Iron Maiden drummer Nicko McBrain was interviewed by Eddie Trunk on the "Friday Night Rocks" show on New York's Q104.3 FM this past Friday (August 27). Asked to update the listeners on what's going on with Maiden at the moment, McBrain said, "We're gonna take the rest of the year off. We're planning on starting working late April/first week of May [2005]... We're gonna prepare a tour much like we did last year, which was the 'Give Me 'Ed... Til I'm Dead' tour, which is gonna be going out and playing the summer festivals. So we'll do a mini-tour... Hopefully in America we'll be able to come over here and play, like, maybe three or four weeks of festivals — who knows, it may be even longer, 'cause in the summertime there's lots going on — and then do some over in Europe. Then we'll take a little bit of time off at the end of the summer, and the general plan is — I'm not sure, timeframe-wise — but towards the end of next year, we'll write and record a new album. Then, I guess that will place us in 2006. [And then] we'll do the whole thing again — summer festivals and then... like we did on the last 'Give Me 'Ed' tour and then 'Dance of Death'. And I think that's the general plan. There may be slight changes in there, but you never know."

McBrain also commented on the incident last year when he was arrested and charged with assault after intentionally hitting a parking attendant with his car before a concert at the Tommy Hilfiger at Jones Beach Theater. Asked where the case stands right now, Nicko responded, "It's top secret at the moment, my friend. It's still going on. I'm still in... what's the word? I still have to go to court over it. 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.' And the other guy that was involved with it, I'm sure he's sitting there thinking [the same thing]. But it's gone its course and it's still being dealt with, so I can't really talk about it right now."

A 25-minute audio file containing McBrain's entire appearance on the "Friday Night Rocks" show (recorded on Aug. 27) can be downloaded at this location (mp3, 18 MB).

(source: Blabbermouth.net)