GEAR 23_COVER - JHS

Veteran Saxon axeman Graham Oliver is the latest
addition to the Vintage® endorsee list. Gear's Gavin
Coulson catches up the founder of one of the
NWOBHM pioneer acts and finds out about losing
fingers, having Metallica as your support band and his
input into the most famous spoof rock movie ever...
Way back when
(okay, the late 70’s)
Saxon were one of
the first of the New Wave Of
British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM)
bands, championed hugely in
the likes of weekly music
paper Sounds (RIP) and of
course Kerrang!, bless its little
heart. Based in Barnsley,
South Yorks, Saxon’s
original line-up
was Biff Byford
(vocals),
Graham
Oliver and
Paul Quinn (guitars),
Steve Dawson (bass)
and drummer Pete ‘Frank’ Gill. Saxon proved
to be one of the most successful of the bands
from that genre, and gained worldwide
popularity having sold an amazing 100
million records to date.
How did it all start for the
young Graham Oliver?
“When Steve (Dawson) and I were younger,
he had this old van he’d bought for £50 and
we would travel around the country following
the band
Free at
every gig
we could
- I just
loved that
simplistic ‘big
guitar riffs
through a stack’
sound of guitarist Paul
Kossoff and knew that’s
what I wanted to do.
You mention Paul
Kossoff there, but do
you have any other
guitar heroes? And who
inspired you?
“I remember going to
Butlins when I was 13,
and the house
band guitarist
there, Ollie
Halsall was an
absolutely amazing
player, and really
inspired me to get
into guitar. I also
remember watching
Stevie Winwood in
Doncaster play
‘Stevie’s Blues’, and
bunking off school in
‘67 to watch Hendrix
play, very inspirational.
But there was a time when
I it looked like I might
never play again (Graham
lost most of the index finger on his left hand
in an accident in the 1970’s). Paul (Quinn,
Saxon co-guitarist) and I then worked out
how I could form chords, play solos, etc.
just using my remaining three fingers. A
month later I was back on the road, and a
couple of years later I was playing a guitar
solo on Top Of The Pops!”
In Saxon you were responsible for writing
some killer metal riffs and songs - do you
have a favourite?
“Although I came up with riffs for ‘Never
Surrender’ or ‘The Bands Played On’, the
songs were always a team effort. The riffs
came out of inspirational moments - ‘The
Bands Played On’ is a
reworking of Robin
Trower’s ‘Whisky Train’ ,
and ‘Wheels Of Steel’ is ‘Cat
Scratch Fever’ reversed! On
another note, Metallica’s
second gig was supporting
Saxon at The Whisky A Go-Go
in the States - Steve and I
picked them out of a handful
of demos sent to us and to their
credit they have never forgotten that.
They invited me to a gig recently, and just
before they came on, our song ‘Heavy Metal
Thunder’ was playing through the PA system.
It was a great feeling, but of course I
couldn’t start saying to the kids in the
crowd around me “Hey, I wrote this riff,
and that’s my guitar solo!”, they’d just
think I was some sad nutter!”
It's no secret that you split with Saxon
rather acrimoniously, which lead to your
current outfit ODS (Oliver/Dawson Saxon,
with former Saxon bassist Steve Dawson
and drummer Nigel Durham, while vocalist
Biff Byford fronts his ‘Saxon’). Any plans
for a 30th Anniversary reunion?
“For me, Saxon was the original five members -
anything else is a tribute. With ODS we have
written new songs, and all we want to do is
play them and the classic songs we created.
Unfortunately, it has proved difficult, because
promoters want to use Saxon’s history in order
to sell tickets, which is understandable. It’s
‘Metallica’s second gig was
supporting Saxon!’
sad but all we ask is to promote ourselves
using the name of the band that we started,
after all. That said, I have no beef with any
of the guys - Paul Quinn and I were like
brothers and I’ll always be grateful for his
help after my accident.”
Why did you recently choose the Metal
Axxe Raider and Vintage® AV6 Advance
guitars for yourself?
“I’m currently playing a wide spectrum of
styles and because a lot of gigs these days
are overseas, I’m constantly on and off
airplanes. When you get to the gig, often
you are straight on stage, with no time to
soundcheck. So I need a guitar that can go
from power chord riffage, to subtle arpeggio
backing, without the need for complicated
effects loops or amp settings, whilst with-
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