NIGEL GLOCKLER
Nigel Glockler is probably best known of his long career as a drummer for legendary NWOBHM band Saxon. Nigel did his first tour with the band in 1981 as a temporary member when original drummer Pete Gill damaged his hand just days before starting a huge tour. Nigel soon became a permanent member and in the early 1982 Saxon released their highly acclaimed live album “THE EAGLE HAS LANDED” , which is still one of the best live albums ever released. At that point Saxon was on the top of their game. The line up which consisted of vocalist Biff Byford, guitarists Paul Quinn and Graham Olivier, bassist Steve Dawson and Nigel, released three classic albums: “POWER AND GLORY”, “CRUSADER” and “INNOCENCE IS NO EXCUSE” before problems started. In 1986 Dawson left the band and only one year later Nigel decided to leave himself and join the shortlived”supergroup” GTR. After various projects and recordings with such artists as Fastway, Nigel decided to re join Saxon in 1989 and together they did several albums and tours before health problems forced him to again leave the band in 1997. Since leaving Nigel hasn’t been able to play drums in many years but after a long rehabilitation and much training he got back working again and in 2004 he got up on stage and did a few songs as a special quest for Saxon at Wacken Open Air festival in Germany. That show was going to be the last show for Fritz Rainbow, who had replaced Nigel 1997, and at that point Jorg Michael (Stratovarius, ex- Running Wild) became the new drummer for Saxon. The band released the album “LIONHEART” in 2004 but in the middle of the tour Jorg announced that he was going to leave after the tour and re -join his old band Stratovarius. At this point the band decided to contact Nigel and ask him to rejoin band permanently. After some thinking and training Nigel decided to accept an invitation and give it a try.
I met Nigel last December in Stockholm right before Saxon show in Swedenrock festival annual kickoff event and here are the results of our discussion…
INTERVIEW AND QUESTIONS BY MARKO SYRJÄLÄ. PICTURES BY MARKO SYRJÄLÄ AND WWW.NIGELGLOCKLER.COM
TRANSCRIPTION BY DUKE
