Last updated at 13:28, Thursday, 05 November 2009

Hair apparent: Biff fronts rock legends Saxon

The lady from the press office said sweetly: “Not a venue normally on our regular tour itinerary”.

But heavy metal heroes Saxon are set to play a rare ‘intimate’ gig in Cumbria next week.

The rock veterans blast into Whitehaven, giving a lucky few hundred a chance to see the band close-up on a tour that includes stadiums with five figure crowds.

“We are doing a few shows off the beaten track this year,” drawls frontman Biff Byford.

It’s a year that has seen them play Knebworth and on November 7 they will headline the Hellfire Festival at Birm ingham’s NEC arena.

“We wanted to do some places we have not done before, more small venues.

“They are good fun to do and it is fun to mix them up with the bigger ones.

“It is all rock ‘n’ roll.

“We’ve not played Whitehaven before and I don’t think we’ve played Carlisle either.

“I don’t mind where we play, there’s a different set of rules when you play a small theatre or city hall...

“It can get quite exciting and intimate, you can treat the audience more individually, with a bigger venue you have to be more theatrical, larger than life.”

Biff is the only original member from the 1979 line up responsible for the debut album Saxon and follow-up classic Wheels of Steel.

At 58, he shows no signs of slowing down.

The visit to Whitehaven is part of the second tour of the UK the band have made this year and is partly to promote latest album Into the Labyrinth and partly to celebrate Saxon’s 30th birthday.

“You don’t get a chance to sit back and think about what you’ve done. I don’t have a pipe or any slippers.

“We got a couple of awards this year in Europe and in the UK and that focuses you a bit on what you’ve done, but generally, we are just getting on with it.”

Forming a band seemed like the best way Biff could get out of Honley, near Bradford.

He was influenced by the heavy rock of bands like Van Halen, Black Sabbath , Deep Purple and Uriah Heep and the punk of The Clash and The Sex Pistols.

“Originally, we just wanted to get a record deal.

“Once we had achieved that, we just wanted to write great songs and become successful, there was no big plan.”

Biff is one of rock ‘n’ roll’s survivors and has managed to escape the drugs/ drink/ failed marriages scenarios that have detonated other, lesser careers in music.

All those years and he doesn’t even have a tattoo.

“Yeah, I’m thinking of getting one – one saying ‘No tattoos’ and two red lines through it.

“I’ve no idea how I’ve done so well really, it’s just one of those things.

“You go through it and come out the other end.

“I was brought up in village life, I was not a town lad, I did not really have the drugs and drink in my face again and again.

“I didn’t get involved in any other bands and I was happy focusing on my music.

“I think the problem is that touring is tiring. You can easily take things to make it less tiring, it is there if you want it.

“We party hard, but don’t do any heavy stuff.”

Next week’s gig has yet to be finalised as the fans will have a major say.

“I don’t know what we’ll be doing exactly, some tracks from Into the Labyrinth, but the fans help choose the set-list on our website,” explains Biff.

Have your own say at www.saxon747.com

The new album – they’re 18th studio album – is a return to the early ‘epic’ sound of Saxon, with Battalions of Steel and Valley of the Kings full of driving, face-peeling rhythms, but with a hook.

“We’ve gone back to mix of heavy metal and rock and roll,” agrees Biff. “The last few albums have been like that, it’s what the fans want from us, it has just taken us a while to realise. We’re a bit thick.”

A Saxon documentary, Heavy Metal Thunder, is now in production, to mark the band’s 30th anniversary.

It was due out next month, but is now more likely to be released in December.

It features contributions from Saxon members past and present, as well as from the likes of Lars Ulrich, Lemmy, ‘Fast’ Eddie Clarke, Phil Campbell, Mikkey Dee, Harvey Goldsmith, Danko Jones, Doro Pesch, Airbourne, Amon Amarth and Machine Head.

It will also feature plenty of rare archive material and unseen concert footage, from the classic 1980s Saxon line-up to the St George’s Day show in 2008 and Wacken 2009.

“It looks good,” says Biff. “But it has been put back because they have just got a load of new stuff from an interview with an old manager which is quite good. I’m sure I will learn things about me that I did not know...

“I’m looking forward to seeing it, I have a right to veto things, but I don’t think I will. I have seen the Anvil one, it is funny. I like them, they’re not in my top five bands of all time, but they try hard.” Anvil are the support for Saxon when they play the Civic Hall on Wednesday.

Once the tour and the DVD launch are out of the way, there’s more work for Biff.

“We’re working on a soundtrack for an American horror film based around snakes, then we start writing a new album in December.

Meanwhile, he and the family have just moved back to his native Yorkshire after living in Normandy for the past eight years.

“We are renting at the moment, but if you know anyone looking to buy a small chateau in northern France, let me know...”

First published at 11:35, Thursday, 29 October 2009
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk