mm British steel. […] It’s a seamless metal shell, 14″x6.5″.”

“The material that the drums are made of is all birch because this is a Legend shell. The tom toms are 9-ply with an single interior ply of fishtail oak. Makes 10 plies – 9 of birch, 1 of oak. The bass drum [shell] is a 14-ply. We just needed a little strength ’cause there’s a lot of weight on this bass drum.”

“The other thing that’s very unique to this drum set is the Eco Strip, which is the strip that runs down the seam where the wrap comes together. It’s even on the bass drum underneath. […]”

“All the hardware on the kit is called ‘Smoked Chrome’ or ‘Brushed Nickel’. […] It’s not black chrome, it’s a little bit smokey. All the cymbal stands.”