SAXON Frontman Interviewed On 'The Big Rock Show' (Audio)

Vocalist Biff Byford of British heavy metal legends SAXON was interviewed on the September 19, 2011 edition of "The Big Rock Show" with host Tina Peek. You can now listen to the entire chat using the audio player below.

Interview (audio):

SAXON's new album, "Call To Arms", was released in North America on September 27 via UDR Music/EMI.

The digipack version of "Call To Arms" includes a glorious bonus a free seven-track CD, "Live At Donington 1980".

"Call To Arms" was issued in Europe in June. Recorded at Chapel Studios in Lincolnshire, U.K. and Brighton Electric Studios in Brighton, U.K., the 11-track album was co-produced by singer/songwriter Biff Byford and Toby Jepson (LITTLE ANGELS). Featuring Byford on lead vocals, Paul Quinn and Doug Scarratt on guitars, Nibs Carter on bass and Nigel Glockler on drums, "Call To Arms" is bang on-the-money brilliant SAXON music, a confident embrace of the aura and writing values from their early years married perfectly to a modern SAXON crunch.

"This is probably the best album we've written and recorded in the last 20 years," stated Biff Byford unapologetically. "I know a lot of bands say that, but 'Call To Arms' really does feel like that to me. It's the perfect embrace of our past with a great modern edge."

Between the furious riffage of "Hammer Of The Gods" all the way through to "Ballad Of The Working Man", SAXON also found time to invite fans to sing on the nostalgic stomp of "Back In '79" thanks to a Byford brainwave the night before recording.

"We put something up on our website 24 hours before recording the track in Brighton, and funnily enough we had exactly 79 people show up on time to sing on the song," Biff said. "It was a fantastic result which is a direct tribute to 'Denim & Leather' where we did the same exact thing."

There is also a guest appearance from keyboard legend Don Airey (RAINBOW, ELO, OZZY OSBOURNE, DEEP PURPLE) on "When Doomsday Comes".

It's been 35 years since SAXON's inception, and the group can still easily hold its own with the headbanging competition.

"It's important to keep one foot in the past and one foot very much in the present," said Byford. "At some points in your life, whether you're younger or older, you do have these wonderful periods of state of graceness' where everyone likes everything you write. But you can't keep being your own tribute band, you have to try and write great new songs, and you have to try to appeal to a younger audience. SAXON has been successfully doing that for the last decade, and the result is we still have our old fan base but we also have a whole new, younger one too."