 And here we go, live on the metal voice. Excellent. You know, probably one of mine and Allen's favorite guests of all time. Aw. What are our favorite guests? He's smooth talking though. Nigel, the engine room of Saxon. Just in time, Abe, what is it? February 4th, Carpe Diem, new release. Yeah. Been listening to it. Can't stop listening to it. Oh, that's good. So glad you're here. Yeah, it's the last time we saw you. Go ahead, go ahead, Allen. Was, I think it was when you were touring with UFO. It was a Corona theater here. Right. You're just getting your backpack on to do a little roundabout around the lovely city of Montreal. And we went in to interview Biff on the less. OK. Yeah, yeah. And Nigel's like, I've seen so many people. He's like, yeah, I can't remember, yeah. Uh-huh. Well, then that was a backpack. It was a backpack. But you did. You did though. You did. You did. It was probably just with bags sewn out of the shoulder, I think. Yeah, that's it. But you had shorts on, and you were just going to go for a walkabout. And so we had that vision of you, right, being the polite English gentleman, and then walking around. And then you get on stage, and you're just like a beast. I mean, the stuff that's coming off the drum kit is just blowing us away. And I got to say, that was three or four years ago. Am I four years ago? Three, four years? That was probably one of the best shows. That was probably one of the best shows I've seen the last five years, I would say. You guys just unbelievable. I can't even wake up in the morning. My back hurts. My legs hurt. And you guys are like machines, man. You guys are literally like it. So did mine in the morning as well. All right, your 23rd studio album, Carpe Diem, released on silver lining music. It's going to be released in two days. And I guess what was different, and we probably know this because of COVID, but what was different from this album than, let's say, the last album? What was the pros and the cons, let's say? Well, I mean, the pandemic thing obviously screwed up the timeline of it. But I actually did the drums. I recorded the drums at the end of 2019, because we already had the tracks written. I mean, we changed a few things since then, but the basic drum tracks were the initial drum tracks were recorded. Yeah, I went to Germany and did them, where our gears stored actually in our tour manager's warehouse. And we bought recording gear in and did it. Because, I mean, I actually like recording alone. But we did that. But then, of course, then the pandemic hit. The original thing was the album was going to come out the following February, I think it was. Yeah, the same time frame is now, same month. But the pandemic hit and the record company didn't want to release it because you couldn't go on tour. So they sort of said, well, you know, we've got a free slot now. And we'd already, for years, we talked about sort of maybe doing some covers occasionally. I mean, you know, down the years, we have done the odd one. But between us and the record company said, why don't you do a whole covers album, just, you know, because we've got this free slot and you haven't got a tour of that. It's like an interim thing. So we did it. And so that time was used doing that album. And again, because of the pandemic, it gave gave more time to doing the guitars and the vocals and everything for Carpe Diem. Yeah, seize the day. Exactly, which is, you know, which I think is a great sort of thing to live by, you know. I agree. Grab what you can enjoy it, because as far as we know, we've only got one go at it. So that's right. Unless someone knows something different. Something you don't know. Yeah. But, you know, so that's that's that's how, you know, the album sort of came about. And I mean, you know, Biff had his sort of his health issue thing. Oh, yes, yes. So he was actually working on lyrics and getting ideas while he was in the hospital as well. You know, you know, seize the day. It's always coming back to that. It's always coming back to that. I mean, we've already talked. We've already talked now, what are you going to do? You know, I mean, we've got, you know, we did those two gigs last weekend, which I think you were talking to me about doing. And, you know, Hammersmith and Manchester. And now, I mean, the next thing for us is festival season. So we've got we've got about two or three months off, so to speak. So we've already just we've already started, you know, started thinking about getting ideas ready for the next album, you know, rather than waste time. Let's get ahead of the crack. Crank another one out. Crank another one out. I mean, you know, not straight away, but I'm saying just get ideas ready. So we're ahead of the game. So when, when that timeframe does come around, we're in good shape. Yeah, I mean, like you said, there's no no idle time for you guys. I think I think even Biff did a solo album in there somewhere. Besides the covers. Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah, I mean, there's there's been all sorts of stuff going on. I mean, I sort of write library music for television. Oh, you know, documentaries and stuff like that. And, you know, so I've been doing that working with Doug doing some of that stuff and other friends. And I did some sessions last year as well for other bands. That's it. So that was good. But Alan, we should talk about the album, too, right? The songs, this. Yeah, yeah. I mean, getting back, getting back to that. So it was all, you know, I think it just gave us more time to sort of. You know, sort of hone things down. Because I was by the fact that I mean, the opening track, Carpe Diem, it's something, you know, I went back throughout all my albums of Saxon and it seems like that first track, you know, Hammer of the Gods is another example. Wow, just so powerful and so strong and so fast. I mean, it's a great way to open up this album. