SAXON FRONTMAN BIFF BYFORD ON TOURING WITH HOLOGRAMS, “I DON’T LIKE IT, THERE IS SOMETHING A BIT WRONG WITH IT”

Saxon frontman Biff Byford spoke with Lords Of Metal. Highlights from the interview appear below.

LOM: You know, in the past few years so many legends have passed away, and of course it’s a part of life, as sad as it is. You have turned 67 a few weeks ago and fortunately you are still in a great shape and still going strong. But having had so many fellow musician friends passing away made you more aware of your own mortality, so to speak?

BB: I think it’s made me more nostalgic to look back at the old days, you know? I think it’s quite sad that all three original Motörheads have died in such a short period of time. And with Eddie it was definitely a shock, because he seemed alright. But you know, when your name’s on the bullet, there’s not much you can do about it really.

LOM: With so many bands retiring and so many legends passing away, do you think that the legacy of heavy metal will pass onto and still live on through a new generation of bands or will it slowly be the end of the story?

BB: I mean, let’s be honest, the majority of the big media had pretty much ignored a great deal of the newer generation and the main focus was on the bigger bands, until Ronnie James Dio died and gave everybody some sort of wake-up-call…I think at some point there is going to be – well, maybe not metal in general – but some sort of “rock explosion” again in the next four or five years. There are definitely some good bands out there.

LOM: So you don’t think that in ten years we’ll be only looking at holograms?

BB: Haha! Well, I really don’t like this hologram thing. I’d rather a watch a DVD instead. Fortunately there aren’t that many people interested in that kind of thing. So I don’t think they’d be doing arenas or anything. But, I don’t know, the technology has to improve a lot to make it interesting. I think it’s more a curiosity thing that people want to see it, and I’m not sure if they will continue to go and see it. I don’t know. Personally I don’t like it. There something a bit… wrong with it with me. I’m really not interested in it to be honest, and I don’t think it’s going to be a big thing. Maybe if they did that in Las Vegas and they’d put Elvis on, maybe that work. Though I’m not sure if Elvis would have liked that.

LOM: …Having released twenty-two studio records, many live albums and DVDs and having rocked the world for over forty years, and also with so many colleagues retiring, has it crossed your mind that you’d wish to call it a day in the next couple of years?

BB: Nope, not really, haha. At least not me, personally, maybe some of the other guys have, I don’t know. So hopefully we’ll have a couple of good years ahead of us still…

Read more at Lords Of Metal.

Saxon released their 22nd album, Thunderbolt, on February 2nd.

source: lordsofmetal.nl