Mick Burgess at Metal Express Radio recently spoke with Oliver/Dawson Saxon bassist Steve Dawson, who was a founding member of the original Saxon, recording and performing with them betwen 1979 - 1986. Following is an excerpt from the interview.

Q: You appeared at the very first Monsters of Rock Festival (August 16th, 1980) along with Rainbow, Judas Priest and Scorpions.  Would you say that was one of the high points of your career?

Dawson: "Oh, definitely. Just to be on the same bill as Rainbow was amazing. Seeing Ritchie Blackmore was incredible.You just can`t describe how it feels.  Monsters of Rock at Donnington was a new thing. You had the Reading Festival but not a festival just for Rock.  It was great. 'The Bands Played On' was written about us leaving home in Yorkshire, travelling to the gig and playing and finally seeing Rainbow at the end. What stood out about our time on stage was the noise of the crowd and it was over so quickly. It seemed like we were only on stage for 10 minutes and then it was over."

Q: What was it like backstage?

Dawson: "The dressing rooms were about half a mile from the stage and they were like an office block and each band had a room. I`ll never forget coming out of our room and Judas Priest were coming out and Rob Halford had the full regalia on, his leather stuff, the hat, the glasses and 10,000 studs and I just looked at him and our inadequacies crept in.  I thought that was a real rock band.  I also remember talking to Whitesnake and David Coverdale said how much he liked our album and I was thinking that Whitesnake`s album sounded better than ours. I think we found it hard to appreciate what we`d done and what we`d achieved."

Go to this location for the complete interview.

 

In 2016, Saxon released Let Me Feel Your Power, their 10th live album, in North American via UDR Music. The 16 track album was recorded in Munich during November 2015 and Brighton in January 2016, with bonus material from Chicago in September 2015.

Let Me Feel Your Power is available in several formats, including DVD/2CDs, Blu-Ray/2CDs, digital download and a deluxe vinyl version which also includes the Blu-ray, DCD and CD (limited to 1500 copies). Orders can be placed via the Amazon widgets below.

Tracklisting:

“Battering Ram”*
“Motorcycle Man”*
“Sacrifice”*
“Destroyer”*
“Power And The Glory”*
“20000FT”*
“The Devil’s Footprints”*
“Heavy Metal Thunder”*
“Queen Of Hearts”*
“Princess Of The Night”*
“Wheels Of Steel”*
“Denim And Leather”*
“Crusader”*
“Eye Of The Storm”#
“Battalions Of Steel”#
“Requiem”#

*live in Munich
#live in Brighton

Bonus Material (Live In Chicago):

“Motorcycle Man”
“Battering Ram”*
“This Town Rocks”
“Sacrifice”
“Power And The Glory”
“Solid Ball Of Rock”
“Dallas 1 PM”
“Heavy Metal Thunder”
“Rock The Nations”
“The Eagle Has Landed”
“Wheels Of Steel”
“Backs To The Wall”
“Just Let Me Rock”
“Strong Arm Of The Law”
“747 (Strangers In The Night)”
“Princess Of The Night”
“Crusader”*
“Denim And Leather”

*only available as video content; not available on CD or digital

“The Devil’s Footprints” video:

“Battering Ram”:

Trailer:

“Wheels Of Steel” video: