If you’ve ever seen Saxon live, you’re well aware what a force of nature Nigel Glockler is. Having been with the band on and off since 1981, Glockler is one of the all time great drummers in metal history. Could you imagine classics like “Power and the Glory”, “This Town Rocks”, and “Altar of the Gods” without his signature drumming? I sure couldn’t. We sat down with Glockler to discuss the new Saxon studio album, Inspirations, as well as his own personal inspirations. So put on your “Denim and Leather” and reading glasses because this interview will “fill your heads with Heavy Metal Thunder”!
Greetings Nigel and welcome to Defenders of the Faith! How are you doing this morning?
Nigel Glockler: Great man! How are you?
I’m doing fantastic. It isn’t everyday that I get to talk to one of my favorite drummers!
NG: Thanks a lot! Thanks for having me on.
There’s so much to talk about in such little time, but I’d like to start by congratulating you on the brand new Saxon album, Inspirations.
NG: Great! You like it?
I love it. Who’s idea was it to do a cover album?
NG: We talked about this sort of thing in the past. What actually happened was we got an album of original material ready, or just about ready, and that was due to be released this past February. But the record company doesn’t want to release it without us touring, which is understandable. They suggested, “Why don’t you do a covers album to slot in that scheduled time?” So we went, “Oh why the hell not?” That’s what happened *laughs*.
A little something to hold the fans over so to speak.
NG: Yeah exactly! We’d never done it before. We had done a couple of covers in the past before, but not a whole album. So everyone got together and put in their ideas of bands that maybe inspired them when they started or were learning their craft so to speak and that was it. We discussed amongst ourselves which ones would work and which ones we’d like to do and that’s what happened.
The songs on here, being half 60s British Invasion and half 70s metal, really do a great job showcasing the backbone of Saxon’s sound. Would you agree?
NG: Yeah I think so. But again, as per the title, it’s stuff that inspired us when we were starting out as musicians. There’s two tracks that aren’t on the album.
That was going to be the next question. Were there any songs that didn’t make the cut?
NG: Oh no they made it. They’re actually B sides of the singles. “Paint It Black” was a single, so on the B side of that is “Shoot Shoot” from UFO. And on the B side of I think “Paperback Writer” is “One Last Cold Kiss” by Mountain.
The great Leslie West who recently just passed away.
NG: I know. What a band they were.
The song that stuck out to me the most is your rendition of Toto’s “Hold the Line”.
NG: *laughs* Everyone says this!
I imagine that must’ve been fun for you to record because of that drum shuffle. Did you ever cross path’s with Toto’s late drummer Jeff Porcaro?
NG: No, I never met him unfortunately. Funny enough, he’s my wife’s favorite drummer *laughs*.
No kidding!
NG: Oh yeah. All the time she’s like, “Listen to what Jeff did on this!” *laughs*. But we’re both big Toto fans. I would’ve loved to have met him.
You guys nailed it. I love Toto as well, but in between all the 60s and 70s stuff, I thought, “How is Toto going to fit into this?” It worked. It was fantastic!
NG: *laughs* We kept the arrangements of nearly all the songs as they were and just Saxonized them, which is gonna happen unconsciously anyway because that’s who we are. We play like we play.
That’s what I’ve always loved about you guys. There’s that textbook Saxon sound. Take a song like “Paperback Writer”, one of The Beatles most hard rocking tunes. Then we hear you do it and it’s like, “Wow, this could’ve been a New Wave of British Heavy Metal song.”
NG: *laughs* Yeah I guess!
To expand upon the title of the album, Inspirations, growing up, who were your drumming inspirations?
NG: Oh God. There were so many. I started drumming when I was 7. At that time, in England, we had bands that were like English versions of The Ventures and those guitar bands. There was a band over here called The Shadows. And then of course The Beatles came along and The Stones. I just soaked all this stuff up. Funny enough, “Evil Woman” was one track I put forward. Bill Ward was a big influence on me, more so than John Bonham, even though I love Zeppelin. I just love Bill’s playing because he was very jazzy at times.
Bill had a lot of that jazz going on in his playing. Another drummer I wanted to ask you about was Ian Paice, specifically when he started introduced that double bass.
NG: The thing with Ian was that he was brilliant at rudiments. Particularly when they (Deep Purple) were first going, his snare fills were so fast and great. He’s still a great drummer now. Absolutely brilliant.
Besides being one of the all time great heavy metal drummers, you’ve had a long history in progressive rock, playing with Toyah and GTR among others. How has progressive rock influenced your playing?
NG: Well let me put it this way. My favorite ever band is Genesis. Enough said, I think *laughs*. I wouldn’t really classify Toyah as “progressive”. Maybe progressive new wave? I don’t know. In the early 70s when I was really learning my craft, I was listening to a lot of fusion stuff. Chick Corea and Mahavishnu Orchestra. So I was listening to drummers like Billy Cobham, Lenny White, Alphonse Mouzon, all those jazz fusion players because I just wanted to get my chops up. I guess I took a bit of that into what I do.
Adding a bit to the previous question, didn’t you also play on that one Asia album, Aqua (1992)?
NG: That’s right. I did some of the tracks on that.
Is it true that the songs you played on that album were supposed to be part of the second GTR album?
