SAXON Drummer NIGEL GLOCKLER Rushed To Hospital; Remaining UK Dates Postponed

British heavy metal legends SAXON have been forced to postpone the remaining dates on their UK tour due to Nigel Glockler's health issues. The drummer was rushed to hospital on Monday night; more details will follow as soon as available.

Says SAXON singer Biff Byford in a Facebook post: "Nigel, our friend and brother, is in the hospital in the UK having tests to find a bleed on his brain. He is up and talking but he says he has a ball-crushing headache.

"I will pass all your messages on to Gina, Nigel's wife, and we all pray that Nige can pull through this! At the moment all shows have been rescheduled to [early] February 2015."

The UK shows were due to be the culmination of SAXON's 38-date European "Warriors Of The Road" tour celebrating the band's 35th anniversary. The setlist featured tracks from what is known to the fans as "The Holy Trinity" — SAXON's seminal albums "Wheels Of Steel", "Strong Arm Of The Law" and "Denim And Leather".

The following shows are rescheduled as follows (tickets are valid for the new dates):

Feb. 03 - Newcastle, UK - Academy
Feb. 04 - Nottingham, UK - Rock City
Feb. 05 - Wolverhampton, UK - Wulfrun Hall
Feb. 06 - Oxford, UK - Academy
Feb. 07 - London, UK - Shepherds Bush Empire

The band and management would like to apologize to all involved for any inconvenience caused.

As previously reported, SAXON and veteran Los Angeles metallers ARMORED SAINT will team up for a few select shows in U.S. next spring.

Confirmed shows are May 8 in New York City at B.B. King Blues Club & Grill, May 9 in Worcester, Massachusetts at the Palladium and May 30 in West Hollywood at House Of Blues, with additional dates being considered.

SAXON will also appear at the Rock On The Range festival in Columbus, Ohio the weekend of May 15-17.

SAXON will enter the studio in early 2015 to begin recording the follow-up to 2013's "Sacrifice" for a late summer release.

"We're making the new album in January, February and March. And then we go to America in May," SAXON vocalist Biff Byford told Rock Bottom during a recent interview. "[The new CD will be released] maybe [in] August or September."

Regarding how the new SAXON material is shaping up, Biff said: "I'm not gonna tell you, [but] it's heavy. There are some great classics, some melodic stuff on there as well."

Asked how SAXON has found the time to work on new music while juggling a heavy tour schedule and spending time at home with their families, Biff said: "We've been writing in our time off. We haven't done a lot of this year, actually. It's very deceiving. We played a lot of festivals in Europe, but we haven't been really touring very much. We should have toured with MOTÖRHEAD in 2013, then we should have toured again in 2014, but it didn't work out. So we haven't really been touring. We've done quite a few festivals, so I think people's concept is that we've toured a lot, but we haven't."

Byford also spoke about the pressures of coming up with songs that will be played on the radio and become hit singles. He said: "I think an album is a collection of songs that you write. I don't think we are interested in singles and things like that anymore. We don't have that pressure anymore writing a hit single, so we don't do that. If you have a hit single, it's by accident. It's hard to get it played on radio, because it's got guitar solos in it and heavy guitar stuff. They don't get played on the radio very much unless you're a young act."

On April 29 via UDR Music, SAXON released "St. George's Day Sacrifice - Live In Manchester", a "hidden treasure" recorded live at The Ritz in Manchester, England during the band's "Sacrifice" world tour.

SAXON's previous release, "Unplugged And Strung Up", contained 14 of the band's classic songs chosen for a makeover, thanks to some ear-catching new arrangements and mixes.