Biff Byford Discusses the Formation & Evolution of Saxon + NEW Album 'Call To Arms'!

Ever since British Heavy Metal band Saxon joined the musical spectrum in 1976, they have continuously been working on their craft by delivering the masses their signature style of Metal without ever losing grip of were they come from. Formed in the small town of Barnsley, Yorkshire (England), they are one of the bands to blame for the rise of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal! With 19 Studio Albums under their Metallic belt, which are prove of the bands perseverance, Saxon are definitely one of the most underrated bands in Heavy Music history.

Saxon recently released their NEW studio album entitled "Call To Arms" via UDR/Militia Guard Music. For this album the band consciously decided to return to their musical roots by including elements of Blues and Punk Rock in a very organic way. Additionally, the band decided to adopt a production process in which "less is more", rather than cutting, splicing and adding a massive amount of effects to every single part of a song within Pro Tools.

Recently, we had the chance to chat with Saxon's front-man and founder Biff Byford about the formation and evolution of Saxon, and of course about the bands NEW album "Call To Arms". Here is what went down!



Saxon is:

- Biff Byford
- Paul Quinn
- Doug Scarratt
- Nibbs Carter
- Nigel Glockler

Saxon's Discography:

- Saxon (1979)
- Wheels of Steel (1980)
- Strong Arm of the Law (1980)
- Denim and Leather (1981)
- Power & the Glory (1983)
- Crusader (1984)
- Innocence Is No Excuse (1985)
- Rock the Nations (1986)
- Destiny (1988)
- Solid Ball of Rock (1990)
- Forever Free (1992)
- Dogs of War (1995)
- Unleash the Beast (1997)
- Metalhead (1999)
- Killing Ground (2001)
- Lionheart (2004)
- The Inner Sanctum (2007)
- Into the Labyrinth (2009)
- Call to Arms (2011)

Facts about Saxon:

- They had 8 UK Top 40 albums in the 1980s including 4 UK Top 10 albums. They also had numerous singles in the Top 20 singles chart.

- Between 1980 and 1987, Saxon established themselves as one of biggest Metal bands in Europe. They also had success in Japan and in the USA. Actually, In Japan, the single "Motorcycle Man" stayed in the charts for over 5 months.

- Saxon have sold more than 13 million albums worldwide and heavily influenced bands such as Metallica, Megadeth, Sodom and Running Wild.

- They are renowned for their live act and are considered one of the finest live performers of the Metal genre.

Related links:
Official Site of Saxon

Devin Townsend's Career and Creative Process

This past Saturday (July 16), we had the honor and privilege of interviewing Canadian music genius Devin Townsend about his extensive career in the music industry, and about the creative process he undergoes when creating music. During the conversation (which you can view below), Devin makes it very clear that he never plans out what he is going to do musically on or off stage, instead he prefers to let the music take over his thought process and as a result the sounds are very organic.

As we all know, he is one of the pioneers of "Progressive Metal", but when we chatted with him he made it clear that his music is always evolving because he is a multidimensional artist. On Saturday's show he presented his latest albums "Ghost" and "Deconstruction", his new songs were well received and the only complain all of his fans had was that his set was way too short. However, he did announce that he will be touring North America again in a few months and that this time he will be headlining!

Without further due, here is our exclusive interview with Devin Townsend!



Special thanks to Devin Townsend, Nikki Law at Century Media, and Steve Lars!

Video and Photo credit: Steve Lars from Creative Ventures International

Related links:
Devin Townsend
Century Media