Saxon celebrate 1979 tour with Motorhead in They Played Rock And Roll video

By Scott Munro
( Classic Rock )
published

Saxon release lyric video for their brand new track They Played Rock And Roll - taken from upcoming album Thunderbolt

Saxon
Saxon

Saxon have released a lyric video for their new track They Played Rock And Roll.

The song and promo celebrate Saxon’s 1979 tour with Motorhead, with frontman Biff Byford revealing its existence in September 2016.

It’ll feature on Saxon’s upcoming studio album Thunderbolt, which is set for release on February 2 via Militia Guard/Silver Lining Music.

Byford says: “The song tells the story of Saxon’s very first tour in 1979 with Motorhead. I want people to get a flavour of what it was like in the UK in 79⁄80 for Saxon and Motorhead at the start of the 80s musical revolution.”

Saxon revealed the title track from the new album in November. Find the Thunderbolt cover art and tracklist below, along with the band’s upcoming tour dates.

Saxon Thunderbolt tracklist

  1. Olympus Rising
  2. Thunderbolt
  3. The Secret Of Flight
  4. Nosferatu (The Vampires Waltz)
  5. They Played Rock and Roll
  6. Predator
  7. Sons Of Odin
  8. Sniper
  9. A Wizard’s Tale
  10. Speed Merchants
  11. Roadie’s Song
  12. Nosferatu - RawVersion (Not available on vinyl)

Saxon Thunderbolt 2018 tour dates

Feb 23: Cardiff University, UK
Feb 24: Cambridge Corn Exchange, UK
Feb 25: Hull City Hall, UK
Feb 27: Tilburg 013, Netherlands
Feb 28: Saarbruecken Garage, Germany
Mar 01: Hannover Capitol, Germany
Mar 02: Frankfurt Batschkapp, Germany
Mar 03: Dresden Schlachthof, Germany
Mar 22: Wilkes-Barre Mohegan Sun Arena, PA
Mar 31: Detroit Masonic Temple, IL
May 05: Mexico City Formula 1 Autodrome, Mexico

Biff Byford: "The late 70s were a wasteland – Saxon came out of that"

Scott Munro
Scott Munro
Louder e-commerce editor

Scott has spent 35 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in the summer of 2014 before moving to the e-commerce team in 2020. Scott keeps Louder’s buyer’s guides up to date, writes about the best deals for music fans, keeps on top of the latest tech releases and reviews headphones, speakers, earplugs and more. Over the last 10 years, Scott has written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog. He's previously written for publications including IGN, the Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald newspapers, covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to tech reviews, video games, travel and whisky. Scott's favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, Marillion and Rush.