I come from a very musical family, so I naturally came out of the womb playing the drums and haven’t stopped ever since. haha Ok, seriously, my dad placed a pair of drumsticks in my hands around age 2 or 3, and after 4-5 years playing a Remo practice pad kit and peanut butter buckets, I finally got my first actual drum kit at age 7, and the rest is history! Dad plays trombone and had a big band orchestra for 60+ years. Mom taught private piano lessons. My brother Michael is a well known and accomplished guitarist. My other brother Steve is a jazz drummer and played with dad's band as his regular drummer.

I started my first band, Prowler, in 1987 as a freshman, for a high school talent show where we played "Crazy Train" and "Born to be Wild". Soon after, I met bassist Randy Gaines and we started what is best described as a skate-rock band (D.R.I. meets Gang Green) in 1988 called Bedlam that only lasted about a year. We spent the summer of 1989 auditioning guitarists and singers, and in November of that year we started a thrash/death metal band called Decay, which gained midwest popularity. After 6 years, 3 recordings, and hundreds of live shows, we played our biggest shows to date, at the Milwaukee Metalfest in July 1995. Not too long after that I got an offer to audition for Oakland California's Machine Head in late 1995. And even though I went in and crushed the audition, they had more to drummers to audition, including Dave McClain, who got the gig instead. Decay had replaced me at this point, so I moved to Louisville KY to join hardcore band My Own Victim, and in early 1996, spent three months in Europe touring with the band. Finally, in late 1997, I recorded drums for their final album on Century Media Records, “The Weapon“ released in 1998.

In 2001, me and my brother Michael formed the band The Michael Harris Tranz-Fusion, with a heavy focus on Michael's instrumental catalog, but always tossing in a handful of classic and fun covers for good measure. 

Also throughout the mid 2000s and into the mid 2010s, I played with local death metallers, Foul Stench, and crossover metal/rap turned hardcore/death metal The Reefer Hut. I also played with Time Machine and Last Call, both classic rock cover bands in Dayton OH. 

I am currently playing everything from Rush to Boston to Triumph to VH to April Wine and more with cover band Mad Hatter. And you can also catch me only a few times a year behind the biggest kit I've ever owned, a Nicko McBrain replica kit (nicknamed The Brian Maiden kit), as I use every part of that 11 piece kit with 12 cymbals, with Iron Maiden tribute Aces High., formed in late 2011 as just a band to play a show to raise money for the Children's Miracle Foundation. But after spending so many rehearsals/months preparing for it, and the chemistry amongst the 5 of us, we realized we had something very special and decided to continue playing and tributing one of the greatest metal bands of all time, Iron F*cking Maiden! Up the Irons!🤘🏼

I have been fortunate to be a part of many recordings to my name including session work most notably with Miami FL Solstice on their “To Dust” album, and Greece’s Firewind “Between Heaven and Hell”, as well as a few other power metal recordings through David T. Chastain’s Leviathan Records. You can also hear me on a few of my brother Michael Harris' albums. 

Visit the DISCOGRAPHY page to hear samples of most of these recordings. 

And finally, if you made it this far, thank you for reading~ 

-Brian

I stood patiently outside the British Drum Company booth while Nicko was having a conversation with someone. One of the drum reps tapped him on the shoulder and pointed to my shirt. He couldn't believe his eyes. I asked if I could get a quick picture and he said "sure, come on in!" And if you look at his expression in this picture above, I can only assume he's thinking "did this guy really put my mug all over his shirt?" 

I sure did. Thanks to the facebook ad selling shirts that allow you to put a face "all over" haha  

  I had a very brief moment meeting Nicko back in 1995 at the Milwaukee Metalfest, when my old band Decay played the fest. But at the NAMM show 2020 I got to meet him again, and this time shake his hand and get a few pictures, which in my opinion is better than an autograph, which I have from the original meeting.

So needless to say, this was the highlight of my NAMM trip! Thank you Nicko for letting me interrupt you!