Saxon Talk To The Metal Hammer Magazine Show

After an electrifying performance at this year’s Rock On The Range Festival in Columbus, Ohio, Saxon’s Biff Byford sat down backstage with Alexander Milas for The Metal Hammer Magazine Show.

“The first time we did a tour of the US was with Rush in 1980”, he said, recalling Saxon’s initial shows in America. “We were out for something like twenty weeks, it was great. I literally still meet people today who were at those shows.”

Talking about the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, he said: “I think there was something special happening and there was a new generation of fans locking on to new bands. The first time we saw that happening over here in the US was when we did four shows at The Whiskey in LA in 1981 when Metallica opened for us. And then, and I think it was the best time for British bands in America, we did this tour with Iron Maiden and Fastway, that was really massive, people came out to see the bands in their hundreds and thousands.”

To listen to an exclusive stream of Saxon’s brand *Battering Ram *new album then follow the link below.

Saxon are streaming their new album Battering Ram in full

Philip Wilding

Philip Wilding is a novelist, journalist, scriptwriter, biographer and radio producer. As a young journalist he criss-crossed most of the United States with bands like Motley Crue, Kiss and Poison (think the Almost Famous movie but with more hairspray). More latterly, he’s sat down to chat with bands like the slightly more erudite Manic Street Preachers, Afghan Whigs, Rush and Marillion.