GEAR 23_COVER - JHS

standing the sometimes less than
tender care of budget airlines
(laughs) - the Vintage AV6 model
does this with great aplomb. For ODS
and Los Dragons, I need to pull out
all my metal tricks, so that’s why I
chose the Metal Axxe VR2001MD Raider
guitar, as it comes with the locking
vibrato system which is ideal for all the
harmonic divebombs and
it still stays in tune.”
What attracted you to the Vintage
guitar range?
“Mainly, it was the number of respected
live and session musicians who
were already working with the
brand - people like John Verity,
Ten Years After’s Joe Gooch who
I’ve actually jammed with, and
of course Geoff Whitehorn.
These are serious musicians who
need an instrument that will
do its job properly, and they
wouldn’t use anything that
couldn’t do the job really
well. So I knew there had to
be something special about the
brand, something that was
verified when I tried them out for myself.”
As well as Oliver/Dawson Saxon, you’re
involved in T-Rex, and the Los Dragons
project.
“Los Dragons is a band featuring Kee
Marcello from the band Europe, Don Rox
(Eric Martin) and I on guitars, Mike Terrana
(Malmsteen) on drums, and Jack Neille
(Tygers Of Pan Tang). We do lots of gigs in
Europe, sometimes under the name Twin
Dragons or Guitar Legends, basically playing
classic tracks, sometimes covers from our
own bands and some original stuff. It’s a lot
of fun because I never went through that
cover band stage, I’ve really only ever played
my own stuff, even in the early days. It’s a
challenge to start learning other peoples
songs. I think it’s made me a better player
and because I haven’t done it before, it’s not
boring to start ripping through classics like
‘Smoke On the Water’ or ‘Little Wing’”.
As many people know, the excellent spoof
rock movie, ‘This Is Spinal Tap’ took its
inspiration from various rock and metal
bands of those days to hilarious effect - it’s
almost a bible for bands to watch these
days. The rampaging metal machine that
was Saxon in its heyday
surely offered more
material for them to
use than most other
bands?
“It’s funny you
should mention
Spinal Tap.
I find it
uncomfortable
to watch in
places. Back in
the day, we were
shooting the ‘Power And
The Glory’ video, which was
directed by - get this -
‘I find Spinal Tap uncomfortable
to watch in places...’
Ridley Scott (yes, that (now
Sir) Ridley Scott, director of
Aliens, Blade Runner,
Gladiator etc. fame), and
a movie studio called us
up and asked if they
could send an actor
out on the road
with us... It
turned out to be a
chap called Harry
Shearer (who
WWith the comments that he reckons his new Metal Axxe
Raider is the business, stalwart axeman Graham Oliver
seems delighted with his choice of guitar. One thing’s for
sure, Graham’s Metal Axxe guitar will be continuously subject to the
most arduous of conditions for such an instrument - air travel.
Inconsiderate check-in and baggage handlers (bang, oops sorry,
bang...), drastic fluctuations in surrounding temperatures, humidity
and pressure...and all before he and his guitars even get
to the flippin’ gig, where Graham’s guitar has to then
produce the driving powerful performance that the
guitarist is depending on.
Graham’s confidence in his Metal Axxe Raider speaks
volumes about the construction, abilities and
performance of the 2009 METAL AXXE Range.
Originally launched over five years ago, the Metal
Axxe guitars and basses have definitely been a hit
with guitarists in many countries. And for 2009, all the
54
II
became ‘Derek Smalls’, bass player in the
‘Spinal Tap’ film. These days, he’s the voice
of no less than 21 ‘Simpsons’ characters,
including Mr Burns, Principal Skinner and
Chief Wiggum!). We had no idea he was
researching for a spoof ‘rockumentary’, it was
never mentioned. So we of course got drunk
with him, and regaled him with a few tales
of life on the road with Saxon. For instance,
I told him about the time we did a gig with
Motorhead who had been testing out copious
amounts of dry ice before the show, which
had left the stage wet in places. Come
showtime, I started the intro to our first
song, ‘Motorcycle Man’ off-stage, then I ran
onto the middle to put my foot
up on the monitor. At
least, that was the
plan. What actually
happened was, I
slipped on a wet
patch, and slid
across the stage on my
back! My guitar tech ran
onto the stage and lifted
me upright while I played on,
and I didn’t miss a note! Of
course, this was parodied in the
film’s famous scene where Spinal
Tap guitarist Nigel Tufnell bends
over backwards too far during
their ‘set’ and falls over but keeps
playing till a roadie runs out and
picks him up! In fact, it has
been said that Harry eventually
based his entire ‘Derek Smalls’
character on our Steve...”
http://www.myspace.com/
httpwwwmyspacecomods
www.myspace.com/losdragons
http://www.t-rex.co.uk/
for 2009
guitars have received major upgrades to cosmetics and hardware -
more firepower from the fitted Wilkinson pickups; new re-profiled
neck shapes for faster, more responsive playing; new colour finishes
and headstock shapes, plus a bolder Metal Axxe ‘XX’ headstock and
12th fret logo!
Here’s what’s available in the new and exciting 2009 Metal Axxe range.
After all, if you want to make a statement about the music you play,
these are definitely the guitars to have!
RAIDER
VR2001BMS Black Metal Sparkle £329.00rrp