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Saxon (band)
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Saxon are an English heavy metal band, formed in 1977 in Burnley, Yorkshire. As leading lights in the New Wave of British Heavy Metal they had huge success in the 1980s with 8 UK Top 40 albums including 4 UK Top 10 albums. Saxon also had numerous singles in the Top 20 singles chart. Between 1980 and 1987 Saxon established themselves as one of Europe's biggest metal acts, they also had success in Japan and in the USA. In Japan the single "Motorcycle Man" stayed in the charts for over 5 months.
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Encyclopedia
Saxon are an English heavy metal band, formed in 1977 in Burnley, Yorkshire. As leading lights in the New Wave of British Heavy Metal they had huge success in the 1980s with 8 UK Top 40 albums including 4 UK Top 10 albums. Saxon also had numerous singles in the Top 20 singles chart. Between 1980 and 1987 Saxon established themselves as one of Europe's biggest metal acts, they also had success in Japan and in the USA. In Japan the single "Motorcycle Man" stayed in the charts for over 5 months. They still tour heavily and regularly. Their latest tour is their largest in the UK since the late 1980s. Saxon have sold more than 10 million albums worldwide and heavily influenced bands such as Metallica, Megadeth, Mötley Crue and Ratt. They are considered as one of the strongest live acts in the heavy metal genre.
There is another incarnation of Saxon featuring two former band members who hold the legal rights to the name - "Oliver/Dawson Saxon".
History
Saxon began with a lineup of Peter "Biff" Byford on vocals, Paul Quinn and Graham Oliver on guitars, Steve "Ponce" Dawson on bass and drummer Pete "Frank" Gill. Early in their career the band changed their name from Son of a Bitch to Saxon, and gained support slots on tour with more established bands such as Motörhead.
In 1979 the band signed to the Carrere record label and released their eponymous debut album. In 1980 follow-up album Wheels of Steel (UK no 5) spawned two hit singles: the title track, and the crowd favourite "747 (Strangers in the Night)". The Strong Arm of the Law album (UK no 11), considered by fans to be one of their best recordings, was released later that same year, and chart success continued with singles from their next release, Denim and Leather (1981 UK no 9). The title track to that album is seen as an anthem of the early 1980s metal movement. Later legal issues with Carrere negated most if not all of the financial gains seen during their early success.
A relentless series of headlining tours around the UK capitalised on this success and a sold out tour of Europe with support act Ozzy Osbourne highlighted Saxon's immense ability on the road and was set in stone with the live release The Eagle Has Landed (1982 UK no 5).
In America they were supported by, amongst others, Metallica and they finished the U.S. tour with for sold out shows in Los Angeles.
As the NWOBHM movement began to fade 1983's Power & the Glory saw Saxon establish themselves as one of the major european metal acts together with Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. The "Power and Glory Tour" of 1983 was an arena tour that began in europe and was a huge success. The US leg of the tour with support act Accept proved successful and Saxon found themselves on the verge of becoming a major act in the US as the album, in its first week of release, sold more than 15,000 copies in Los Angeles alone. The emerging Glam Metal scene in America would however put a dent in the bands conquest of the american market.
Crusader, released in 1984 (UK no 12) sold well and the 1984 world tour "The World Crusade" was again a succcess both in europe and america. In the US they had Motley Crue and Krokus as support for parts of the tour as the band spent one year on the road. Though still heavy, critics detected a more americanized sound on Crusader and fans began to wonder what direction the band was taking.
They signed with EMI in 1985 and took a more commercial direction with their new record company. Innocence is No Excuse released in 1985, was a question mark to many fans as the raw, heavy Saxon-sound had been polished to gain US attraction. The album has however gained more critical accclaim with the years. A huge world tour followed but in early 1986 bassist Steve Dawson left the band and Saxon was back in the studio recording their 8th studio album Rock the Nations without a bass player. Byford laid down the bass parts and soon hired Paul Johnson to fill the spot and a European arena tour followed.
With American success hard to find and European support declining the release of the dissappointing Destiny (1988) did not help and Saxon were later dropped by EMI. They found new life in 1990, signed to Virgin Records and released five studio albums in the 90s before becoming increasingly popular in the new millenium with a string of strong album releases.
