Thanks to classic albums such as Wheels Of Steel and Strong Arm Of The Law, Saxon were NWOBHM trailblazers. But by the time of 1984’s divisive Crusader, things were looking less steady. In 2008, frontman Biff Byford looked back on an album that deserves more love than it gets.
“We were trendsetters back then,” laughs Saxon singer Biff Byford. “Today everybody from dresses like knights going to the crusades, and writes lyrics about it. But back then it was virtually unheard of for a metal band to do anything like that. And what did we get for being innovative? Yep, we got slaughtered by everyone. That’s what you face for trying something new. Still, at least we can turn to all of those people now and say, ‘Well, who was right?’”
When the Yorkshiremen released their sixth studio album, Crusader, in 1984, they were a major force in metal. Starting out as Son Of A Bitch in 1974, they became Saxon five years later, the same year they signed to French label Carrere and released their self-titled debut, the first album put out by any New Wave Of British Heavy Metal band.
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But it was 1980 that propelled them to fame. Biff, guitarists Graham Oliver and Paul Quinn, bassist Steve Dawson and drummer Pete Gill issued the Wheels Of Steel and Strong Arm Of The Law records, both of which were hugely successful. They continued to spread the word with 1981’s Denim & Leather, although Gill left the following year – he later joined Motörhead – and Nigel Glockler came on the scene.
The new-look Saxon released the live album The Eagle Has Landed in 1982, before heading out to Atlanta, Georgia to record 1983’s Power & The Glory. Having already made their mark back home, they were making strides in the US, where they’d recently toured with Iron Maiden and Mötley Crüe. They started writing Crusader in Doncaster, a few miles down the road from their native Barnsley. But when it came to recording it, they decided to return to the US - specifically Sound City Studios in LA with producer Kevin Beamish.
“We never got too involved in choosing producers,” admits Biff. “Perhaps we should have, as some bad decisions were made. Most of the time the label would come up with a name and we’d go with it. The theory seemed to be that we wrote and recorded the songs and that was our contribution. American producers understood melodies and commercial tunes but weren’t able to come to terms with typical British power and aggression.”
Kevin flew to England to meet Saxon during the writing sessions. “He helped us to write Do It All For You, as the label wanted a ballad. That was his only contribution to any of the songs,” says Biff.
Decamping to Los Angeles to record the album, the band were happy to mix business with pleasure.
“We had a great time in America,” laughs Biff. “We were there for about eight weeks and all had apartments by Universal City; there were parties with our girlfriends. And groupies. The sun shone all the time. If you’re a celebrity in LA then life’s good, and the band were well known because of all the touring we’d done. We used to hang out a lot at the Rainbow Bar & Grill on Sunset Strip, where all the rockers end up. You’d always bump into some band or another who were passing through, like the Scorpions or Bon Jovi.”
While the songs lacked the raw punch of their NWOBHM-era classics, they still had their moments. The centrepiece was the title track; a sprawling historical epic that’s taken on a life of its own over the years.
“I’d always had a real interest in history, especially the Crusades,” explains the frontman. “But this was the first time I’d managed to write a song about that era. I did it from the viewpoint of a young lad watching as the knights go off to fight and wishing he could join them. The first piece of the song could be about any war in any part of the world. But then the lyrics got very specific.”
Two decades later, those words would cause Saxon a major problem. They were due to play at the Dubai Desert Rock Festival in 2006, but were then pulled from the bill when a local newspaper published the lyrics for Crusader. The line ‘The Saracan heathen will taste our steel’ didn’t go down at all well with the authorities in the United Arab Emirates. As a result, the Department of Tourism And Commerce Marketing refused permission for the band to play.
“I think that song’s been misunderstood over the years. Also, because it was the title track of the album, people thought we’d done a concept record, which wasn’t true at all. Mind you, we did use the Crusader imagery all over the place. We must have done hundreds of photo sessions dressed up as knights of the period. Some of them did look a bit ridiculous.”
Perhaps the two most contentious songs on the record were Sailing To America and Set Me Free. The former was seen by many as Saxon buttering up to America by praising it as their spiritual home. Not so, insists Biff.
“It was about the Pilgrim Fathers finding a new home. Maybe I should have made it more obvious by calling it Pilgrim Fathers. Besides, we’d been to America loads of times by then on tour. So why on Earth would we want to do a song about how we longed to go there?”
Equally divisive was Set Me Free, a cover of an old song by 70s glam rockers Sweet. “One of our guitarists suggested we do it,” says Biff. “It was the first time we’d done a cover. It turned out alright, but it could have been so much better. Our big mistake was in trying to do it the same as the original – we should have been looking to do it in the Saxon style. Also, the vocals were outside my range at the time – too high pitched. But it turned out OK.”
Crusader was released in January 1984. It featured a striking cover by artist and future Bloodstock founder Paul Gregory, featuring a knight en route to the Crusades.
“That was such a classic painting,” says Biff. “It was so heavy metal. We were able to use parts of it on t-shirts and the tour programme. It represented what we were trying to get across on the record.”
But reviews for the album were mixed – some claimed that Saxon had lost more than they gained by recording in the US. In the UK it peaked at No.18, their lowest position since the debut, while in the US the record only made it to No.174. Neither Sailing To America or Do It All For You were hits when they were released as single – the former limped to No.81, while the latter didn’t even make the Top 100. Biff has an unusual theory as to the disappointing critical and commercial reception.
“I think people loved us too much,” he explains. “They felt a lot closer to Saxon than most other bands. So when we made what were considered to be lousy decisions they’d criticise us more than anyone else. We were probably victims of our popularity. Yet despite this, Crusader is our biggest-selling album.”
The subsequent tour certainly was a massive affair, with the band using a stage set based around the album, including castle battlements and a fake stone floor.
“The floor was made of lino and looked great, but the dry ice made it very slippery. We all fell over three or four times during the show. Crazy! After three gigs, we got rid of it.”
Despite these teething problems the tour was a success, though Crusader itself didn’t kick Saxon’s career to the next level in the way they hoped. It was also their last album for longtime label Carrere, with the band switching to EMI for 1985’s Innocence Is No Excuse. But looking back, Biff considers the record deserves the respect it was denied at the time.
“It’s a good album, one that turned out better than I believed back then,” he says. “And its success down the years has really proven we did the right thing. All those who had a pop at us for Crusader were wrong.”
Originally published in Metal Hammer issue 178, April 2008
