Diamond Head founder Brian Tatler has long been regarded as one of British heavy metal's finest guitarists. A key architect of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, his influence continues to resonate through generations of bands, not least Metallica, who famously championed Diamond Head's music. Now, having joined Saxon as new guitarist following the retirement of Paul Quinn, Tatler finds himself writing a new chapter in an already remarkable career. With a new Saxon album on the horizon and Diamond Head entering a period of hiatus, we caught up with Brian to discuss joining one of heavy metal's biggest names, contributing to new material, and what the future holds for both bands. Heavy metal thunder; Eamon O'Neill.
Brian Tatler with Saxon at Maid of Stone 2026. Photo: Louise Phillips.
How are you doing, Brian?
I'm good, thank you.
The last time I spoke to you, you were the head honcho at Diamond Head.
I still am!
You still are, and we'll get to that, but now you're with Biff and Saxon; how did that come about?
I think I got onto the Saxon radar because we were on the same management and the same record label around 2018, so we started doing more dates with Saxon. We did a big tour in 2022 where we toured the whole of the UK and Europe, and so I got to know Biff and the guys. I'd be backstage, we'd be in catering and dressing rooms and things, and I think, from what I can gather, Paul Quinn had been talking about retiring from Saxon for about four years, saying, "I might retire at some point." So I think maybe Biff had started to think, "Okay, well, if Paul does retire, who can we get?", and maybe drew up a short list. Obviously I can play, but they knew I'm a nice guy. I think that helps if you're going to have to be with somebody 24/7, sitting in vans and coaches and airports and airplanes. You want somebody who's a nice guy who's not going to drive you up the wall. So I got asked in March of 2023 if I'd be interested in joining Saxon, and of course I said, "Yep!"
Was that a difficult decision, given how long you'd been working with Diamond Head?
No. I'll tell you what it was. The year before, Saxon were doing Steelhouse [Festival in Wales], and Paul had COVID, right?
So you helped out?
No, nearly, nearly. So a few days before the gig, I got the call: "Paul's got COVID. Would you be interested in stepping in? Can you learn the set?" And I'm like, "Yep, good job." I said yes. So I'm there, and then I think the day before they said, "Paul's going to be okay to do the gig, but thanks anyway." So the fact that I stepped up to the plate there and had been willing to help out and do the job probably was a tick in my box. So when they maybe thought, "What about Brian Tatler?", they said, "Well, yeah, he's probably already got half the set down," or "He's learnt a lot of the songs." So, as I said, I said yes. Obviously, if I'd said no, they'd have gone on to the next guy, but I said yes, and I knew what it would entail. I had done a lot of gigs opening for Saxon, so I got to know the procedure and the way they run things, the crew, and things like that. And I just thought, yeah, it'd be great. It's several rungs up the ladder.
Obviously, you've been running Diamond Head since way, way back in the day, so was there a bit of an adjustment period going into something that wasn't entirely your organisation?
Only a little bit, because in Diamond Head, Carl Wilcox, the drummer, did a lot of the background work, organising hotels and transport and a lot of that. He took a lot of that pressure off me. I don't have that kind of brain, really. I'm not an alpha male where I have to be in charge of everything or take care of every detail. I'm not that sort of guy, so in Saxon, I was just required to be the guitarist, and I didn't have to take care of any of the business decisions or, you know, "How are we going to get from Austria to Greece in one day?" Things like that. So I was happy to just slot in, really.
Your addition seems to have given Saxon a real boost, with no disrespect to Paul.
Of course, but that is often the case when you bring in a new guy. There's a sort of revitalisation of the band. I've noticed that with Diamond Head, but yeah, I was just happy to get on board and enjoy the ride.
You did get to contribute to the last album, Hell, Fire and Damnation; was that important to you rather than just being like a session player?
I think I would have accepted that role of, you know, "We write the songs," type thing, but that wasn't the case. As soon as I joined, Biff called and said, "We're doing a new album soon. Have you got any material?" And I didn't really expect that. I was focusing on learning the material that we would be playing live, but I thought, "Okay, well, in that case, I have." I'd got loads of ideas because the last Diamond Head album was in 2019, and we'd had COVID since then, so I'd been at home for months and months writing. What else are you going to do? So I'd got a lot of ideas, and I'd send them to Biff, and Biff would say, "I like this, I like that," and we used several of the ideas on the last album. And again, for the new album, I've contributed to that.
With the last album, Paul Quinn was still contributing; will this be more of a clean slate and have a lot more of your imprint on there?
