Resurgent, that’s the word to describe British Heavy Metal veterans Saxon. Jono caught up with front man Biff to find out the latest news from the NWOBHM legends…
Cack Blabbath: So you’re on the road now?
Biff: Yeah, we’ve been touring Europe since the middle of November, and we’re back in the UK in December to do the last 5 shows of the tour.
CB: You’ve already toured A Call To Arms this year, so what made you decide to tour it again?
Biff: We wanted to go to some of the places we didn’t visit the first time around, and yeah it’s a bit ambitious, but the public reaction so far has been great, and the album has been doing really well, so we figured we should still keep promoting it.
CB: Of course, you were quite pleased with the album, having been quoted as saying “This is probably one of the best albums that Saxon has done” What’s the reason for that?
Biff: Well the album has received some fantastic reviews, and we’ve been around the world on the back of it, so the fan’s reaction has been amazing. We took it back to basics, which was a gamble on our part, but it has really paid off. We didn’t spend as much time on the mixing or production, as we wanted to keep the raw sound. When it came back from being mixed it sounded really good, and we knew then that we’d done something really special.
CB: Saxon is hailed as one of the NWOBHM bands that exploded in the early eighties, and indeed my first Saxon experience was 747 (Strangers In The Night). Are there any other big anthems that really stick out from the early years?
Biff: I’d say that 747 and Wheels Of Steel were the two major songs that brought Saxon to most people, and to this day they’re still appearing on compilations all the time. Princess Of The Night runs a close third. We were lucky to have such a good start and we came up with some really big anthems which helped us take Saxon all around the world.
CB: You must have a very loyal fan base, going back quite a few years too.
Biff: Yeah we do. A lot of our fans from the eighties went their different ways, but they’re coming back around to the classic bands, like Motorhead, Iron Maiden and of course us as well. The Motorhead tour we did a few years ago was a great thing for both bands. We hadn’t toured together since the eighties, so it was special, and it probably reactivated a lot of the original fans. Plus the Motorhead guys are a lot of fun, and there was a lot of piss taking back and forth. We’re possibly thinking of doing it again next year, but who knows?
CB: Have you any favourite places to play outside of the UK?
Biff: We’re pretty much popular in all countries across Europe. Germany has a big rock scene, and always has and we have a really loyal fan base there, and Scandinavia is really getting into the rock scene now too. A lot of people are getting into the older stuff, almost like a NWOBHM revival, and our last album connects with the first album really well, and I think that’s why it’s been received so well.
CB: There seems to a be a bit of a trend with bands stripping things back and going for a ‘classic rock’ sound.
Biff: Yeah there is, but you have to be really careful that it doesn’t sound TOO retro and it sounds naff. You can go too far with using the old equipment, as equipment these days has come so far. We just went for a more aggressive style of writing and recording. We didn’t rely on overdubs, or huge productions. We wrote the album with the aim of making it full of great live songs, and we think we’ve done that. I’ve been to gigs where you’ve heard a band’s album, and they’re great, but the live show is completely crap. They have to bolster their live sound with backing tracks and stuff. That’s not what we’re about, we play pure music, and what you see is what you get. That’s rock and roll.
CB: Deep Purple’s Don Airey was a guest musician on the album too, how did that come about, and are there any plans for him to play on any of your tour dates?
Biff: Yeah I’ve known Don for a very long time. We’re not drinking buddies or anything but Saxon been out on tour with Purple a lot and we’re always bumping into him, and having a good chat to catch up. We first met him when he was touring with Ozzy Osbourne so yeah we go back a long way. We have invited him to play at our London date, but we’re not too sure if he’s going to be too busy with Purple. It would be great if he could come along though.
CB: So once the tour is over, and the holidays are out of the way, what are your plans for 2012?
Biff: We’re hoping to start writing some new songs in January, or at least that’s the plan. I’ve also been offered a solo album deal, but I don’t quite know how that would come about, but I might do that. That said though, the next Saxon album will be album number 20, so I think we should do that, but I guess that would be up to the rest of the guys in the band as well. We’ll just have to see how it goes I suppose. We’ll be doing some festivals in 2012 though, although obviously we can’t announce anything officially.
CB: Is there any newer music around today that you really like?
Biff: I like quite a lot of new bands around, but the trouble is they don’t stay new for long do they? I saw Black Spiders when they first started out, and I really liked them, and another favourite of mine is The Answer, and then of course Thunder keep popping up here and there too. A lot of the newer bands seem to have their roots in the eighties where we’re from, and the Black Sabbath era. Like I said before though, they have to be careful they’re not too retro, or they just sound gimmicky. That’s not a good thing.
CB: So what about when you’re not writing, playing or listening to music? Do you have any hobbies outside of that?
Biff: I don’t actually get that much time to myself really, but what time I do get, I spend with the family. My son and I have just finished building a half pipe for his skateboard in one of our barns, so that’s what I’ve been doing right up until the tour started. That was quite relaxing, as long as you don’t cut your fucking arm off at least, so that was good fun.
CB: Thanks a lot for taking the time out to chat with us, and the best of luck with the tour, it’s been a real pleasure.
Biff: No problem at all, I really enjoyed chatting with you, keep on rocking.
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