SAXON - Thunderbolt (2 février 2018)

"Thunderbolt", "Predator", "Sniper", "A Wizard's Tale" , ils ne les avaient pas déjà faits ?
"Roadie's Song"
Je suis admiratif, en fait : comment font ces types pour sortir un nouvel album tous les deux ans et avoir la motivation pour enregistrer les mêmes riffs depuis 30 ans ?

C'est un mystère... c'est jamais vraiment mauvais, mais c'est toujours pareil depuis des décennies !

Par contre je ne les ai jamais vu sur scène et je veux absolument les voir au moins une fois avant qu'ils arrêtent.

Je les avais vus lorsqu'ils étaient passés au Hellfest en 2013 et j'avais trouvé le set pas mal du tout : http://leseternels.net/live_report.aspx?id=730

Lyric video du morceau hommage à Lemmy et Motörhead:


The song tells the story of Saxon's very first tour in 1979 with Motörhead. I want people to get a flavour of what it was like in the UK in 79/80 for Saxon and Motörhead at the start of the 80s musical revolution" says Biff Byford.

Ca y est l'album est sorti... Bon, bah un album de plus quoi. Les 3 1ers morceaux sont biens, ça fait illusion pendant un moment et après on s'enfonce dans la routine habituelle, avec juste les growls du mec d'Amon Amarth pour nous réveiller. Pas forcément décevant car je ne m'attendais guère à mieux... mais ça reste dommage.

Ah c'est Johan Hegg qui growle sur Predator ? Je me demandais si c'était Biff !

Pas dégueu la tournée:

Pietro a écrit:Par contre je ne les ai jamais vu sur scène et je veux absolument les voir au moins une fois avant qu'ils arrêtent.

Ca y est, c'est fait et je suis pas déçu. Plus de détails bientôt.

Triple pontage en urgence pour Biff, toutes les dates de tournées annoncées sont pour l'instant annulées.  

SAXON Frontman Recovering From Triple Bypass Surgery

DS disait que Biff n'était pas invincible...Encore un peu, il faut l'espérer (je l'avais trouvé fatigué à l'Alcatraz, même s'il avait assuré. Bon ben je  comprends mieux.  )Un truc sympa: les groupes nwobhm qui lui adressent des messages de soutien via leur page FB.

Heureusement l'opération s'est bien passée. Mais il serait peut-être temps qu'il arrête là, il n'est pas obligé de faire comme Lemmy.

Ou qu'il lève un peu le pied en tout cas, Saxon est constamment sur la route. Bien sur ils vivent de ça et pas des ventes de disques, mais quand même...

L'opération n'empêche pas Biff de sortir son album solo (et Saxon est en studio actuellement !) :

SAXON frontman Biff Byford will release his debut solo album, "School Of Hard Knocks", in early 2020. The album's first single, "Welcome To The Show", will arrive on October 25, while the follow-up single, the disc's title track, is expected to be issued on December 13.

"School Of Hard Knocks" will feature a guest appearance by OPETH guitarist Fredrik Åkesson, who collaborated with Byford on some of the material on the record.

"When we were done with the new OPETH album ['In Cauda Venenum'], I got a call from Biff," Fredrik told the "Scars And Guitars" podcast. "He wanted me to play guitar on his solo album, and we started writing songs together, so I wrote two tracks, which is more progressive metal type of tracks, and I did an arrangement of 'Scarborough Fair', which SIMON & GARFUNKEL is most famous [for]. He wanted more of a heavy version of that. [There have been] millions of versions of that track, but he's actually from that area, so it has some deeper meaning to him. I spent one month in northern England [and] did all the guitars for his solo album. I was very involved with that — almost co-producing a little bit, I would say."

Last year, Biff described the musical direction of his solo material as "probably" be "a bit more rock and roll, a bit more classic rock" than SAXON's recent output. He told Rock Bottom that the music will be "a bit similar" to SAXON, "but not the same. There'll be a few surprises on there," he said.

Byford told "Rock Talk With Mitch Lafon" that his solo record will probably feature a number of guest musicians. "I'm gonna ask various people [to appear on the record]," he said. "It's not easy for guitarists to work with you, because they just smack down their signature solo and off you go. Singers, I might do some duets and things. We'll see. I wanna get the songs written first, and then see who wants to work on them. I'll probably have a nucleus of a drummer and a bass player, although I might play bass myself. I've still got my Rickenbacker."

Asked why he just doesn't use the extra material for a future SAXON album instead of setting it aside for his solo disc, Biff said: "Well, I did. Actually, 'Roadie's Song' [off SAXON's 2018 album 'Thunderbolt'] was a solo album project. And I do move them across all the time. And actually, originally, 'They Played Rock And Roll' was a solo-album idea [that also ended up on 'Thunderbolt']. So I do that all the time. And I do have songs that me and Nibbs [Carter, bass] have written for SAXON that I didn't think were right for SAXON that might end up on my solo album."

