Journalist Dismisses SAXON Documentary As 'Coffee-Table Television At Best'

Damien of Decibel magazine has submitted the following report to BLABBERMOUTH.NET:

"Just got back from taking part in the soon-to-be-aired [British] Channel 4 SAXON documentary, 'Get Your Act Together'. The programme will be in two parts; the first showing impresario Harvey Goldsmith as he attempts to raise SAXON's U.K. profile to the level it was at in the early '80s, the second part a studio debate in which Goldsmith, SAXON and an invited audience discuss the success or otherwise of the venture.

"What can I say? The first part of the show bears little resemblance to reality. The producer and/or editor have gone out of their way to make the band look totally washed up and on the skids, presumably so that Goldsmith comes across like a knight in shining armour riding to the rescue of the hapless headbangers. SAXON's considerable success in most territories outside the U.K. is ignored, while the centrepiece of Goldsmith's strategy is the launch of a questionable single remixed for radio by producers previously involved with TRAVIS, RAZORLIGHT and, erm, THE STRANGLERS. There are many misrepresentations of the band and the metal scene in general and the rebuttal on [SAXON's] website is, shall we say, very polite compared to the tongue-lashing that frontman Biff [Byford, SAXON singer] gave Goldsmith in the studio yesterday. Yet again, Joe Public is being invited to have a good old laugh at longhairs.

"In the final analysis, Goldsmith's efforts largely come to naught and the real boost to SAXON's U.K. profile will simply come from the airing of the show itself. Coffee-table television at best."