Saxon's Founding Guitarist Paul Quinn Announces Retirement From Touring: Will He Also Leave Band?

Paul Quinn, Saxon's guitarist and one of its two remaining active co-founding members, shared a heartbreaking decision after four decades of playing with the band.

Saxon confirmed Paul Quinn's retirement from touring with the band in a statement on Twitter, saying that he came up with the decision after years of stress and tiredness due to the group's long tour schedules.

It added that the guitarist decided to do so as he "does not want his performance to suffer and let his fellow bandmates and fans down." Still, Saxon clarified that Quinn would still record with the band.

"Paul will continue to record with the band and may play select special shows in the future," the statement continued, per Loudwire. "Saxon stand by Paul's decision and will keep you all informed regarding our next journey."

Quinn recorded and released 24 studio albums with Saxon before his retirement announcement. He is expected to play with the band in its upcoming 25^th album, "More Inspirations," which will be released on March 24.

The statement also announced that the March shows in Europe would be pushed through. Meanwhile, the April dates in South America and the MOR Cruise will be rescheduled to give the band time to re-group.

See Saxon's next tour dates below:

March 10 - Germany, Köln - Essigfabrik

March 11 - Germany, Markneukirchen - Musikhalle

March 12 - Germany, Hamburg - Grosse Freiheit 36

March 14 - Poland, Warsaw - Progresja

March 16 - Germany, Rostock - Moya

March 17 - Germany, Dresden - Alter Schlachthof

March 18 - Austria, Linz - Posthof

March 19 - Germany, Ulm - Roxy

Saxon's Previous Album Explored

Before the arrival of its 25^th album, Saxon dropped "Carpe Diem" in February 2022 via Silver Lining Music.

The album, which was produced by Andy Sneap, unleashed the band guitarists' other side. According to Saxon frontman Biff Byford, the producer made Quinn and Dougg Scaratt love working with him because he is a modern-style player.

"He gets great sound, and we want that Gibson/Marshall '80s sound even if they're not Gibsons and Marshalls. We try and retain that British metal guitar sound that we created for SAXON, and he's definitely an '80s child," the frontman went on.

Before conquering the stage, Saxon went through several issues, including the two years worth of struggles after Byford suffered a heart attack in 2019.

After all those events, Saxon pledged to make a great album as it always does.