Watch NICKO MCBRAIN And JOEY BELLADONNA Perform JOURNEY Classics At Rock N Roll Ribs 14th-Anniversary Celebration

On Saturday, December 2, IRON MAIDEN drummer Nicko McBrain performed a set of MAIDEN classics with TITANIUM TART at the 14th-anniversary celebration for Rock N Roll Ribs, the barbecue restaurant owned by McBrain and close friend Mitch Tanne, in Coral Springs, Florida. Also appearing at the event were METALUCIOUS, ANGELS OF WAR, CHILDREN OF THE GRAVE, SCHOOL OF ROCK and JETTER. There was also an appearance by special guest, ANTHRAX singer Joey Belladonna, who played a few JOURNEY classics with Nicko and TITANIUM TART. Photos and video can be found below.

A barbecue joint with a musical bent, Rock N Roll Ribs showcases its love for smokey Southern cooking with food like barbecued pork and chicken and clever takes on MAIDEN songs, like “Final Frontier” dog, “Moonchild Mahi” sandwich and “Aces High” fries.

“It’s not just MAIDEN fans that come in,” McBrain said about the restaurant in a 2010 interview. “We do get a lot of pilgrimages, people come in and look at all the stuff on the walls, but most people that come in always come out satisfied. And it’s not major expensive. A rack of ribs is [$20], and you get a pound and a quarter to a pound and a half of ribs.”

Asked if he has always been a BBQ fan, McBrain told Broward Palm Beach New Times back in 2013: “Yeah! You know, I’m a Brit, and we don’t have a very long summer, so it’s very few and far between people get out and do a barbie in the backyard. Touring around America, I always used to love buying a rack of baby backs and some cole slaw and French Fries, and that was my main BBQ experience, the baby backs. Then a friend of mine taught me how to make the ribs we make in the restaurant, and I started to make some sauce, and it was very successful and people liked it, and that’s where Rock N Roll Ribs was born, really. It was a dream we had and it finally came into fruition. I’ve got to be honest, it’s not a business that’s making a lot of money for us, but we make a lot of people smile and a lot of people happy. I’m very happy, it’s great! I love it when I meet people and they say things like, ‘these are the ribs I’ve ever had,’ or, ‘Your pulled pork is to die for,’ and it warms the cockles of me heart!”

Rock N Roll Ribs

4651 State Rd. 7 (US441)

Coral Springs, FL 33073

954-345-RIBZ (7429)

Joining Nicko in TITANIUM TART are Rob Stokes on bass, Eldad Kira on keyboards, Mike Rivera and Mitch Tanne on guitar, and Paolo Velazquez on vocals.

McBrain was born in Hackney, East London, on June 5, 1952. His first experience of music came via his father’s love of traditional jazz. Young Nicko‘s hero was Joe Morello, the late, great drummer with the legendary THE DAVE BRUBECK QUARTET. Nicko would often take to the kitchen, using forks and knives to beat on anything he could find at home. Fed up with him bashing up the kitchen utensils, his parents finally bought him his first drum kit when he was 12.

By the time he left school at 15, he was already a veteran of several part-time pub groups. Musically, however, his tastes had broadened to include more contemporary sixties sounds from THE SHADOWS, THE ANIMALS, THE BEATLES and THE ROLLING STONES. On the recommendation of another drummer he knew, he began to take on session work, playing on countless different recordings.

In 1975, Nicko joined STREETWALKERS, the band formed by ex-FAMILY members, vocalist Roger Chapman and guitarist Charlie Whitney. From the late seventies until 1982 when he joined IRON MAIDEN, Nicko had spent his time in session work, most memorably with the PAT TRAVERS BAND on their 1976 “Makin’ Magic” album, and also appeared in the band MCKITTY in the early 1980’s. It was during a MCKITTY gig in Belgium that he first met IRON MAIDEN bassist Steve Harris.

He officially joined IRON MAIDEN in December 1982 for the 1983 “Piece Of Mind” album and tour, replacing Clive Burr, after McBrain‘s previous band TRUST had supported IRON MAIDEN during the U.K. leg of the “Killers” tour in 1981.

With 14 studio and eight live albums currently under his belt with MAIDEN, Nicko‘s role as the driving force behind the band’s sound has served as a major influence to many of today’s top drummers and solidified his place in music history.

McBrain and his wife still live in the same Boca Raton, Florida home they bought in 1989 when Nicko relocated from England.