Since 1976 the driving sound of SAXON has graced the ears of Metal fans everywhere. With over 15 million albums sold they enjoy the designation as one of Europe’s largest and most successful Heavy Metal acts. With the introduction of orchestration to some of their songs they have taken their art to a new level and RockRevolt’s Dave Dreher got to chat with band member Biff Byford about the past, present and future of this hard driving force of nature.
It’s an honor to be speaking to a metal icon like yourself. For nearly 40 years you’ve been shredding it and your sound is as fresh and as hard as it was in 76. How does it feel to still be on top of your game?
Real good, really. It hasn’t been quite 40 years but I’ve been shredding it a while and yeah, it‘s good to go around the clock once and come back to the start again. I like it; it’s a good feeling to see the older fans still with us and watch the younger fans come into us for the last ten years or so. Yeah it’s pretty cool really, and we still work real hard to make albums that are relevant. We don’t just sit back and let the hits do the work.
Coming of age in the metal scene was where I was first exposed to your music via MTV. Could you tell me what it was like back in the day when a music video could make or break you?
Ah, the MTV days! We had a few videos on MTV, more from the Crusader album and The Glory album. Before that is was mainly just live video from theaters that we had played in the UK, but yeah it made a difference.
With your full throttle brand of metal so closely aligned with your persona, do you find fans accepting of your more recent acoustic and orchestral endeavors?
Yeah, I think they do. We’ve widened our subject matter, although I still do a lot of lyrics about soldiers and things, we’ve widened quite a bit. When you’ve done 20 albums and it’s only me writing lyrics, it’s a bit of a one-man show as far as that’s concerned, so I’m always looking for new things to write about and old things to write about in a new way.
SAXON – “Frozen Rainbow” – Official Video
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I’ve found Unplugged and Strung Up to be absolutely breathtaking. What made the band decide it was time to go “full-blown orchestra”?
It’s difficult really. The producer decided to try it. We tried a couple of songs with orchestrated versions and we have a friend that does that sort of stuff for bands (well, not bands really but for films and television actually). We asked him to try a few ideas and we liked it, so I commissioned him to do five more and that’s how it started.
Would a tour with the full orchestra be something you would consider in the future?
It’s difficult. It is difficult and I don’t want to do what a lot of bands do and lip sync the whole thing, you know? Sometimes they’re up on stage with an orchestra and it’s all on tape, so I don’t know. I’d like to bring in two keyboard players and do it with samples and things – now that would be cool, you know what I mean? I think that would sound really great. Maybe an ensemble with violins and cello might work.
What did you find to be the most challenging aspect of adding strings and orchestration to the tracks?
The biggest thing was to find the space to fit in the parts really. It’s not just a matter of playing along with the band. They have to fit a separate entity, if you know what I mean? They have to have one background all going the same way but they can’t really mess around with each other; they have to augment each other.
Does it change the way you write?
No, we did a couple of different changes but nothing drastic.
What releases can fans look forward to in the coming year?
I think we’ll be doing THE SAXON CHRONICLES Part Two. THE SAXON CHRONICLES was the first DVD that came out and I think we might have a second one coming out – we’re talking about it now.
Well, the music and the instrumentals of SAXON have always been hard and driving but I’ve always found the lyrics to be a true driving force behind the band. Who wrote the lyrics for SACRIFICE and could you share a little bit of the process for coming up with the album?
The song or the album?
Well, both…
The main riff is the bass players riff and I arranged it into the song that is “SACRIFICE” and then the rest of the guys threw in a little big of magic as well. So yeah, basically the concept of the album came from me, I would imagine.
As a musician, how have you changed over the years having been in the game since ’76?
I really haven’t changed that much in my attitude in what music I like, I haven’t jumped on many bandwagons much. Cut out a lot of hairspray since the 80’s, not as tight of trousers but that’s about it really. I don’t think musically or lyrically I’ve changed; I haven’t turned into the Red Hot Chili Peppers or anything.
So less hairspray and looser pants is about it huh?
Well, went from spandex to denim, get a bit more street cred.
You tour in the UK and Europe extensively. Any plans on bringing the band to the U.S. to support the releases?
We’re looking for support, we are talking to some people about coming into America so yeah. We are talking to people all the time.
Sometime this year?
I don’t know about this year, we’re pretty busy now, we’re about to announce an Autumn tour of Europe of 40 shows so I don’t know, let’s keep our fingers crossed.
