There are few men more iconic to the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) than Saxon vocalist Biff Byford. In fact, Biff epitomizes the sound, look and attitude of the time period. Even his band’s name, Saxon, fits the mold perfectly. It seems unthinkable that enough time has passed that Saxon’s next release, Call to Arms, will be the groups 19^th album release – that is until one looks in the mirror at the bulging belly, the graying mustache and the thinning hairline. Somewhere along the line it happened, even to us head bangers…we grew up.

Thankfully, bands like Saxon and other NWOBHM bands, including Iron Maiden and Def Leppard, grew up with us. Music is one thing that can be, but not always is, timeless. Saxon, with Call to Arms, have done what Einstein would say was impossible; they have stopped the clock from ticking. With the new release, Biff and his band mates are not worried about Facebook, the Internet, Cell Phones, the current economic crises or even the pending end of the world in 2012. Instead, they are focused on their music and cranking out tunes worthy of their hardcore fans praise. For the 19^th time in their career, they have succeeded in doing just that.

They have done so with class as the American digipak release for Call to Arms contains the Saxon fans Holy Grail: Live in Donington 1980 as a bonus disc. Long thought to have been lost to the annuls of time, the tapes reappeared and have been remastered with incredible audio results.

Saxon, despite failing to conquer America like some of their contemporaries, is still very important to the history of Heavy Metal. They are true rock ‘n’ roll warriors who have survived where most of their counterparts have faded away. For Saxon, quitting never was a true option. They are Heavy Metal’s equivalent of the Knights of Round Table. Loyalty to their fans is of the utmost of importance to them as they trudge the road to musical bliss.

Saxon have, once again, put out a call to arms to their fans to join with them as they conquer the land and transform into Gods of Metal one more time.

Biff: It has been a long trip. With this album, we brought in a friend of mine who is really into the old school Saxon. He wanted to bring in the power that we had in the ‘80’s. We focused on the performances on the album rather than over producing some things. It is a good place to be at the moment.

Biff: It starts on a high and goes right through, I think. The whole concept of the album gives the songs more passion, really. We concentrated on the song rather than the sound of the song, if you know what I mean.

Biff: It was us and Iron Maiden, really. I suppose we were the forerunners of that British Metal movement. We wrote about things that people didn’t usually write about. “Denim and Leather” is a good example of that. I think we were one of the first bands to write songs about our audience. I think we brought a different style to the music; one that was more connected to our fans.

Biff: I think the reason this album is getting some attention is because of the way we recorded it. It really sounds like five guys playing in a room -- it sounds like five guys playing in your room, actually. We wanted to create that sort of thing.

Biff: I can put my laptop on and watch the guitarist doing his parts while I’m in Antarctica. We really didn’t want to do that. We wanted it to be more hands on, in the studio and really go for it. We actually even left some imperfections in there and I think it really lends to the retro feel of it.

Biff: It is a bit like “Denim and Leather” revisited, that song. It is a bit like our audience now. What I’m basically saying is that our audience is the same now as it was back then. You can still get that connection now. They may be younger or older but there is no difference at all. It is a song that celebrates our music and our fans.

Biff: Our fans cross over. Maiden fans are Saxon fans and Saxon fans are Priest fans. I think that is what is making it happen again.

Biff: We didn’t have any sort of preconception of how a rock star should be. We all sat in awe of Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, who were the ultimate rock stars. We were more working class. Although, Zeppelin and Sabbath were working class as well but they were put on big pedestals and worshipped from afar. We like to be worshiped from a near [laughter]. We were more hands on and we were connected. We wrote songs about our fans. We wrote songs like “Never Surrender” and “Backs Against the Wall” and our fans could really relate to that. We’ve gone to that kind of writing, lyrically, a little bit on this album.

Biff: “Chasing the Bullet” is for anybody that works really hard. We kept writing great songs for this album and we were really amazed at what we were coming up with. “Hammer of the Gods” wasn’t written until the week before we recorded it. The snow was really bad in England and we were really up against it and I thought of a phrase that really described what we were doing and that was “Chasing the Bullet” because you’re always playing catch up. I don’t know if anybody else has ever used that term so we may have invented that. I think people will be able to relate to it.

Biff: That’s right. I think the artwork, from the 1st World War, was the first one where the guy pointing was used. It has been used millions of times around the planet. Stalin even used that in Russia. It has been used around the world to get young men to go to war.

Biff: Yeah, it is a call to arms. It works on two levels. The song, “Call to Arms” is a sad song about a solider writing a letter home to his loved ones, which is still going on today. On another respect, it is a call to arms for rock fans. We like the entire concept of the cover. We’ve done a lot of knights, warriors, snakes and swords and we wanted to change.