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's a great production. Yeah. Once again, Andy's done a great, great job on it, you know, when those drums hit and it's like, whoa, I could be wrong. But I think this is a lot heavier than the last album in terms of heaviness. I think you're right, actually, what sound wise or music wise. It just seems a lot heavier and it was a difference. I had on my headphones, listen to the album and then I listen to it in my car. And when you played in your car, it was actually a lot more. I don't know, a lot heavier. That's all I can say. The drums are heavier, the guitar heavy. In your face. I'm sorry? Yeah, more in your face. More in your face. That's exactly it. Yes, yes, yes, yes. But, you know, not only go ahead. I'm sorry. No, I'm listening to songs like, you know, Age of Steam or Living on the on the living on the limit. I mean, double bass drum, you know, you go back to a lot of different albums. How's your drumming change, let's say, from the 80s to what you're doing now? Oh, God. Do you have an hour? You know, I actually think I mean, my attitude is that I always think I'm improving. You know, I never sort of try and sit back and go, oh, yeah, I can do it all. You know, I always try and, you know, rehearse, try new things out and push myself. You know, and I think now, you know, even so now I think I'm a much better player than I was back then. Oh, there you go. OK, I think with sort of, you know, with time, you just become more honed into what you're doing. I mean, for me, the most important thing for me with any song is that is is the groove. It's not how many drum fills I can put in or how, you know, I mean, obviously, I do love doing all that. You know, but it's it's the groove. And, you know, that's what I concentrate on. And, you know, it's mixed up the sound. It's not always those barn burner songs. Those, you know, those the, you know, like the I would divide it into like supernova living on the limit. Black is the night. Those are the barn burning songs. And you have the real melodic singles like Remember the Fallen, which is the first, the second single. Yeah. And a Carpe Diem, which is the first single. Those are the the two hits, as you will, or perhaps when then you've got pilgrimage. I love it. My favorite song in the album. Really? Yeah. I mean, I would say definitely a holiday. Yeah, yeah. Remember the Fallen? And like you say, Carpe Diem, the groove, the catchiest riffs. You know, you can't you can't sit still listening to them. But just the pilgrimage, you know, it's the longest song in the album, the way it's built. Yeah, the epic feel. And I mean, it's the one I just have to return to keep going back to listen to it. It's kind of a little bit sort of more old school, Saxon. Yeah. Yes. It's the Red Star Falling. Crusader feel. Yeah. Crusader, Red Star Falling, you know, sort of that sort of mid-paced. Yeah. Yeah. What was one of your favorite tracks, Nigel? Well, probably that actually. There you go. There you go. I mean, that one, that one on Carpe Diem, I think. Yeah. And then you and then you and then age, age of steam as well. That there's the history lesson for everybody, because Biff's always giving us a history lesson. Right. You know, age of steam. You know, this is the steam revolution back in the 17 hundreds or whenever it was. And now it was later than that. All right. Eighteen hundreds later in the industrial revolution. You know, the end of the the late eight, the late 18th century and the 19th century. There you go. All right. You know, your history better than I do. But it is the age of steam when the age of steam changed everything. Right. Right. Yeah. Biff's teaching us lessons. Biff's teaching us lessons. History lessons. The lyrics, the stories and the lyrics. Yeah. You know, you think of other bands. Angle does a little bit of that, but, you know, it's not as she loves you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, there's they're tell stories. It just goes, you know, back to call to arms even. And there's a lot of it. But the lyrics are just fantastic on this album. Yeah. Yeah, they are. No, he's what he's what really hard on them. So yeah, great. But, you know, yeah, as you say, we're not a love you. Yeah, yeah, yeah, tight band. You know, we like our history things, you know, like to say, like Crusader and all that kind of stuff. Dallas one PM. And it goes way, way back. So exactly. So why do you got the musketeers and all for one? Three musketeers, a little French history lesson there for all for one. We like doing that stuff, you know, you know, which is a cool song that was sort of a little bit of both. It was that I got the need for speed song was Dan Buster's. So this is the that's a that's like a fast paced track. But again, we're learning something about history once again. Right. This was World War Two. The secret raid against hydraulic dams in Germany. Right. And that's it. And it's like the solid ball of rock, you know, just coming at you. Right. Yeah. What are your thoughts on that song? Oh, I love it, because, I mean, again, you know, actually funding up because I'm a sort of war film buff, you know. So I mean, they made a film about it. You know, the Dan Buster's one of my favorite films, actually, you know, black and white film. I think it was done in the late fifties. I think. Great. Great. You know, I watched that as a kid. So that means a lot to me. We just we just interviewed the tailor who did the documentary on Lee Kerslake yesterday. And I just wanted to get you want to get your