Byford added that he doesn't compose music with a specific direction in mind. "The way I write is I write individual songs — I don't write albums, per se," he said.

Pochette et 1er extrait de l'album solo de Biff qui sort le 21 février prochain.


Legendary Saxon frontman releases first solo album, SCHOOL OF HARD KNOCKS - Due February 21, 2020 on Silver Lining Music! Watch the video for the first track 'Welcome To The Show', link in the comments below!

On February 21st 2020, legendary Saxon frontman Biff Byford will step into the spotlight with his first ever solo album, "School of Hard Knocks".

The English North is everything you saw in Game of Thrones and more. It is the true heart of England, the region where its soul resides, and Biff Byford has earned the right to be considered its true heavy metal bard.

Biff takes on not just tales and stories from his heart and soul, but also investigates the Middle Ages and Medieval history amongst other subjects.

“I’m singing about my past of course and about things I like, but mostly I wanted it to reflect me, my personality and my life,” says Biff. “Song-wise it’s more diverse and not just focused on heavy metal. I wanted it to be a slice of the music I like, from metal, to rock ‘n’ roll. I’m a guy who’s just as happy listening to Metallica or Judy Garland, because as long as it’s great and entertains me, then what more do I need?”
An aural Byford storybook highlighting his life and passionate interests, School of Hard Knocks is in all senses a classic, masterfully-constructed old school British hard rock album.
From the spoken word introduction of ‘Inquisitor’ with its stoic, poetic take on the Spanish Inquisition to the autobiographical, old-school ‘Wheels of Steel’ era thrust of ‘Welcome to the Show’ and ‘School of Hard Knocks’, you’ll get to know Byford supremely well over the 11 tracks which comprise the album.
“One of my favourite is ‘The Pit and the Pendulum’, which is quite ‘prog metal’ and I love that,” says Biff “I’m a big prog rock fan and was a huge fan of Yes back in the day and being a musician-bass-player myself, the musicianship in bands like that really caught me. There’s a version of ‘Throw Down the Sword’ by Wishbone Ash, and the reason I did that was because it was the first song I ever heard that was anything to do with history in the sense of battles and war, and was really the thing which started me on the road to writing historically-driven songs.”

There is also a wonderful version of the Simon & Garfunkel classic ‘Scarborough Fair’, with Byford and Fredrik Åkesson (from Opeth) creating a new arrangement which gives the legend new life. “It’s a traditional medieval song, and the story goes that Paul Simon happened to hear somebody playing it in Whitby, which is just down the road from Scarborough,” laughs Biff, “But I wanted something which represented Yorkshire and it is a Yorkshire folk song, so we tried a new arrangement which made it a little heavier, and it works really well.”

School of Hard Knocks was produced by Biff Byford, recorded by Jacky Lehmann at Brighton Electric Studios in Brighton (UK) and mixed at Queen Street Studios in Stockholm (Sweden) by Mats Valentin. The album features guest appearances by Phil Campbell (Motörhead/Phil Campbell & The Bastard Sons), Alex Holzwarth (Rhapsody of Fire and Turilli / Lione Rhapsody), Nick Barker (Voices), Dave Kemp (Wayward Sons) and Nibbs Carter (Saxon).

On School of Hard Knocks, Byford worked with Fredrik Åkesson (Opeth) on guitars, Christian Lundqvist on drums and Gus Macricostas on bass (Biff himself played a spot of four string thunder too!).
Biff is also planning some live shows next year, events which will continue the theme of breaking new ground: “I’m going to do a ‘words-and-music’ tour in small venues,” he states proudly, “the first part will be me in conversation with the audience about anything really, from heart attacks to sex, drugs, rock ‘n’ roll, old times, new times, friends, enemies and whatever anyone wants to chat about… Then bringing out a band and playing some new songs, covers and maybe end with a Saxon song or two. I’m still working out the details, but it’s a show I’ve wanted to do for a long time and one which I don’t think has been done in hard rock before. It’ll be something different and a lot of fun.”

School of Hard Knocks not only achieves the goal of providing full bore entertainment, it fulfills a long-standing Biff Byford’s wish to explore rock ‘n’ roll a little more.

“It’s been great to break new ground, explore new territories and work with some old friends,” concludes Biff, “and having waited so long to make this album, I have to say, I am delighted with it! It has a whole range of styles, from the ridiculously heavy to ballads, and it is certainly my album.”

Follow Biff Byford on:
facebook.com/biffsaxon747; facebook.com/saxon
twitter.com/biff_byford; twitter.com/SaxonOfficial
www.saxon747.com

Nouvel extrait de l'album de Biff:

Biff romantique... Le monde est en train de changer.

L'album est sorti.

Biff annule sa tournée solo mi-spoken word mi-concert faute de préventes suffisantes. Au moins il est honnête et ne sort pas une excuse bidon.

SAXON's BIFF BYFORD Cancels European Solo Tour Due To Low Ticket Sales

C'est un peu triste, mais l'album est quand même pas terrible terrible.