Biff: We did an orchestral version of “Crusader” last year just to see what it sounded like. I thought it sounded fantastic. We decided to do it with “Call to Arms.” We had a guy do it for us and we think he did a great job. The record company wanted to save it but I wanted to put it on the album so people could hear the two versions.

Biff: We had that riff and the verse in our bank of songs. I have a lot of things lying around on tape. The producer wanted to use a British band, because it is a British film, and he is also a huge Saxon fan. We got in touch and we invited him down to the studio to listen to the album. We were thinking he may want to use “Call to Arms” because the film is about soldiers but he listened to the album and said he didn’t hear anything he could use. The film is about scientists messing about with DNA from an alien and a human but like all horror films, it goes horribly wrong. They send in the crack troops to find them. We decided to write two songs for them, one was “When Doomsday Comes” and the other was “No Rest For the Wicked.”

Biff: The film goes into production in January. Like all films they’re waiting for funding and actors to become free. On the last show, on the last tour, we had a huge party and all the actors and the director came down. We all got drunk and told everybody we loved each other and that we will see each other on the film set. We are going to shoot a video on the film set when it starts, so that will be cool.

Biff: One of our old managers called us and said, “I’ve got seven multi-track tapes in my attic.” He is a typical manager, as he didn’t give them to us, we had to buy them off him. We bought them and we took them to London. We were listening to them and one of them was the Donington show. Everybody thought that was lost. There are a couple of bootlegs versions that are out there but it is all a bit crappy sounding and not of good quality. We properly mixed it and decided to put it out. It hadn’t been played for thirty years when we put it on the machine. The audience is loud and the cymbals are crystal clear. I thought it would be a great idea to give it away with the album. I thought it was such a fantastic thing that we found this recording because now we don’t have to listen to the bootlegs anymore. The lineup was Saxon, Judas Priest, Rainbow, Scorpions, Riot and some other bands. It was the first Metal festival in Europe.

We were touring on Wheels of Steel, which had gone Gold, meaning we had done 200,000 units in the UK. I don’t think Rainbow knew what was coming. Judas Priest was touring on British Steel and we were both high on the charts. When we went onstage it was like the conquering heroes returning; it was crazy, really. It’s a pity Iron Maiden wasn’t on the bill as that would have been the ultimate festival. We wrote a song about it on the next album called “And the Bands Played On.” It was a great time for us and it really cemented us to be successful. We did the same festival in Germany three days later. It was really a big thing back then.

Biff: I can’t really put my finger on why. We toured with Maiden on the Power & Glory album, which was the biggest tour we ever did of America. The album was in the Billboard charts and it did about 600,000 units but we didn’t quite get into the Platinum Club. We had a huge fan following but we didn’t ever get massive airplay like a band like Def Leppard did. We did the Crusader tour the next year with Accept as support and it was very successful as well. We never did break into the big time like Maiden and Leppard did, which is a bit sad, really, but that is just how it goes. It’s just a roll of the dice.

Biff: I suppose it is from your point of view, but from our point of view we tried our best. I don’t think the team we had at the time was good enough to be successful like Maiden and Leppard. To be successful like they were, the team has to be great and everybody has to be pulling the right way. They have to be willing to put the money back into the band and reinvest. Maiden had a fantastic team and they went for it. I think our team was too bothered about the UK and Europe. It was disappointing because we really came close to breaking America.

That was the same tour that Maiden broke on. It was great, really. The British thing was becoming massive in America and we had a great time. The lineup was Maiden, Saxon and Fastway. Fastway had a big album out at the time but they faded out, as bands do.

Biff: I don’t know where that comes from and I don’t know what that is, actually. They’ve got the wrong guy. If I am working with them then the check must be in the post. Maybe I should send them an invoice. I think that is on Wikipedia and we will have to get that changed because it’s bullshit.

Biff: That was a bit of fun. I don’t know what has happened with that one, as I don’t think they are finished counting. They do a huge English census and they want to know all sort of silly things on it, like how many times you go to the bathroom, and how many times you wear white shoes; it’s really crazy. Most people just put down the stupidest things. It is just the rebel in us. Metal Hammer, in the UK, started doing that and I think it’s all good.

Biff: This is the first time in a long time that we have toured America for an album release. Usually, we end up touring America long after the album has been out, or before the album comes out. This one comes out on the 27^th of September and the first USA show is the 28^th so they will have to go out and listen to it that day. I know a lot of hardcore fans have already got it on import. You also get the Donington bonus CD in America on the digipack.

Biff: There is some stuff from the Rock the Nations sessions and there is some stuff from the Power & Glory sessions. I think there are a couple of tracks on there that we never released and there are alternate versions of songs too. I think we might have some good stuff coming out in the future for giveaways, special editions and things like that.

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