feedback on Lee Kerslake and any of your other drumming heroes are growing up. Yeah. I mean, Lee was a good friend of mine, actually. He was that when he passed, that was so sad. You know, it really was. But funnily enough, I mean, I was speaking to him. Mick, you know, from Yeraheep and the other guys. And actually, Yeraheep was was the third proper gig I ever went to. On the I think it was on the I think it was the Demons and Wizards tour, I think. And that was a and I sort of remember Lee, I was saying this to Mick. And we had a good laugh about it. I mean, Lee was hammering away at his. He had like a sort of mirror finish. I think it was a Ludwig or a sling land kid. I think he was hammering away at it and his high hat fell over. You know, and I just remember his high hat leg just flailing up in the air. But there wasn't anything there. And we had a good laugh about that. No, we were good buddies, Lee. He was a great player, great player, Nigel. Great singer, too. Yeah, did you were you in were you on the Ozzy Osbourne tour? Were Lee played, I guess, that only leg? Were you were where Saxon was opening up for Ozzy? Were you on that tour? I guess that was right before Power and the Glory. That was that tour was that was in that was in Europe. He was opening for us. Oh, he was opening for you. Oh, there you go. So but I mean, that was your first connection. That's what I'm getting at. Yeah, that was not with Lee. He wasn't. No, he wasn't playing. He wasn't Lee. It's Tommy Aldrich. Oh, OK. No, that's that's so that's a second half of the tour. Because I think they recorded Blizzard and we get it. Because what happened was they came on, they came on the tour and it was Rudy Sarzo playing bass. When when did you join Saxon the exact moment? Was it between October or November 81? Did you ever open for Ozzy in in in the UK in 82? In the UK. No, no, no, my knowledge. No, no, no, no. Lee, I mean. The only time again, I got sort of became good mates with Lee when when he was with Yorah, he later on and we were doing shows with them like festivals and stuff in Germany, for instance. So we sort of became buddies. OK, all right, all right. What about Aron Maiden with Bruce? In the early days? Yeah, we did tour with them in. I think that was on the Pan the Glory tour over in the US. OK, that was 83. All right. Did you did you? I mean, that was I mean, that was a great tour. You know, there was Fastway, Pass and then Maiden. Yeah. Oh, wow, what a bill. And that's the bill you want to see, right? Yeah, it was. Yeah, that was that was a great time. What about, you know, I'm just going through little bits and pieces of history. And I remember this and I don't know if you remember this. I don't know if you were in the band when you guys are supposed to play the Dubai Music Festival. Oh, do you? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Were you were you in the back? You were in the band then, right? Yes. And they sort of said, wait a second, guys, we don't like the word crusader. We don't like the lyrics here, crusader lyrics. Yeah, yeah, what do you remember from that? All I remember is that I think some politician got involved, actually, and said, you know, we think it's safe that you don't come over. Funnily enough, actually, I mean, it was due to the verse that I'd written lyrically. You screwed it all up. I was a bit like, oops. And but no, they didn't like the sort of, you know, calling them Saracen heathen or whatever it was. They just didn't like that. You know, I think actually, I think what I think some of it was that some guy had retranslated it or something. And I think the thing was I don't think the lyrics were actually as they were, if you know what I mean. They sort of changed or something. But I know there was a big thing and this political guy or something came up and said, I think it's safe that you don't do it, you know, because it might cause a bit of a riot or something, which was unfortunate because there are a lot of fans there that wanted, you know, that we heard from them afterwards. I said, oh, we would have loved that song. And I find it a bit bizarre that I think it was a few years before. You know, Christopher, he went there and played a song called Crusader. It was more of a metal thing than a crusader. Yeah, probably. Who knows? I don't know. I think actually, I think actually the band got banned in in Turkey as well for a little while, although they've since they since played it when I wasn't in the band. I think, yeah, there was a time when that, no. It's amazing, isn't it? But today it's just not the same. That was in the 2000s around there, I guess, right? Yeah, I mean, the Turkey thing was before that, I think, actually. Oh, really? OK. Yeah, I think Dubai actually was. I think that was in the 90s. OK, I think I'm going to be wrong. I'm not sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. A lot of water has gone under the bridge since then. So, you know, we got the chance to interview Beth and you guys see you live when you came back to North America, recall the arms, I can come back, but really more focused, maybe, on the North American market and built ever since. You know, what do you think this COVID delay is going to cause your everything that you built up to in North America? How is it going to affect that? In a way, I sort of think that. You know, I'm hoping fingers crossed that people are thinking, oh, great, at last, we can see him again. We've got to go. I don't know. I don't think. I'm hoping and I really don't think it'll do damage to our popularity. I think, actually, if anything, it might go, geez, at last, they can come over, we've got to go and see him. Bigger venues, maybe, maybe bigger venues. We don't know. So