Well, people can wait and see, but yeah, I've contributed ideas to the past two albums. I mean, Biff said they're still friends with Paul. Paul's great, and he said, "You never know, he might write 'Smoke on the Water' tomorrow!" So I think, yeah, if Paul said, "I've got an idea," Biff, of course, would jump all over it. So if the door's open there, you just have to wait for the material to come in. That's what we do: we feed Biff with ideas, and then he sifts through them and says, "I like this, I like that. Not so much that one."
Have you got a release date? Have we got any titles?
As far as I know, the album is called Gods of Thunder, and it will be released in January 2027.
That's another killer Saxon album title.
It is! They must have a list, haven't they, and wait for the right moment.
Saxon seems to be your priority now; is that correct?
It is.
Where does that leave Diamond Head? There are fans who'd want to know what the status of the band is currently.
Yeah, I mean, when I first joined Saxon in 2023, I thought, "It's okay, I can do both," and I said to the guys that I still wanted to do Diamond Head. It's been my life since 1976. I didn't want to just call it a day, but I think because Saxon's very busy, it took me a little bit of time to realise, "Hmm, it's going to be hard to do both." I think Diamond Head will have to go on a bit of a hiatus until there's either a suitable break or there's an opportunity that we all want to do and we all can do, and then we would do something. But in the meantime, I'm busy with Saxon and I'm really enjoying it.
A Diamond Head mural recently popped up in the band's hometown of Stourbridge; that must have been an honour.
Yes, it's great. I mean, last year the artist, a chap called Cal from Stourbridge, did three murals of three other Stourbridge bands. Stourbridge has produced some big bands for its size. It's only a small town, and Ned's Atomic Dustbin, Pop Will Eat Itself, and The Wonder Stuff—he did murals for those three. And I spoke to him, and he said, "I am going to do a Diamond Head mural. I am going to do a Robert Plant mural, but it'll have to be next year." So here we are in 2026, and the mural went up around April. So we had a photo taken outside it. It's a big black-and-white mural over a shop frontage, and that's great.
That photo you posed for was with the original Diamond Head members, wasn't it?
Yes, it was myself, Sean Harris, and Duncan Scott from the original band.
Clearly the band is very different now, but was there a bit of nostalgia there for you, posing with those guys?
Yeah, it was great. I mean, I don't see Sean very often, even though I live about a mile away from Sean, and probably about another mile or so from Duncan and Colin {Kimberley}, but we just don't seem to get together that often. I see Duncan a lot more than I see Sean, so it's just one of those things. I don't call him; he doesn't call me, and time drags on, but we spoke for probably an hour at that photo session for the mural, and yeah, it's absolutely fine. We go back. I mean, I've known him since I was five, so there's such a lot of positive history there, alongside a few moments, shall we say!
I'm good, thank you.
The last time I spoke to you, you were the head honcho at Diamond Head.
I still am!
You still are, and we'll get to that, but now you're with Biff and Saxon; how did that come about?
I think I got onto the Saxon radar because we were on the same management and the same record label around 2018, so we started doing more dates with Saxon. We did a big tour in 2022 where we toured the whole of the UK and Europe, and so I got to know Biff and the guys. I'd be backstage, we'd be in catering and dressing rooms and things, and I think, from what I can gather, Paul Quinn had been talking about retiring from Saxon for about four years, saying, "I might retire at some point." So I think maybe Biff had started to think, "Okay, well, if Paul does retire, who can we get?", and maybe drew up a short list. Obviously I can play, but they knew I'm a nice guy. I think that helps if you're going to have to be with somebody 24/7, sitting in vans and coaches and airports and airplanes. You want somebody who's a nice guy who's not going to drive you up the wall. So I got asked in March of 2023 if I'd be interested in joining Saxon, and of course I said, "Yep!"
Was that a difficult decision, given how long you'd been working with Diamond Head?
No. I'll tell you what it was. The year before, Saxon were doing Steelhouse [Festival in Wales], and Paul had COVID, right?
So you helped out?
No, nearly, nearly. So a few days before the gig, I got the call: "Paul's got COVID. Would you be interested in stepping in? Can you learn the set?" And I'm like, "Yep, good job." I said yes. So I'm there, and then I think the day before they said, "Paul's going to be okay to do the gig, but thanks anyway." So the fact that I stepped up to the plate there and had been willing to help out and do the job probably was a tick in my box. So when they maybe thought, "What about Brian Tatler?", they said, "Well, yeah, he's probably already got half the set down," or "He's learnt a lot of the songs." So, as I said, I said yes. Obviously, if I'd said no, they'd have gone on to the next guy, but I said yes, and I knew what it would entail. I had done a lot of gigs opening for Saxon, so I got to know the procedure and the way they run things, the crew, and things like that. And I just thought, yeah, it'd be great. It's several rungs up the ladder.
