English hard rock warriors Saxon caught up with NovaFM ahead of the band's appearance at Soundwave.
Saxon on NovaFM? Yes, we never thought we'd be writing that either. But, let's face it, while you don't hear the band roaring across the airwaves, a lot of love has been brewing for these guys for a long time. In fact, the band has had eight UK Top 40 albums including four UK Top 10s. Not to mention a string of Top 20 singles.
So, we thought catching up with singer Biff Byford was long overdue now that Soundwave Festival 2011 is less than three months away.
1. Who are you looking forward to checking out on Soundwave Festival and why? I’m looking forward to Avenged Sevenfold and how they will sound with Portnoy on drums.
2. Describe your best festival memory. Don't really have an idea about that. Probably headline gigs at Download and Wacken? At Download last gig before sun went away or something like that?
3. What’s the most outrageous thing you’ve ever seen at a festival? In August we played a festival in France with Alice Cooper and everything was pretty relaxed up to the point where we came out on stage. The crowd just flipped out and went wild which was awesome. There was quite a bit of crowd surfing, particularly one girl who was surfing a lot. It seems one of the fans towards the front was so annoyed with all the crowd surfing that the next time the girl surfed by he shoved her so hard that she flew over the security and landed head first in the pit. That was terrible…
4. If you could make any scenario come true at Soundwave, what would it be? Playing the headline slot, in the sun, with an amazing atmosphere and the crowd really going for it!
5. What is one song people will remember from your set? That’s hard to say. All our songs, which we play live, have something special about them for which they will be remembered. Naturally a lot of people will know the classics from many great performances. "Wheels Of Steel", for example, is one such song where I involve the crowd and sing it with them. Perhaps that’s the one song, but it’s hard to say.
6. You magically get a free day on this tour - what does your band do in Australia? Hmm, go scuba diving or watch a rugby match, or maybe even an Australian football match. Failing that, just sit outside somewhere nice with a drink and enjoy the sun!
7. If your latest release was a movie, which would it be and why? Funnily enough, in May, the movie Heavy Metal Thunder was released. It’s not so much released by us, but it is completely about us. It’s 6 hours of documentary, live shows, studio recordings, tour diaries etc. so that would be the movie.
VIDEO: Watch the trailer for Heavy Metal Thunder
8. Tell us something about your latest release that people really need to learn… Into The Labyrinth was our last album and the new DVD is Heavy Metal Thunder - The Movie and both are kicking ass!
9. Windmills, circle pits, or other? Our fans are not really the type for circle pits. It’s not about hurting each other but about having an awesome time rocking out together. Sure they’ll be some jumping around, head-banging, crowd surfing etc, and for us always great to hear, plenty of singing along!
10. Any parting advice for the festival punters… Watch out, because the English warriors are coming to town, and are gonna really show you how to rock!!!
Soundwave 2011 dates: February 26 - Brisbane February 27 - Sydney March 4 - Melbourne March 5 - Adelaide March 7 - Perth
Comments