Venger – interview met Doug Scarratt (guitars)
Doug Scarratt: “there is no pressure for me either. I can play solos and listen to them for a few times, think about it and go to the studio in the back of my garden to redo it.”
Een frisse wind waait doorheen het traditionele heavy metal gebeuren met de geboorte van Venger en het uitstekende debuutalbum ‘Times Of Legend’. Dit is de vrucht van een verrassende samenwerking tussen gitarist Doug Scarratt van Saxon en James Fogarty die we kennen van In The Woods, Nattehimmel en soloalbums in het zwartgeblakerde en zelfs progressieve segment van ons geliefde muziekgenre. Wie kan ons beter vertellen hoe het allemaal begon en gelopen is dan ‘de man van Saxon’ Doug Scarratt? Het werd een zeer hartelijk en open gesprek.
Vera Matthijssens Ι 29 januari 2026
This is a very fascinating project because it is a cooperation between two members from the metal scène, but from different subgenres. Actually, how did you meet and get to know James Fogarty?
We met at my son’s gig. My son is a drummer, he was playing a show in Brighton, where we live. I went to the downstairs bar for a drink and James was in there. He recognized me and came introducing himself. We started to talk and discovered that we lived just a five minutes drive away from each other. We kind of discussed meeting up, just for a coffee and more music talk and he told me all the different people that he’d worked with. He had a lot of ideas and I also had ideas recorded throughout the years and hadn’t used. So we just got together and started to write together and it all happened kind of very quickly actually.
You discovered mutual interests. Like history and what more?
Yes. We both like kind of old science-fiction and horror movies. I don’t think that initially it was particularly the intention to write every song about a horror character of a legend, but as the project continued, it seemed to go that way. So that seemed like a pretty good plan.
Indeed, because the second single ‘Navigate The Labyrinth’ appears to be about a video game console from the world of Venger. That happens to be an imaginary world?
I was into videogames years ago. I haven’t been in it for actually quite a long time now, I kind of stopped around Playstation 2 where I was playing Doom Raiders. I got pretty hooked on Doom Raiders and the alien games, staying up until four in the morning, with the intention to finish levels and so. Also I was into platform games, from very first beginning, but then it did not interest me anymore. It can use a lot of your creative energy. Venger is a character from ‘Dungeons & Dragons’, you probably know that.
Indeed, I think it is easy to get addicted to playing videogames. I better like music as an addiction…
Probably a healthier addiction.
Another song, actually the first single ‘From Worlds Unknown’, is about Ufology. I have always been interested in the mysteries of the universe. How did that grow on you?
I cannot say that I definitely believe in alien life and forms. For an ordinary person, the evidence is not that convincing yet. So far I don’t see anything proper evidence, but it seems to make sense that there would be.
Things like Roswell 47, there is a haze hanging over it…
Yes, although it fascinates me. But James and I always liked fantasy stories like James said, we kind of wanted the album to be a bit like an annual that you could buy when you were a boy and read about all these Frankenstein and Dracula stories and also the comics from back then. I am eager to explore that topic.
Is that reflected in the artwork?
Yes, absolutely. We tried to put most of the characters from the songs on the cover and we wanted the album cover to look a bit like 1980’s videogame cover.
One of my favourites is ‘Crystal Gazer’. Can you tell me what it is about, it sounds so mysterious?
Yes, it is just about a guy going to a fortune teller and trying to find out what’s going to happen. That’s what most people do over there, but not for me personally, it is something I’d rather not know. I don’t think I would go and see a fortune teller, even if he is very handsome in telling the future. It is always a true temptation to want to know, but for me I’d rather not know.
Imagine if they tell something really bad. Then you are unlucky. If they tell you will win a fortune, then you start questioning everything…
Yes, but it is quite an interesting subject. That was one of the early songs we wrote actually. First there were only lyrics and the melodies. The guitar riffs are kind of a combination of the two of us. James does the lyrics and melodies.
‘Séance’ is another track I like very much. It is full of mystery…
I live very close to a small town called Lewes. It was very known for things like witch haunts and witchcraft and these kind of things and every year they have a massive bonfire. It is such a big deal there. There are huge processions through the streets. Actually it is a very nice little town. It has the most haunted pub either in the South of England or in England, I am not sure. I am not so into that stuff, but I know Lewes was a very big centre for witchcraft in the past.
How did you find the rest of the band, the two other members?
Sven (Rothe – drums – Vera) has been a friend of James for quite a few years. He has worked on many projects with James, so those two have worked together quite a bit. And originally James was going to sing…
Yes I expected that…
Yeah he is great with all the backing vocals and the spooky stuff as well and the kind of choir sound, but we felt that we needed a definite lead voice. I think a friend of James has suggested Franz (Bauer – vocals – Vera). We sent him a couple of songs, which he recorded in Austria, he sent them back to us and we thought immediately that it worked pretty well, so that’s how it started.
You recorded a lot of the stuff at home studios…
Yes, my son did it. We are lucky enough to have a studio in our garden. My son is a producer, for us as well. We didn’t record the drums over there, but we can record live drums. Sven recorded the drums in Norway and sent the files to Jamie, my son. He mixed them here. It is easier that way. All the guitars originally, for basic ideas we just recorded them on James’ computer and then bring them here and recorded them here with my son with proper amps. So all of the guitars are actually recorded with a combination of two different Marshall amps and a Fender combo. With this combination of the equipment everything was done here. Everything apart from the drums and the vocals was recorded here.