Obviously, you've been running Diamond Head since way, way back in the day, so was there a bit of an adjustment period going into something that wasn't entirely your organisation?
Only a little bit, because in Diamond Head, Carl Wilcox, the drummer, did a lot of the background work, organising hotels and transport and a lot of that. He took a lot of that pressure off me. I don't have that kind of brain, really. I'm not an alpha male where I have to be in charge of everything or take care of every detail. I'm not that sort of guy, so in Saxon, I was just required to be the guitarist, and I didn't have to take care of any of the business decisions or, you know, "How are we going to get from Austria to Greece in one day?" Things like that. So I was happy to just slot in, really.
Your addition seems to have given Saxon a real boost, with no disrespect to Paul.
Of course, but that is often the case when you bring in a new guy. There's a sort of revitalisation of the band. I've noticed that with Diamond Head, but yeah, I was just happy to get on board and enjoy the ride.
You did get to contribute to the last album, Hell, Fire and Damnation; was that important to you rather than just being like a session player?
I think I would have accepted that role of, you know, "We write the songs," type thing, but that wasn't the case. As soon as I joined, Biff called and said, "We're doing a new album soon. Have you got any material?" And I didn't really expect that. I was focusing on learning the material that we would be playing live, but I thought, "Okay, well, in that case, I have." I'd got loads of ideas because the last Diamond Head album was in 2019, and we'd had COVID since then, so I'd been at home for months and months writing. What else are you going to do? So I'd got a lot of ideas, and I'd send them to Biff, and Biff would say, "I like this, I like that," and we used several of the ideas on the last album. And again, for the new album, I've contributed to that.
With the last album, Paul Quinn was still contributing; will this be more of a clean slate and have a lot more of your imprint on there?
Well, people can wait and see, but yeah, I've contributed ideas to the past two albums. I mean, Biff said they're still friends with Paul. Paul's great, and he said, "You never know, he might write 'Smoke on the Water' tomorrow!" So I think, yeah, if Paul said, "I've got an idea," Biff, of course, would jump all over it. So if the door's open there, you just have to wait for the material to come in. That's what we do: we feed Biff with ideas, and then he sifts through them and says, "I like this, I like that. Not so much that one."
Have you got a release date? Have we got any titles?
As far as I know, the album is called Gods of Thunder, and it will be released in January 2027.
That's another killer Saxon album title.
It is! They must have a list, haven't they, and wait for the right moment.
Saxon seems to be your priority now; is that correct?
It is.
Where does that leave Diamond Head? There are fans who'd want to know what the status of the band is currently.
Yeah, I mean, when I first joined Saxon in 2023, I thought, "It's okay, I can do both," and I said to the guys that I still wanted to do Diamond Head. It's been my life since 1976. I didn't want to just call it a day, but I think because Saxon's very busy, it took me a little bit of time to realise, "Hmm, it's going to be hard to do both." I think Diamond Head will have to go on a bit of a hiatus until there's either a suitable break or there's an opportunity that we all want to do and we all can do, and then we would do something. But in the meantime, I'm busy with Saxon and I'm really enjoying it.
A Diamond Head mural recently popped up in the band's hometown of Stourbridge; that must have been an honour.
Yes, it's great. I mean, last year the artist, a chap called Cal from Stourbridge, did three murals of three other Stourbridge bands. Stourbridge has produced some big bands for its size. It's only a small town, and Ned's Atomic Dustbin, Pop Will Eat Itself, and The Wonder Stuff—he did murals for those three. And I spoke to him, and he said, "I am going to do a Diamond Head mural. I am going to do a Robert Plant mural, but it'll have to be next year." So here we are in 2026, and the mural went up around April. So we had a photo taken outside it. It's a big black-and-white mural over a shop frontage, and that's great.
That photo you posed for was with the original Diamond Head members, wasn't it?
Yes, it was myself, Sean Harris, and Duncan Scott from the original band.
Clearly the band is very different now, but was there a bit of nostalgia there for you, posing with those guys?
Yeah, it was great. I mean, I don't see Sean very often, even though I live about a mile away from Sean, and probably about another mile or so from Duncan and Colin {Kimberley}, but we just don't seem to get together that often. I see Duncan a lot more than I see Sean, so it's just one of those things. I don't call him; he doesn't call me, and time drags on, but we spoke for probably an hour at that photo session for the mural, and yeah, it's absolutely fine. We go back. I mean, I've known him since I was five, so there's such a lot of positive history there, alongside a few moments, shall we say!
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