that would be that would be brilliant. You know, that would be great. But, you know, I was sort of sneaking suspicion that could be it. You know, I mean, as I say, these last two gigs we did. And, you know, bear in mind before these last two this past weekend, we'd only done two gigs in like two years. Wow. Wow. Yeah. We're both last year, you know, we did Bluntstock in August and an indoor German festival for Metal Hammer. I think it was in November. And those are the only gigs we played, you know. So suddenly these other two gigs, you know, have been postponed three times and they sold out. Yeah. Yeah. You know, so I'm hoping fingers crossed that once we can get across the pond to you guys, people will go, yeah, got to go and see it. You know, because I think everyone's hankering back to want to play live gigs, you know, for sure. I think the audience want them. The bands want them. Yeah. Fingers crossed. Definitely need them. Yeah. The package. So everybody's, you know, and we spoke about this right before starting girl's school, your eye heap. You guys and Diamond Hand, right? Yeah. Yeah, sort of new wave of British heavy metal package. Do you ever foresee something like that happening in North America? I mean, I'd love it. I think it would do really well. But again, it's down to the promoters. Yeah. Yeah. You know, it's not down to us. I mean, I'd love it. It'd be great. Yeah. Anything that'd be special. I think so, too. So, you know, there are any promoters listening. Give us a call. No, I think it would do really well, you know, in a good size venue. I think it'd do great. But you guys, particularly after this long break, everyone said. Yeah. I mean, you're still recording. The albums are very consistent. And, you know, it seems that each one gets better. Yeah. And is it something you purposely target like theaters and the smaller venues rather than being an opening band for a larger, for a larger area? And for another band, let's say I made it for a Metallica kind of thing. Why wouldn't they bring Saxon on his opening band? Because they're frightened of us. Yeah, I think so. I think so. And you know what? But UFO followed you guys here in Montreal. And you can't follow Saxon. That's what I learned that night. The Marshall Stacks and just the Les Pauls, it makes such a difference. You know, they came on, their sound. I'm not taking anything away from UFO, but their sound sounded thin compared to the wall of Sound of Saxon. I mean, a lot of that maybe to do with the sound, you know, our sound different sound engineers, you know. But again, I think a lot of it's to do with the attitude of the band. Maybe, you know, I mean, I love UFO, they're great, you know. Sure. Great guys. I mean, Phil Malt lives about three miles from me. We keep swearing we're going to meet up somewhere for a pint or whatever. It's OK, Alan lives 10 minutes for me. It's been two years. So, I mean, you know, I think, you know, maybe it's attitude, I don't know, whatever, or the sound guys, probably a mixture of everything. No, I think we'd rather, I think we'd rather I mean, I say this, I'm just I hope I'm not talking out with the other guys. But I think we'd rather sort of headline, do our own gigs in, you know, theaters and stuff, because then at least we can sort of play for a decent amount of time and present a lot of material. That's that's fair enough. That's fair enough. And I'm just going to throw out Lady in Gray, a song we didn't talk about in the new album. OK. Here's the haunting. The it's a fantastic track. This is like one of my favorite tracks right off the album. It's it's sort of about that haunting feeling, that mid-paced, haunting feeling. Yeah, I'm trying to think of what song I could compare it to in your past past catalog, but maybe you want to speak to it. I don't know. I don't know what I compare it to, you know, when Doomsday comes. Yeah, it could be. Yeah, it could be. No, that's not a bad comparison. Because you got this like supernova, you know, like Jimmy was saying, one of the fastest songs on the album, Supernova. And it's got for me, it's got that painkiller kind of feel, even in the in the chorus, you know, you got the drums going away. And for me, they're reminding me a little bit of the painkiller, especially the chorus, the ways that the vocals are layered in the chorus. It's funny, actually, talking about, you know, you compare the two, you know, they've both got because I mean, Lady in Gray's got like the double kick drum sort of staccato thing with the guitar riff. And I actually find it harder to play that. Then I do like a hundred miles an hour track. You know, like a painkiller type thing. I find that easier to play it rather than because, again, you're trying to get this groove right, but your legs are sort of tuned to like playing fast. You know, and then to try and hold it back with this bub, bub, bub, bub, bub sort of thing. It's like, oh, you know, I might play, I might try and play it with one foot, actually. I think that would be easier. Let's see if there's some questions, OK, from everybody's watching. And I think there are and I've been ignoring everybody like I usually do. OK, are there K-man and he's got a lot of questions. Are there any metal bands around now that Nigel is really impressed by? So the latest, you know, bands today. I've said this before and I've said it a few times, they probably think something's going on like they've slipped me a few bucks to keep saying, but I mean, at the moment, I'm listening a lot to ever Gray. I love them. I love ever great, brilliant, huge fan, huge fan myself. Right, man. I mean, that guy's voice is phenomenal. They are not bigger, I don't know. I don't get it, you know, I don't get it at all. They're