Saxon – Interview with Biff Byford
By Keith Clement
Saxon are an English Heavy Metal band formed in 1977 in Barnsley, They are known as the founders of The New Wave of British Heavy Metal. They are a huge Success in US, Europe and in Japan. They are known for their extensive touring and have sold 13 Million albums worldwide. Being considered a classical metal act the band has influenced iconic bands like Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax, Slayer, Testament, Motley Crue, Pantera, Dream Theater, Sodom and the list goes on…
I was privileged to speak to the man Biff himself shortly. Lets hear from the man…the legend.
Hi Biff, Greetings from MHF, how are you today?
Doing well, Thanks for asking brother.
Thunderbolt is out for release, so how you feel about the release?
Yes its all set for February 2nd, We are happy about how it has come, you need to wait to see for it.
You are supporting Judas Priest in the upcoming North American Tour, How do you feel about it?
Yes we are so happy and we are all started at the same time, this is not the first time we are touring together, its like a family get together, we are happy about the upcoming tour.
You are making music since 1977, How does It feel to make and still rocking the scene in 2018?
It is really a happy moment, we are happy to make our fans happy too…Years have passed but the passion is much more stronger.
Being a founder of the NWOBHM and being influential to a lot of bigger bands, how does it feel to you?
It’s quite amazing to see bands look upon us, we are always happy that we have been influential to more bands
Saxon has a huge fanbase from the 70s till date, different generations has gone, how do you feel about the fans over the decades?
Yes Saxon has a huge fanbase, the only thing we look into them is they are fans, no matter they are older fans are newer, they respect and love our music and our respect to them, as we stand tall today because of them.
Saxon is known for its live performance, you have toured extremely over the world, there are some countries that are still untouched, do you want to go there and perform for your fans?
We have toured extensively and yes we couldn’t tour to certain countries due to visa and problems with the country’s political situation, but we definitely wanted to do in each country and play for our fans.
Any plans for the year?
A couple of Festivals in Europe and the upcoming North American tour with Judas Priest and more news will be come as we will be touring more in the later part of the year.
Do you have a message for the fans?
Thanks for sticking with Saxon for way too long, thanks for your support, we will soon meet in some venue
MHF Magazine/Keith Clement
