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SAXON - Biff! Bang! Pow! Page 2
by Martin Popoff

"'State Of Grace' is a very strange, unique song, that only probably we could do. It's a mixture. It's strange, really. It's sort of like Doobie Brothers crossed with Slayer crossed with AC/DC and a little bit of something else thrown in there (laughs). It's a very weird mixture of styles, but it really does get inside you, actually; it's quite haunting. I think it's just a mixture of five guys coming together to write a song that is totally theirs, really. 'I've Got To Rock (To Stay Alive)' is a straight out-and-out rock song in the Wheels Of Steel/Strong Arm Of The Law/Solid Ball Of Rock style. But I think lyrically I like all the songs. The strange thing is they all work together as well, the songs. And that was something we were worried about in the beginning, when we started putting the album together and recording - that the different styles wouldn't fit. But actually they do. I've obviously approached them with the same vocal performance, so it tends to tie them all together."

What do you mean exactly with respect to approaching them all the same vocally?

"I'm singing quite full-on these days, if you know what I mean. We didn't change the style of the performance aspect of the songs, when we did the vocals. I sang them all in maybe five days. We didn't do anything different with 'Red Star Falling' versus 'Let Me Feel Your Power'; I'm just singing it louder or more aggressive. We didn't back off on any of the production elements for those songs, so they are quite live. That's what I'm trying to get at. Everything on there vocally is quite live and done very quickly. We didn't spend a long time trying to get different sounds in there. So I think it's tied together better because of that."

Legendary Saxon drummer Nigel Glockler is back in the fold as well. He's been back for a while, but this is the first record where he's rolled up his sleeves and gotten into the writing. If you recall, the hiring on of Nigel was a huge catalyst with respect to making Power And The Glory what many (including this writer) feel to be the band's masterpiece.

SAXON - Biff! Bang! Pow! Page 3