just the lyrical concept, you know, the lyricals kind of the melody, the guitars are just brilliant, no, great band, you know. And their new album is fantastic. I mean, that's another one I can't stop listening to. Yeah, yeah. Let me see what other questions you have. Other things, like the Rammstein, you know, and all the usual stuff. Talk about history less than Sabaton's got a new album out, too, that's all about World War One. It's it's unbelievable as well. So, yeah, I have to give that a listen. Here's another question. How do you feel about having Andy Sneep as your producer when he's also working with Accept and Judas Priest, as well as other bands? He's great. I mean, Andy gets us. He understands what Saxon's all about. He's a big fan, but he sort of gets sometimes in the past, we've had producers that haven't been able to sort of. Put down on album what we like live, power wise. Yeah, and Andy does, I feel Andy does, you know, he really does get us. You know, he understands what the band's all about. And I mean, for me personally, I love working with him. And if you need an extra guitarist, he's always there, right? Exactly. If you need a sub, he's there, you know. Very true. That is very true. But now he always gets me a great drum sound. We sort of work on it together. He'll say, you know, once recordings, my parts are done and other things are going on, he'll send me sort of snippets. What do you think of this? But, you know, it might be changing the EQ of the drums a bit. No, it's great. I'd work with him all the time. Well, here's Matt. Always been curious about what he feels about his contributions to Toya's anthem album. Well, I feel it. I'm very pleased with it. Very, you know, I sort of co-wrote some stuff on there and everything. So it's great. You know, that was a good that was a good time. It was great, you know, and it was very interesting. Sort of we did a lot of experimenting in the studio and stuff like speeding tracks up and me hitting like a sort of I remember with me, Adrian and Adrian, the keyboard player and Nick Talber, the producer, we were in the studio about two o'clock one morning, trying this track out and we sped the tape up and I was sitting on the floor in the studio with a big bass drum. So we sped the thing up and then slowed it down. So it was like almost like a big boom, this thing. You know, we were just constantly playing around. But no, it was great. It was brilliant. I was very proud to have been in that band. All right. All right. What we did, Jimmy and I wanted to do all sax and all the time metal voice here. We ran out of time, so we're going to just focus on our top ten sax and songs and we just like your comments when you go to play them live or anything you have about these songs if you got the time. You're ready for this, Nigel? You're ready for this? I don't want to give you a heads up. I don't want to give you a heads up. It wouldn't be more. Have I got to go and have a quick whiskey first? Number ten off of Innocence is No Excuses, which is my first time I saw you guys live. OK. Be back on the streets. Yeah. I love that track. Me too. I love it. You know, we had great fun writing it. It was I've always loved playing it live. You know, it's a more commercial side of Saxon. But whenever we have played it, I mean, we haven't played it for quite a while now. But when when we had played it, sort of brought it out of the vault, you know, people have gone nuts for it. It was a big hit at the time for sure. Yeah, yeah, it's great. Number nine would be Wheels of Steel. I mean, that's always a that's a killer life. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, wheels, you know, it's sort of you sort of think, oh, geez, I've been playing it for 40 odd years or whatever. And you must have been getting a bit fed up with it now. But I'm sort of again, I'm really concentrating what I was saying earlier, I'm really concentrating on the groove of it rather than try bits or flash bits through it. I'm trying to just make it sit properly and hammer it, you know, and groove back in. So now, you know, and that is a groove song. That's all about groove. You know, that we played it last weekend, both times. And I just sort of hopefully I got it right in the pocket, you know. Number eight, we got Call to Art. I think that whole album is one of my favorites from the sector. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Again, that was, you know, whenever we played that is funny. Whenever we play sort of slow songs like that, it's we always get a bit nervous about doing it because we want to keep the energy up. Yeah. But again, when we play, it's the same thing with Red Star, Red Star falling. Whenever we play like that, you know, they like it goes down great. Outcome the lighters, you know. Or the phones. Yeah. Number seven, it was Jim Spick and the Battalions of Steel. Number seven, Battalions of Steel, what a song. And anybody who's never heard that track, please do yourself a favor. It's I would call it the epic Saxon tunes. Right? That's. Yeah, yeah. I'd agree with you there. Yeah. Yeah, it is. Again, another one I enjoy playing, you know. Are there any songs you don't enjoy playing? And which ones are they? Nigel's top 10 songs he doesn't want to play anymore at Saxon shows. I mean, they're awesome. That's another show. You know, I wish we play. I mean, I like that. Yeah. You know, I used to love playing Red Star falling because the lights would come out. And particularly if we played it in the Eastern Europe, they'd all start singing it. You know, that was we were going to do another list called the 10 most underrated Saxon songs. And that was my contribution to that list. I was scratching my head. I go, geez, like, do