You are most of the time a strictly lead guitar player, isn’t it?
Yes, James does not play solos and I am very used to doing both, obviously in Saxon. We both play rhythm guitars on the album and obviously I am playing most of the melodies and the solos. James is playing all the rhythm guitars and sometimes the melodies in the background. It is pretty similar to Saxon, except there is only one lead guitarist being me.
These are great solos by the way! They are recognizable and yet fresh, because of the environment of sound…
Thank you! With Saxon all the solos are shared. It works pretty well that way, two different styles, it keeps it interesting, but I have a lot of space to do more things on this project, because it is ours. I just have more space for playing solos.
How does it feel having a project on your own, more responsibility as well…
Well, I like it very much. I mean, it is really enjoyable just to be able to… everything is written by me and James, so it is great to have that much freedom. Honestly, mostly we see each other eye to eye with the ideas and everything, so it is not a struggle. I think we like the same kind of things.
Since you are living close to each other, you have the opportunity to meet eye to eye, but besides that, if your son has a modern studio, then you are into the newest developments. That is the best of both worlds I think…
Yeah and there is no pressure for me either. I can play solos and listen to them for a few times. I can do that with Saxon as well, but basically if I decide that we played sometimes I could change it, maybe make it better if I can. I have the luxury to walk to the bottom of the garden and then redo it. That is a kind of lucky thing to have.
Indeed, it is great that the studio is located in your garden…
Yeah good for creative energy definitely…
There is a guest singer in the song ‘Tower Of Babel’. Can you tell something about Matt Mitchell, because except that he has been in Furyon, I don’t know him…
Yes! I knew about Matt for a long time. We not really met until a couple of years ago when another friend of mine, not Bruce Dickinson from Iron Maiden, but a guy called Bruce Dickinson who started with a huge music college in Brighton, called BIN which I did a couple of sessions as well. That became very, very big and I got to know Bruce through that and then he sold it and moved away. He was also the guitar player in a band called Little Angels. They released at least one really big album. So Bruce moved away from Brighton and when he came back, he just phoned me up and said ‘will you meet with some friends, just a drink’ which we did and Matt was there and Matt gave me a copy of his solo album, which I liked very much actually. He is a different singer to Franz, Matt is quite a bit a bluesy singer. He is very versatile. That one song… we needed to get the album finished quickly and Franz was quite busy, so we asked Matt to sing on the last track and he was very into it. It is quite a different sound to Franz, but I think he did a great job.
It makes sense for a guest vocalist that it sounds different…
He had some very good ideas for the chorus as well.
Is this a band that will play live?
Every interview I do, people are asking this. I have been asked that a lot. Maybe. It so much depends on my schedule with Saxon, obviously the logistics of making that happen are a lot bigger than most of the people can comprehend. We don’t live close to each other except for me and James. Rehearsals, equipment and transport and everything is quite a big deal, something that I am not keen on to deal with. It depends on the office really and I am definitely not saying no, me and James have talked about it quite a bit now, it might come to the fact that we do some gigs, but we always come to the fact If we get the right offer to play, maybe some festivals or some small clubs. So I am not saying no. I guess it also depends on how well the album is received. Then we will get any offers.
What are the plans with Saxon for this year?
We are having a bit of a break until the end of April and then for the rest of the year, the schedule is very full. So I have got this space now. Me and James are meeting tomorrow. We have got a few ideas already for a second album, so we are planning that. We will try to do as much as we can in this break with Venger.
You joined Saxon in 1996…
In 1995 actually. The beginning of ’95. Nigel Glockler and I were friends and had worked a bit together on other projects. We both liked a lot of the same bands. Used to come and watch me play in at least two other bands. And then he was the drummer in a band, which was kind of a very rocky blues band. We were doing quite good shows and of course when Nigel was on tour with Saxon, he couldn’t do shows with us. So we had two or three different drummers. For all these bands, shows came in and we did them with who was available. And then just before Christmas 1994, Nigel told me that they had fired Graham (Oliver – previous guitarist – Vera) and he was not doing the ‘Dogs Of War’ tour. Was I interested in doing the tour, which was actually in January, so there was very little time. I said yes straight away and spent the next few weeks endlessly learning songs for the tour.
Incredible! And that turned into your life…
Yeah! Now, thirty-one years later, and I think I have made… I lost count of the albums I have made… somewhere around fifteen and some live albums and the two covers albums that we did during lockdown. So I am not sure how many exactly.
I can understand. It is a long time ago. Just like my first Saxon show. I just bought ‘Strong Arm Of The Law’ and when I arrived Saxon was doing sound check in Antwerp and they played ‘Frozen Rainbow’. I will never forget it!
Yes, I have played that song many times now and obviously we did the acoustic version.
Are there still other video clips coming up or not?
No, there is nothing at the moment. There might be some more show advertisings. We only made two videos which we had to make very, very fast. We basically had an afternoon to make both videos. Franz had only one afternoon and evening free and then he had to go back straight to Austria the next morning, so it was kind of crazy, but I think it worked out pretty good. Obviously we will make more videos and we will try to do more with them, because we just shot the two videos at the rehearsal room.
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