Biff Byford (Saxon)
March 2007
How are you doing? How is your throat infection?
It started a week and a half ago and it got really bad in no time. It's getting better now. And hopefully it won't come back. Keep our fingers crossed.
How do you feel about the fact that you had to cancel the UK shows due to this illness?
I saw it as a problem and it's quite bad for the fans to do that but I think it is still better to do that than cancelling on the day when you had a thousand people that travelled to the show. And in the end they can't see the band and they are pissed off. That's why we called off the entire UK leg and rescheduled the show right after the European dates.
The last studio album was released almost three years ago. What have you been doing over this period of time?
We toured quite long with "Lionheart". I think the whole tour took almost about a year. We were basically touring all the time with having some breaks that we spent with our families. Then we did more touring and then breaks again. We've been also doing some festivals last year in the summer, which was basically part of the " Lionheart Tour" still. We've been quite busy playing live over the last few years. And I think it really paid off because the band is really popular at the moment, so it's looking good.
When did you start writing for the new album?
Actually we have started writing in the summer where we were at the festivals. We started writing the musical parts in between the summer festivals. I think we had about six weeks of festivals and in between the shows we wrote the music for the new album. We didn't do any lyrics or melodies at that point, we just wrote the basic of the songs, the riffs and stuff like that.
So, you played a show then got back to the UK to write and then out on another festival again?
No, we used studios in the countries we were playing in. We used a studio in Germany; we used one in Spain and also in England. So, wherever we played the festival, we stayed there, rented a studio and wrote the songs.
This sounds quite unique and something new for Saxon...
Yeah, it's pretty new to us actually. We did a few sessions in other studios outside England for "Lionheart" but this way we never worked before. Obviously we knew that we're making an album and it has been a long time since "Lionheart", so we figured that we had to work very hard to get the new one done.
In which country you had the most ideas if you could recall?
(Laughs) Probably when we were in London we wrote the most. But when you record and work with digital equipment and studios you can start writing a song and then just finish and start again later at a different time and place. But I think probably in London we had the most ideas.
How much all the members were involved this time?
Well, we wrote the music together and then I wrote the lyrics on my own and also I did the melodies. It was pretty much the usual way of writing, it was just that we did it in different places. As usual I do most of the work but everybody puts in his ideas. I like this way of working with the band.
Is there any deeper meaning behind the album's title?
Well, the meaning is that "you are invited into the inner sanctum". It's just the same as saying that "I want to get close to somebody". I thought of the album title basically because at this point in our career we are very open and people can see into our souls. I think "The Inner Sanctum" is a good title.
What are you singing about in your songs this time?
Well, there are different themes on the album. "State of Grace" is about the building of the cathedrals in Europe in the 11th-12th centuries. Those people built those massive skyscrapers up to the heaven and I just think that it has been a fantastic period in technology. "Atila the Hun" is pretty much speaks for itself. (Laughs) it's very Hungary related. Obviously Hungary wasn't there but it's the area. That should be a popular song there, yeah? (Laughs)
How do you decide about what to write about in your songs?
If you are into history, which most people are actually, that's a massive research for ideas. There are so many great things happened even thousands of years ago. You can go in there and pick out anything really. You have to write good lyrics about these things and you have to try and capture the spirit of history. But I quite like it; I think it's really entertaining.
Do you read a lot of history books?
Yeah, I do read a lot. Actually I just read three reference book to "Atila the Hun" just to get the flavour. I quite enjoy reading books. They are fascinating. I read a lot of books when we are on tour and also at home.
What would be your favourite moment on "The Inner Sanctum"?
Well, I like the whole album a lot, but I really like the beginning. "State of Grace" is a very unique song for Saxon. I don't think anybody could really write a song like that other than Saxon. It's a very big mixture of different styles. I also like " Red Star Falling" because it has a subject that aren't too many people are talking and singing about: the fall of communism across Europe and I think that's a very passionate song.
Are you going to release a single off the album?
Yeah, actually it has been released already. The song is called " If I was you" and there's two versions of this single. We had a television show in England and one was made for them and the mix is very radical and it's currently available for download on iTunes. The other version is the album version and people can listen to both versions on iTunes for about 20 cents or so.
Did you also shoot a video for any of the songs?
No, not yet. We're gonna shoot a video clip in a couple of weeks. We're working on that. I'm not sure about how it'll end up but I don't think it'll be a performance video, more like an art video. We'll see about that.
Do you think it can get a lot of play on music television channels?
The last time we recorded two video clips and they both made into the music channels. They didn't get too much play but still they were shown to people. There are quite so many music channels in America, which is strange. A lot of the rock bands don't make videos as they think it's a waste of money and time because they won't play them anyway, but we like making them.
There's been a three CD best of release earlier this year...
Yeah, that was put out by our old record company EMI. It's a best of compilation of the band's EMI era and I think it's a really good package.
You're gonna go on yet another long European tour in a week. What are your expectations?
The critic on the album is fantastic, so let's keep our fingers crossed for the best Saxon tour ever. I know Masterplan and they have some good songs and I know that they just got a new singer. I'm sure they also want to impress people. Rose Tattoo are good mates of ours. It's a bit more rock'n'roll than Saxon and Masterplan, so it should be a good package for everybody.
Btw, how do you see this current line-up of the band now that Nigel is back?
Yeah, this line-up is great now. But I think the line-up on " Lionheart" was pretty good as well. Now Glockler is back in the band, which is great, and hopefully he's staying in the band, but you never know with Nigel. So, I think the current line-up is great, yeah!
I remember the last time we talked I asked you if Nigel would ever come back to Saxon, you said, "You never know with him"...
Yeah, you never know with Nigel. (Laughs) That's how he is. And drummers are weird anyway... they hit things for a living. (Laughs)