I put this one here or that one here? And it all got confusing. I go, should we do top 50? Like, how long do we have to talk to Nigel for? I mean, could we do 50 or 60? I don't know. We kept it to 10. Number six, we got off of Power and Glory. That version of Susie Hold On. Yeah, that was that was that wasn't on the English version. That was only on the US and Canada. Oh, OK, so that's where, you know, why I don't know. I think the record company maybe thought, you know, you know, maybe it got missed off wheels of steel or something and put it on it slightly faster than the original. I know. Yeah. Yeah. But funnily enough, actually, when we when we have played it live, we played it at that speed. I remember when you joined the band and you you could see you could notice right away, the drumming was just at another level. Right. There was groove right before you were in the band. There was a lot of groove, but the drumming precision when you joined the band, that was just off the charts. You know, and you could tell there's a new drummer, you know, we got Neil Pert. You know what I mean? Kind of feeling right. Not saying you're Neil Pert. I'm just saying we got somebody special here. So I think that, you know, I mean, I've said before, I mean, that was a very important album for me, because a lot of people love Pete Gill, you know, and he was a great player. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, I played on the Eagle's Land of the Live album. Yeah. But this was my first sort of studio album, having a hand in the writing as well and the creation of the whole thing. So it was an important stepping stone for me, shall we say? So I'm glad I'm glad I passed the audition. There you go. You're good. You're going to stick around for a bit more. Number five, we have, of course, Crusader. Crusader, yeah. Well, yeah. Here you are. Well, I know I can see that. Yeah. You know, I mean, that's a staple in our set. We have to play it. You know, we just have to play it. And wherever we do, it just goes down great. I mean, it's fantastic to see, you know, we get a lot of. Except for Dubai, that there doesn't go down. Or Turkey, you know, like we're. Yeah, everywhere else. Right. And again, number four, my pick. And I'm so glad you played on the last tour that I saw you broken heroes. You pulled that one out on the last tour here. Yeah. Yeah. I love that song, just the way it builds. And it kind of like the prology, the prology. Yeah. No, that's a good one. And, you know, when we play it live, that sort of gives Doug a bit of a feature because he does a great, you know, brilliant solo in it. So I'm always listening to what he's playing when we get to the solo. And it's like, you know, sometimes I'm not thinking, oh, that was a good note there. You know, it's great. That's his that's one of his feature things, you know. And yeah, it's great. Real cool. That Jimmy has in a number three. The eagle has landed. Oh, my Lord. The eagle has landed. Well, this is Mr. Quinn's feature. So again, you know, I sort of listened to what he's doing. And they go, oh, yeah, he's on form tonight. You know, I mean, the eagle, we play eagle probably more than broken heroes, actually. I think, you know, I think eagle's become a bit of a staple, one track you've got to do, you know, like Crusader, really. Yeah. But again, as I said, it sort of features Paul. And he just, you know, I always know when he's on it. You know, it's it's great. And I love playing it because, you know, it's got light and shade in it. Yes. So it gives me, you know, it gives me a lot of sort of different parts to play. Rather than just a special track. It's just it just stands on its own. Just like, you know, it's interesting about Crusader. That's only the there's not too many great songs. I love all of Saxon, but I find it's a weak album. But that song is one of the strongest songs, which is this sort of dichotomy in a sense, right? You got one of the most. You find that a bit of a weak album. I find the album a bit weak, but that song is probably one of the best songs in the catalog. So that's where the sort of. Jimmy, you listen to a little bit of what you fancy and you try to sit still while you're listening to that. No, I mean, I, you know, I sort of look back on that. And I think I wish Jeff Klicksman had produced that the one that did Pound the Glory. Yes. Yes. Yes. And I think maybe it's a production. It was the production that was a lot. I think a lot of it was the production. There were a lot of, you know, backing vocals on there, which we weren't actually sort of used to doing, but that was a direction we were being pushed into. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, I mean, there's still some great stuff on that. Absolutely. Absolutely. I'm not trying to say, you know, I'm just trying to say it's amazing how that song is one of the greatest. Yeah. Yeah. I'm totally agreeing. He agrees with me. It's good. Number two. You're going. Oh, sorry. Go ahead. No, go on. Go on. Number two, what we had, and I've always liked this song, but on the Call to Arms tour, you played it live and it just took this song to a double level for me. It's the 747 Strangers of the Night. Yeah. Well, that's another staple we've got to play. Yeah, it really is. You know, I mean, I can sort of imagine people getting really peed off if we didn't play that, you know. And again, for me, it's got to, you know, it's got a lot of different sections for it so I can sort of experiment a bit, you know, in the sort of choruses and stuff. And so now it's another one keeps me on my toes. It's got to be, it's got to sit in the pocket again. And of course the last one. And number one choice we just talked about. Take a guess. Take a guess. Take a guess. Take a guess. Not Pound of Glory, is it? Could have been. It could have been, but it's not. Or is it this Town Rocks or something? Or could have been. What albums are they all? Denim and Leather. Princess. No, it's Denim and Leather. It's just sort of like- And number one, on our top 10 list, Denim and Leather. We were talking about this last day with the passing of John Zazzula. We all, even though we're placed around different parts of the world, that song, those lyrics, summed up that whole movement that we all lived through. 