Songfacts®:

• "Denim And Leather" describes the look of Saxon and their fans. It's one of their early songs, released as the title track to their 1981 album. The band were on the rise at the time, and the song made a strong connection with their fans. It held up as a Saxon classic, played at just about every show throughout their career.
• Like a lot of Saxon's early material, "Denim And Leather" was built from things the band genuinely loved rather than any grand concept. The musical spark came from Montrose's 1973 debut album, specifically the pounding groove of "Rock Candy." Saxon lifted the feel of that drum pattern and used it as the backbone for what became one of their signature anthems.
• Saxon were deeply tied to the biker scene, and the "Denim And Leather" back cover photo of the band on motorcycles wasn't staged for effect. "We were a biker band - from me, really," Byford explained to Katrin Riedl of Germany's Metal Hammer magazine. A lifelong motorcycle obsessive, he's owned hundreds of bikes over the years and grew up around engines, speed, and petrol-headed friends. Writing about bikes, leather, and denim was simply writing about his world.
• By 1981, Saxon had become one of the biggest new heavy metal bands in the UK and Europe, and Byford wanted to flip the spotlight onto the fans. At shows, crowds had begun to adopt a shared look - cutoff denim jackets, leather coats, and patches - turning the audience into a kind of uniformed tribe. "Denim And Leather" was written as a salute to that community, capturing the moment when heavy metal culture could be recognized at a glance by what it wore.