Dead End Drive-In: Now Showing – Saxon: ‘Heavy Metal Thunder – The Movie’
Written by Gaz E
Sunday, 09 December 2012 05:00
Saxon – ‘Heavy Metal Thunder – The Movie’ (UDR/EMI)
After a limited UK ‘fan club only’ release the epic story of British metal legends Saxon, ‘Heavy Metal Thunder – The Movie’, gets an international release, its UK retail debut on Blu-ray and 2 disc DVD digipack.
So what made me – apart from my championing of the band’s finest six seconds, obviously – the prime suspect when it came to reviewing this Solid Ball of Rock Doc? Well, apart from the fact that my first ever ‘rock’ t-shirt, as a wide-eyed kid barely out of single figures, was a ‘Strong Arm Of The Law’ one, I am a sucker for a documentary and have a golden rule when it comes to judging them: if I’m tempted to rush online to buy the entire back catalogue of the subject then it’s a winner. Okay, so I don’t have everything that Saxon has ever recorded weighing heavy on my next credit card statement, but that doesn’t mean that ‘Heavy Metal Thunder’ isn’t impressive; in fact, I’d have to admit that is by far the most entertaining and chucklesome of no frills rock documentaries out there at the minute.
Opening up with footage of the current Saxon line-up unleashing the beast at Wacken – members of Machine Head, Gamma Ray, Airbourne, and Doro Pesch herself providing immediate words of reverence – ‘Heavy Metal Thunder’ quickly rewinds back to the start of the band’s career, settling there, and then the work of the classic Saxon line-up, for the majority of the film’s two hour running time.
Narrated by Little Angels frontman Toby Jepson, ‘Heavy Metal Thunder’ opens with the curious tale of a band called SOB recruiting a singer/bassist called Biff Byford and a guitarist called Paul Quinn. Joining guitarist Graham Oliver, bassist Steve ‘Dobby’ Dawson and drummer David Ward – quickly replaced by 
former Glitter Band sticksman Pete Gill after an incident with a concrete block! – the band rebranded slightly, the SOB becoming S.O.B. – Son of a Bitch – Byford dropping the bass and concentrating on vocals.
The band’s rise from pubs to support slots with the likes of Nazareth is documented in the most honest, down-to-earth manner seen in a modern rock doc: there’s little pretentious behaviour here, the band members coming across as decent, normal chaps who just happened to get a name change and support slot on Motorhead’s ‘Bomber’ tour forced upon them, those management decisions actually breaking the band……before other management decisions would break it in a wholly different manner.
The great thing about this documentary is the appearance on camera of former members Graham Oliver and Steve Dawson, ‘Dobby’ proving to be the real star of the show with his no-holds-barred admissions of an almost naive taint. It’s refreshing to see – no fake American accents on these guys when the cameras appear. Not so Pete Gill though, the drummer refusing to be interviewed as he is said to be still smarting about the way he was ousted from the band in favour of then-Toyah drummer Nigel Glockler. Shame, especially as the Oliver/Dawson combo, once embroiled in legal battles with their former bandmates, bring everything to the cinematic plate, dignity and respect high on the list too.
Lars Ulrich appears to wax lyrical on one of his favourite bands of the time, and to detail Saxon’s first US show when former Metallica bassist Ron McGovney managed to wangle his own band onto the bill – alongside Ratt! – only for a certain James Hetfield to be refused permission to use Biff’s onstage fan. How times have changed when the film culminates with footage of Biff joining Metallica onstage in Paris for a run-through of ‘Motorcycle Man’, a song said to be the favourite of a young band who asked to be taken backstage at that first American Saxon show to meet the band….four guys collectively known as Motley Crue.
Within a year or so Saxon were actually supporting Crue on a US tour – where Dobby got his first blow job; British girls just wouldn’t do that! – and it was the thirst for success in the States that would eventually see the band splinter and break.
‘Dobby’ Dawson was the first to crack. Unhappy with the more commercial sound being forced upon the band, Dobby and Biff fell out…..and never fell back in. Called to a meeting by management, Dawson was told that the rest of the band were working without him…and he was gone, signing on his next gig. That commercial, Americanized sound – and look; Paul Quinn’s selection of hair hats from that time a particular highlight – never really sat with any comfort within the band’s ranks. A return to more metal ways was on the cards, after a dalliance with the charts once again when they rode like the wind, but pretty soon Oliver was gone too, a bizarre involvement with the release of a glorified bootleg of the band’s performance at the first ever Monsters Of Rock festival the sword on which his involvement fell.
All of the band members come across as good guys in the film – current members Nibbs Carter and Doug Scarratt included – but it’s Oliver and Dawson who really strike the most chords: Byford impresses as expected, while Quinn is a little rarer, but the former members who decided to work together again entertain most, Oliver actually providing the film’s token lump-in-throat moment as he recounts the respect he has for Paul Quinn who taught him to play guitar in a different style when the former thought his career was over almost before it had begun when he cut the top of his finger off by way of a slamming door.
Don’t expect a reunion any time soon though. This isn’t ‘Hello Quo!’, there’s no happy ending here in that regard. Footage of the Saxon of today tearing it up onstage at Wacken has you thinking – and them, you’d assume – that there really is no need to work together again.
Rounded out with choice footage of the likes of Lemmy and “Fast” Eddie Clarke sharing their memories of touring with the band, and laugh out loud moments like the band’s former manager’s admission that he really didn’t know what to make of this band who looked like hod carriers, with their moustaches, a couple going thin on top, and their obsession with drinking tea, ‘Heavy Metal Thunder – The Movie’ wins on two fronts: it documents the career of a legendary metal band, love ’em or not, and it speaks to the viewer like mates talking in the pub. It’s good and honest, honest!
The second disc/bonus features are special too: the full Saint George’s Day concert from 2008 is the flagship extra, but the real gem here is the full hour-long live performance from the Beat Club in 1981 – a mess of bacofoil spandex and burning guitars. Add to this a couple of choice vintage features – footage of the recording of both 1984’s ‘Crusader’ and 1985’s ‘Innocence Is No Excuse’ – and you have a winner on your hands if you take the plunge and dip into your pocket for this. You might not dip back for the full back catalogue, but you’ll be happy to have this denim and leather archive in your collection.