SAXON Frontman: What We Learned From Touring With MOTÖRHEAD

February 1, 2018

Carl Wiser of Songfacts recently conducted an interview with SAXON frontman Biff Byford. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Songfacts: You wrote [the SAXON song] "They Played Rock And Roll" before you knew of [MOTÖRHEAD guitarist] Fast Eddie's death.

Biff: "I came up with the idea before Lemmy died, actually. The very first tour we ever did was in 1979 and it was with MOTÖRHEAD. We were a new band, just got our first album out and were about to release our second album, 'Wheels Of Steel', which went ballistic in sales over here. So, that tour for SAXON was a pivotal point in our very early career. We became friends with MOTÖRHEADLemmy, Eddie and Phil. In those days, we used to hang out with them, used to stay at their house. But it was a very massive thing we did back then, so I wanted to write a song about it and I wanted deal with the political climate. When you see the video, you'll understand what I mean. It's a lyric video, but it's not the normal lyric video. It's just letting people know what it was like in 1979/1980 in England, especially in the working class, north of England. It was chaos at that time and we came out of that and so did MOTÖRHEAD. So, the song's about that tour basically. They recorded 'No Sleep 'Til Hammersmith' on that tour, the 'Bomber' tour, so the lyrics reference that. They taught us a lot about rock and roll because we were just naïve village boys."

Songfacts: What are some specific things they taught you, Biff?

Biff: "Well, they allowed us to travel on their tour bus, they got us hotel rooms in all their hotels, they took us to a load of TV shows they were doing, because they were massive at that time. So, they befriended us and took us on board and showed us what Jack Daniels tastes like, and various other things. They used to bring quite a lot of models and people on the bus because they were quite well-known, especially Lemmy, so their entourage was something to behold, really."

Songfacts: But, was there any type of advice or something that you did differently after meeting them?

Biff: "Oh, yeah, we did. I'll tell you what we did: We started meeting fans after the show in the venue because that's what MOTÖRHEAD used to do. Lemmy said, 'Never forget your fans, and if people have paid money, if they're waiting outside in the snow and in the cold, then bring them in the venue and sign the autographs in there.' So, we started doing that, specifically, after MOTÖRHEAD did it. They gave me some bullet belts. We used to wear bullet belts in them days, so I used to start wearing bullet belts as part of the Bullet Belt Club. So, yeah, it was very leather jacket and jeans and bullet belts and studs. It was very rock and roll but metal, really. What can I say?"

Read the entire interview at Songfacts.

Find more on Saxon
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • reddit
  • email

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).