NG: No, no. What happened was…the GTR thing was bloody nerve wracking. I was a big Yes fan and suddenly I’m in the same room as Steve Howe. I’m like, “Oh my God!” *laughs*. We recorded a second GTR album, but it never got finished. I think it sort of found its way out there somehow in different versions, unfinished versions. I think somebody put it out under the name Nerotrend. I think that’s the second album or part of it. How it got out I have no idea, but it was through that album that I met Geoff Downes. He was producing it, hence later on the Asia connection.
Last year saw the release of Biff Byford’s debut solo album, School of Hard Knocks. Have you ever considered recording a solo album?
NG: Actually, back in I think 2001 or 2002 I did an album with Doug (Scarratt) which was all instrumental. We got together, wrote some stuff, and just put it out there. It did pretty good. We did a take on the Joe Cocker album, Mad Dogs & Englishmen. We called it Mad Men and English Dogs *laughs*. We’re actually talking about doing another one now because people keep asking if we’re gonna do another one. We’re sort of planning something, but it might be a bit different. It might have some vocals and have a lot more different people involved in it as well. Just have some fun.
So you would prefer getting a band together as opposed to handling the instruments yourself? I know you’re quite a multi-instrumentalist, playing both bass and keyboards.
NG: It would depend how it goes. I’ve got friends of mine who are great keyboard players and great bass players. I’d rather pull people in. Maybe when we’re writing the stuff for the demos, I’d probably play the keyboards and bass. And then I’d get real musicians in to do it properly *laughs*!
What was the first song you recorded with Saxon?
NG: Oh God. I’m trying to think which songs we did. It might’ve been “Power and the Glory”. It might’ve been the first song we recorded. We did that whole album in Atlanta.
How long did that take?
NG: It wasn’t that long actually. Jeff Glixman was great to work with. He had some sort of weird things. We were in the big room in the studio. He set up this sort of wooden box and put all the guitar amps inside this box in the middle of the room. It was quite bizarre, but hey, it worked. It’s a great sounding album.
Absolutely. I’ve always liked to think “Power and the Glory” was the first song you recorded with them. Besides being the first track on the album, I love the way the riff comes in and then your drums follow. It’s like a train rolling across the tracks, just ready to pummel the listener.
NG: Yeah I’m pretty sure that was the first track.
Now there’s a story that I’ve heard, and I’ve heard a couple versions of it, but I want to get the definitive version out right now.
NG: Uh oh *laughs*. What could that be?
The story goes that in 1982, you fell ill before a show and Bun E. Carlos from Cheap Trick filled in for you. Is there any truth to this?
NG: Right. Actually, what happened was we were touring with Cheap Trick. This was ’82. We were constantly going backwards and forwards to the states. We did some shows with Rainbow, Triumph, and Cheap Trick. While we were out with Cheap Trick, I came down with pneumonia. We did the soundcheck and it was weird. My lungs felt as if they had a bayonet sticking in them. I said, “I really don’t feel right here. I need to get to a hospital.” So I got taken to the hospital and the doctor there confirmed that I had pneumonia. I said, “Well I need to play tonight.” He said, “Well you shouldn’t. I’ll give you these antibiotics.” It was a really strong dose of antibiotics. “After this, in 10 days, you can play if you’re able to, but you mustn’t sweat.” I believe that just made it even worse. I got taken back to the gig and the guys were all in the dressing room with Bun E. learning the stuff because they weren’t sure if I was coming back or not.
Wow.
NG: Actually Bun E…I think my wife was in contact with him. He was just going on about the size of my drum kit because he sat up there and was overwhelmed *laughs*! But in the end, I got there, went on with the gig, and I did it with an oxygen mask on for the whole gig. I couldn’t do any real mega drum fills. I was just there to keep time. There weren’t any of the big endings *imitates drum roll*, none of that stuff. It was just like, here’s a cymbal finish and bang. That was all I could handle. So yeah, he was ready for it *laughs*.
Bun E. is a fantastic drummer, but I’m just trying to wrap my mind around him playing a song like “Motorcycle Man”.
NG: I was thinking that too actually. I would’ve liked to have seen it!
What are some of your favorite Saxon songs to play live?
NG: There’s just so many. Obviously I love “This Town Rocks” and things like that. A lot of the later stuff too. A lot of the stuff off Sacrifice. It varies really. What I really find great is sometimes bringing something out of the vault. Something we haven’t played for a long time and putting that in the set. That’s really refreshing. It’s great.
You guys do that a lot. I know a lot of classic bands like to stick to the same 15 songs every night, but you’re not afraid to mix it up.
NG: We’ll occasionally throw one in. Quite a few years ago we had a bit of a disaster one night because we had Paul Johnson with us. I think it was on the Rock the Nations tour. Someone suggested, “Let’s do this track.” I can’t remember what song it was. I was going, “No! For God’s sake don’t do it!” because Paul Johnson had never played it before. Ever! But he got through it *laughs*.
When you’re in that live environment, it’s got to be a shot of adrenaline when Biff’s hyping the crowd up and says, “You wanna hear Nigel do “20,000 Feet” or “Fire in the Sky”?” Or one of those songs that you just blast away and the whole crowd goes insane.
NG: Yeah it’s really cool. It’s brilliant.
Finally, you said that the new Saxon album was finished, correct?
NG: I think there might be a couple more things. It would’ve been finished, but because of the pandemic hitting, and then us taking the time to do the Inspirations album, obviously during that time we would’ve finished the album off totally. So I think there’s a few little bits to finish off, but they’re being done now as far as I know. Then it’ll be ready to go and I think it’s coming out January or February of next year.
For more information on Nigel Glockler and Saxon, visit www.saxon747.com.
Rockin’!