79, 80, 81, 82, 83. Yeah, it just, I listened to it the other day and it's like, that's my life. That's my life being sung on that song. Yeah, plus great music that goes along. Interesting that you've made it number one. That's very interesting. It's kind of like the run to the hills. That was a unanimous choice for us. It's kind of like the made and run to the hills. It's just the call to metal, you know? But I told Ian Allen, we had like a top 60 list. I like that quote. Yeah, we had a top 60 list, just so you know, we have to whittle it down to 10. I mean, it's just, so, yeah, Denim and Leather. You know, it's the ballads. We should do a ballads one because Saxon's ballads, nobody, they talk about Scorpions and maybe Striper and, but Saxon, you guys, I mean, why do it all for you is not a bigger hit. You can give that to Sir Lindsay on it and we'd go to number one, you know? Oh, well, hey, hey. Well, that's our list. Now, tell us one song or one or two songs that you, I think you already did, you would like to play more at the shows, you know? Okay, you mentioned, yeah. I mean, Red Star, I think, you know. Oh, God, that's just so many of them. Yeah, all right. You know, sometimes, you know, you know the albums out, you know, the prime ones that you play. I mean, sometimes, maybe I'd like to go back and listen to all of them again and maybe pull something out of the vault that we haven't done for a year. Devil rides out. That would be one of mine for me. I'd like to see that one pulled out. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, okay, let's just bring it back to the new album. You're thinking about writing a new album after the new album. You're collecting the songs, right? Yeah, we're gonna start. I mean, we haven't yet, but we're gonna start. You're gonna start, you know, thinking about that. How much of the new album do you foresee playing live, you know? Not easy, is it? We'll probably play about six tracks, or Fero and imagine that's what we usually do. Play about six off a new album. Yeah. You know, but again, it depends how long we play for, you know, because you can't just ignore the other stuff. That sometimes, like you said, we must, they're staples. But again, you know, I mean, sometimes you sort of think, yeah, we'll do, you know, we could play two hours or something, but I mean, I've been to C-Band sometimes that play two hours and for me personally, sometimes I think, you know, if it's just straight head sort of metal, I mean, I'm not talking about someone like Rush here with a lot of, you know, like light and shade, you know, sort of quiet sort of bits. If you like pummeling people, I sometimes think that two hours is too long. Yeah. Because I've been, I mean, this is just my personal thing. I mean, I've been to gigs and I think, you know, I love in the band, I'm watching, I think, geez, and it finished yet. You know what I mean though, it is, it's just, I mean, it's like that, but I think I mean it. I'm like that, Alan can go to shows and I go, you know what Alan, I think I had enough, I'm good. Yeah, you've been pummeled by two support bands as well. Yeah. You know, and then, although you love the headline band, it's still like. It's past my bedtime. I've got to negotiate with you. Just one more song, just one more song. This is like the truth. Jimmy, one more, one more, one more. Oh, Alan, you know, I got to wake up early tomorrow. Oh, I'm dead, I'm taking my eyes open. That's what I loved about Saxon and UFO. You guys were on first, so there's no issues. When UFO came on, I go, Alan, look, I got to run. And I love UFO too, don't get me wrong. Don't get me wrong. No, no, no, no, that's right, right, right. We should talk about Biff's singing on this album, which we did in it. The guy, he's 71. Yeah. Incredible, like his voice is just as clear. The range is there. The, there's no degradation. He's getting more range, actually, as he gets older. I went back to listen to Steels and Wheels. Yeah, cool. And this album, compared to Steels and Wheels, his voice, exactly, exactly. It's much more rounder. He's got, seemed to have more depth through it. Yeah, the other thing I found, he seems to have, you know, the older he's got, he seems to have got a bit of a grasp to it, which I like. Yeah, I agree. Yeah, I know, he's singing great. I think you've, yeah, really good, really good. You know, it doesn't seem he's, hell, scared, doesn't, I mean, from a vocal point of view, doesn't seem to have affected him at all. And sometimes, you know, when you have a little more extra time, you can work on stuff and discover stuff about yourself or your instrument or whatever that gives me. Exactly, precisely. Whereas normally we're in this sort of write-record-tour mode and you get a little bit of time off and then you've got to start writing again. Yeah, yeah. Whereas we've had a, you know, we've been very lucky, everyone's been able to spend a lot of time at home, which, you know, we're thankful for from that point of view because we don't get to do that much. And so in that way, it's been okay, but you know, we've sort of, as you say, we've been able to sort of hone down the album and writing and stuff