The frosty relationship between Saxon frontman Biff Byford and former guitarist Graham Oliver appears to have thawed, three decades after the band fired the latter man. Oliver was sacked from Saxon in 1994 after his relationship with Byford became toxic.
“When there’s no chemistry, the band can’t survive,” Byford told Classic Rock in 2014. “When it goes from being competitive and on the edge to you can’t even stand being in the same room with the person, it has to stop.”
Much to Byford’s chagrin, Oliver went on to register “Saxon” as a trademark, and toured with former Saxon bassist Steve ‘Dobby’ Dawson – another member of the “classic” Saxon lineup – under the names Saxon: The Early Years and Oliver/Dawson Saxon.
Byford applied to have the trademark declared invalid in 2000, and three years later, the UK High Court ruled in his favour, finding that Oliver and Dawson had registered the trademark in bad faith.
“I could do a gig with Steve,” Byford told us in 2019. “But with Graham, it went too far. That door is shut. Let’s leave it at that.”
More recently, Oliver has been playing Saxon-themed shows with fellow founding guitarist Paul Quinn, who retired from touring with the band in 2023, but it appears that that door may have been cracked open.
“I don’t really have any problem with Graham anymore,” Byford now tells Classic Rock. “He used to do stupid things that smashed the reputation of the band. That’s all over now. I met Graham not too long ago in an airport and we had a chat.”
“Really, it’s fine,” he continues. “As long as we’re sensible and don’t start using logos, there’s plenty of room for everybody.”
Saxon’s European summer festival schedule begins later this month. Full dates below.