Saxon's The Inner Sanctum album, released in Europe on March 5, 2007, and North America on April 3, was seen by many critics as their best work in years. In 2007, they started a world tour in support of The Inner Sanctum which saw them have only 15 nights off from 60 dates.
Saxon relased a new studio album entitled "Into the Labyrinth" on 12 January 2009. In February, it was announced that the band were cancelling the Spanish leg of their European tour with Iced Earth, due to scheduling issues.
Collaboration with Harvey Goldsmith
In 2007, Saxon was the subject of an episode of Harvey Goldsmith's Get Your Act Together.
As part of his program, Goldsmith wanted to try and restore their popularity and cement their reputation as a great band once again. He drafted in two new producers to overlook the production of the new single If I Was You (a song about gun culture), which went straight to number one of the Rock Charts in over 10 countries (becoming their most successful single for over 12 years).
At the end of the programme, Saxon played at the sold out Sheffield City Hall. Saxon also performed at the 2008 Download Festival.
Line-ups
Throughout the band's history line-up changes have been common, but with Byford and Quinn remaining as constants. Gill left in 1981 after injuring his hand, to be replaced by Nigel Glockler, formerly of Toyah Willcox's band, who was himself replaced twice – briefly between 1987 and 1988 (by Nigel Durham), and, more permanently, following an injury of his own in 1998. Glockler rejoined the band in 2005 after his neck and shoulder injury had been healed.
Gill later went on to play for Motörhead. Dawson departed in 1986 – his replacement, Paul Johnson, lasted two years before leaving. Nibbs Carter has filled the position ever since.
When Graham Oliver left in 1995 (replaced by Doug Scarratt), the band split into two different Saxon groups - one dominated by vocalist Byford and his cohort Quinn and the other consisting of original Saxon members Oliver and Dawson. A period of legal actions ensued, resulting in both groups having the right to use Saxon in their name (although former member one must be indicated as "Oliver/Dawson Saxon").
The line-up of Byford's Saxon has been fairly stable apart from the departure of a few drummers. Following Glockler's departure, German Fritz Randow took up the position until 2004. His replacement was former Stratovarius man Jörg Michael.
The line-up that played on the Lionheart album consisted of Byford on vocals, guitarists Quinn and Scarrat, Carter on bass and Michael on drums. The German originally agreed to perform on the album as a session musician, but following his firing from Stratovarius was hired as a full-time member. Following the rapid reunion of Stratovarius, Michael departed after only a year in the job, opening the door for Glockler to return to Saxon. Saxon recorded The Inner Sanctum after the release of the live album The Eagle Has Landed - part 3, which features Glockler and Micheal on drums, as well as former drummer Fritz Randow.
In popular culture
When British music channel Scuzz, first came to air in 2003, their adverts featured a half-dressed long-haired man claiming he sold his soul "a long time ago to rock and roll". He later had his own television series called The Mullet Man Show, which gained a cult following and brought awareness of Saxon to its younger viewers.
In the show he lives with a skinny man called "Lucky Larry", who are both big fans of the band and were usually heard discussing the bands material, sometimes as part of a pub conversation. He wore a vest-shirt representing their police-badge album artwork. He had a house rule, that if anyone harmed his Saxon LP they would be taken to "The Room of Death". This happened twice when during the first time, Larry's friend Max Wheels spilt beer on his LP, only to be taken to the aforementioned room. In the room Max was given a broomstick, and Mullet had a snooker cue which he drawn into Max's heart killing him. Larry is later seen crying while "The Scientist" by Coldplay is playing in the background, only for Mullet to look upwards in the direction of their upstairs neighbour and shout "Oi!, turn off that Coldplay crap!".
Line-up history
Founding members of Saxon listed in bold
Son of a Bitch (1976-1978)
Saxon (1978-present)
Original lineup (1978-1981)
Second lineup (1981-1986)
Third lineup (1986-1987)
Fourth lineup (1987-1988)
Fifth lineup (1988-1994)
Sixth lineup (1995-1999)
Seventh lineup (1999-2004)
Eighth lineup (2004-2005)
Present lineup (2005-present)
Discography
External links
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