like that. So it's been pretty good. Did you know Johnny Zazzoula, he just passed away yesterday or the day before? Did you know Johnny Zazzoula from Megaforce? No, I never knew. He was more of a U.S. He was more on the U.S. side of things. Yeah, okay, just curious. I just, he passed and was sad and, yeah. That's pretty much it. Is there anything you want to... Brutal is the people passing, isn't it? I mean, musicians and stuff like Meej Loaf and stuff. Yeah, and Lee Kerslake, you know, it's at least there's a documentary of him and it'll be coming out hopefully sooner than later. Yeah, that was really annoying because I'd only spoken to him about a month before he passed. Wow, yeah. Maybe six weeks, something like that. I rang him at home and I sort of said, as soon as we're allowed to, I'll come up and see you. And he said, oh, that'd be absolutely brilliant because I knew he wasn't that well anyway. But he said that'd be absolutely brilliant. And then the next thing I know, he's gone. You know, he's a bit heart breaking that whole stuff. Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay. Is there anything else you want to talk about, about the new album, just to tell everybody as a last note? Well, I'll just say, you know, if you love the last album, you're going to love this one, you know? And what can I say? Pre-order now. Pre-order now, together. Just go and get it and turn it up. That's it. And then hopefully, you know, we can get over there this year, you know, or early next year. Once this pandemic sort of calmed down a bit, maybe hopefully. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So we're dying to get over there and play to you guys. How long has it been? It's been, now we're talking... Well, since priest, isn't it? What was priest four years ago? Five years ago? You know, we aged two years in this pandemic. Yeah, we do. I know. It's really weird. So how was it before that? Was priest, it's gotta be a couple of years before that, surely. Was it UFO the last tour? No, no. Maybe in Canada it was, maybe in Canada. Oh, maybe in Canada, yeah. Alan, do you remember priest in Saxon? Like a few years ago? I don't remember. Yeah, we did. On that far power album. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And they play in, I think they played in Ottawa. That's right. That's what it was. They didn't come to Montreal, they played in Ottawa. That's what it was. Yes, yes, yes, yes. You're right. I was just gonna say, I remember going through the Canadian border. Yes. They're very mean at the border. They're very, very... Those Mounties, they're just... Oh! No, so that means, yeah, that was the last time. Yeah. And that was a brilliant tour, that was brilliant. Are you like, I guess, are you so, I don't know, pleasantly surprised that the older you guys get, the better everything seems to be going. You know, in terms of sound, in terms of working as a team, in terms of songs, in terms of performance. Yeah, I am. Yeah, I am. I'm very pleased. Again, I think all of us are improving, still. I mean, and I think, you know, we want to do it. I mean, the main thing I would say about something is, if you get whatever sort of job you do, but specifically in music, you've got to be fun, you've got to enjoy it. Otherwise, what's the point? You just say, yeah, okay. And we do enjoy it, you know? And we have this... My show is... We don't actually sort of hang out together that much when we're sort of off the road, because we're living all over the place. You know, I mean, Doug lives around the corners from me at the moment, so we're at the moment, you know? We're sort of... We hang out and write together and stuff, but I don't see the other guys hardly at all. You know, and so I think, in a way, that could be good, because then when we do come together, it's like, oh, here we go. Fresh. Yeah, exactly. And they miss each other, and it's not... Yeah. Catch up. Yeah. Yeah, I have a few pints and a curry, you know? And bond again, you know? And that's it, and then off we go. Just like in the ballad of a working man. You know, I was reading about this with Biff, you know, how Saxon and Maiden, they're always writing new music. They're not depending on their greatest hits as sort of... Do you think it's the most important thing for an artist or musician to keep writing, regardless if it sells 2 million copies or 2,000 copies? I mean, you can't force it. I mean, you can't force the writing, if it's not happening, it's not happening, you know? You have to sort of do it. Well, would you rather go and see your favorite band and they play all the hits but they haven't written any new music or not at all? I think that's what you have to sort of think about, but with us, again, we just enjoy writing. That's what we're in it for, you know, and doing new albums and creating something and come up with new stuff. Yeah, a working band. That's part and parcel of what we are. Other bands like Go On The Road and, you know, and they're extremely popular and maybe not get so many albums out as we do, but this is the way we do it. So, yeah, all right. But it's a winning formula. Seems to be working okay. So, absolutely. Can't complain, I guess. The Carpe Diem sees the day. Get your copy, it's out in two days from now. And again, whenever Saxon hits North America, make sure you got your ticket. Make sure you go and see these guys because you will not be disappointed and bring some earplugs. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Last time I had earplugs, I was good. I was good. And it still gets through. It still gets through. So it's good. Nigel, it's been a pleasure. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you so much for all. Congratulations. Thank you.