Saxon (band)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search
Saxon

Background information
Origin Flag of England Barnsley, Yorkshire, England
Genre(s) NWOBHM
Heavy metal
Hard rock
Years active 1976 - present
Label(s) Steamhammer/SPV
Website www.saxon747.com
Members
Biff Byford
Doug Scarratt
Nigel Glockler
Paul Quinn
Nibbs Carter

Oliver/Dawson Saxon
John Ward
Graham Oliver
Hadyn Conway
Steve Dawson
Nigel Durham

Saxon are a British heavy metal band, formed in 1976 in Barnsley, Yorkshire. As leading lights in the New Wave of British Heavy Metal they had a brief period of UK Top 40 success in the early 1980s, and also tasted success in Europe and Japan. They still tour heavily and regularly. Their latest (in support of The Inner Sanctum album) tour is their largest in the UK since the early 1980s. Until this, the band's fame had been focussed largely in Germany for many years.

There is another incarnation of Saxon featuring two former band members who hold the legal rights to the name - "Oliver/Dawson Saxon".

Contents

Saxon began with a lineup of Peter "Biff" Byford on vocals, Paul Quinn and Graham Oliver on guitars, Steve Dawson on bass and drummer Pete 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 spawned two hit singles: the title track, and the crowd favourite "747 (Strangers in the Night)". The Strong Arm of the Law album, 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. 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.

Saxon - Sixth Form Girls excerpt

An excerpt from Strong Arm of the Law 's Sixth Form Girls

Problems listening to the file? See media help.

A relentless series of headlining tours around the UK capitalised on this success, but Saxon were never able to break into the lucrative U.S. market. After 1983's Power and the Glory album, Saxon went in an increasingly commercial direction, in an effort to counterbalance NWOBHM music's decline. This had little success despite signing to major record label EMI. Indeed, the move did little more than alienate their core fanbase. They were seen by detractors as the epitome of the heavy metal cliché. Recently, they have returned to their less overtly commercial roots, and still have a larger following. Saxon recently did a 25th Anniversary of NWOBHM tour of Germany beginning in early March 2005. To celebrate the anniversary of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM), the band played songs they recorded during the 1980s.

Saxon's latest studio album, entitled The Inner Sanctum, was released in Europe on March 5, 2007, and North America on April 3, seen by many critics as their best work in years. In 2007, they started a world tour in support of The Inner Sanctum. Surprisingly for their age, they will only have 15 nights off from 60 dates.

In 2007, Saxon was the subject of an episode of Harvey Goldsmith's Get Your Act Together.

Saxon's popularity had been in decline since about 1983. As part of his program, Goldsmith wanted to try and restore their popularity and cement their reputation as a great band once again. He claimed their music was just like Iron Maiden's and they should have similar levels of success (Iron Maiden are one of the top selling heavy metal acts of all time). He went on a 6 month make over of Saxon, including their look, sound and stage set. 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 sold out the Sheffield City Hall (over 2,000 capacity) becoming their biggest UK date in over 15 years. Since then they have gone on one of their biggest tours ever, with healthy ticket sales that were not present for years.

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 being completely cured from his injury. 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.

Founding members of Saxon listed in bold

In 1994, Graham Oliver and Steve Dawson, founding members of Saxon, reunited. They began under the name 'Son of a Bitch' (which had been Saxon's own name originally, before they became well known) but were often billed as Saxon on tours by promoters, though the band often didn't discourage this. In 2000 after a period of inactivity they decided to officially rename themselves Oliver/Dawson Saxon. The band has been known by this name ever since, and despite recording other material from 1996 onwards have always relied primarily on Saxon songs during live sets. Despite Byford attempting a legal injunction against the use of the name "Saxon" in the band's title to falsely promote themselves, as founding members of the original band courts deemed use of the name legally acceptable[citation needed].

  • Ted Bullet - vocals
  • Graham Oliver - guitar
  • Steve Dawson - bass
  • Pete Gill - drums

  • Kev Moore - vocals
  • Graham Oliver - guitar
  • Steve Dawson - bass
  • Nigel Durham - drums

  • John Ward - vocals
  • Graham Oliver - guitar
  • Steve Dawson - bass
  • Nigel Durham - drums

  • John Ward - vocals
  • Graham Oliver - guitar
  • Hadyn Conway - guitar
  • Steve Dawson - bass
  • Nigel Durham - drums

  • Biff Byford - vocals (Saxon: 1976-present)
  • Doug Scarratt - guitar (Saxon: 1995-present)
  • Paul Quinn - guitar (Saxon: 1976-present)
  • Nibbs Carter - bass, keyboards (Saxon: 1988-present)
  • Nigel Glockler - drums (Saxon: 1981-1987, 1988-1999, 2005-present)

  • John Ward - vocals (Oliver/Dawson Saxon: 2000-present)
  • Graham Oliver - guitar (Saxon: 1976-1994, Oliver/Dawson Saxon: 1994-present)
  • Haydn Conway - guitar (Oliver/Dawson Saxon: 1994-present)
  • Steve Dawson - bass (Saxon: 1976-1986, Oliver/Dawson Saxon: 1994-present)
  • Nigel Durham - drums (Saxon: 1987-1988, Oliver/Dawson Saxon: 1999-present)

  • 1980 "Wheels of Steel" #20
  • 1980 "747 (Strangers in the Night)" #13
  • 1980 "Backs To The Wall" #64
  • 1980 "Big Teaser" #66
  • 1980 "Strong Arm Of The Law" #63
  • 1981 "And the Bands Played On" #12
  • 1981 "Never Surrender" #18
  • 1981 "Princess Of The Night" #57
  • 1983 "Power and the Glory" #32
  • 1983 "Nightmare" #50
  • 1984 "Sailing To America" #81
  • 1985 "Back On The Streets" #75
  • 1986 "Rock 'N' Roll Gypsy" #72
  • 1986 "Waiting For The Night" #66
  • 1986 "Rock The Nations" #80
  • 1987 "Northern Lady" #91
  • 1988 "Ride Like The Wind" #52
  • 1988 "I Can't Wait Anymore" #71

Did not have any US Top 40 hits.

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saxon_%28band%29"
Advanced Search
Included Web Search Engines


Safe Search

close

Top Matching Results

Occasionally Search.com will highlight specialized results that are based on the context of your query. Examples of specialized results include specific links to news, images, or video.

Top Matching Results may highlight information from other Search.com pages, content from the CNET Network of sites, or third party content. The listings are based purely on relevance. Search.com does not receive payment for listings in this section but our partners that provide this data may get paid for listing these products.

Sponsored Links

This section contains paid listings which have been purchased by companies that want to have their sites appear for specific search terms and related content. These listings are administered, sorted and maintained by a third party and are not endorsed by Search.com.

Search Results

Search.com sends your search query to several search engines at one time and integrates the results into one list which has been sorted by relevance using Search.com's proprietary algorithm. You can customize the list of search engines included in your metasearch from the preferences.

The search engines that are used in your metasearch may allow companies to pay to have their Web sites included within the results. To view the Paid Inclusion policy for a specific search engine, please visit their Web site. Search.com does not accept payment or share revenue with any search engine partner for listings in this section.