Music
08 Apr 09

Saxon man acts as RTÉ mentor

Metal group frontman Biff Byford channels Simon Cowell for a new reality TV show on RTÉ.

Daithi O Se, Blanaid Ni Cofaigh and Hector had better start looking to their TV presenting laurels, with Saxon mainman Biff Byford being lined-up for an RTÉ series that will air later in the year.

“Yeah, they’re doing a tribute band competition-cum-reality show, which I’m going to be a judge and mentor on,” Biff reveals from Paris where Metallica have invited him to their ginormodome gig.
“I think it came from me doing The Podge & Rodge Show a while back. I was told to expect a savaging, but it turns out the two lads who operate the puppets are huge Saxon fans.”

Sorry, puppets? Next he’ll be telling us there’s no Father Christmas!
”Or Easter Bunny!” the singer chuckles. “I’ve done a fair bit of TV and film stuff including playing the old King Arthur in a film called Percival – it’s on the limited-edition of our new album, Battalions Of Steel, if anyone’s interested.”

We imagine there will be many among Ireland’s metal fraternity who will be. Is Biff annoyed that Saxon didn’t think of doing an, if you will, rockumentary before Anvil?

“We took a similar kind of risk a few years ago when we did Harvey Goldsmith’s Get Your Act Together on Channel 4. The key to that working rather than blowing up in our faces was that the album we had out at the time was one of the best things we’ve ever done, so the laughing was with us rather than at us. I hope it’s that way round with Anvil!”

While we’ve got him here, what is the truth as opposed to urban rock legend about Spinal Tap being based on Saxon?

“I actually don’t remember it, but Harry Shearer spent a night on the tour bus with our bass-player, Steve Dawson,” the 58-year-old proffers. “Derek Smalls copied Steve’s moves and that’s it. It was too early on in Saxon’s career for the rest of it to be about us – we didn’t have any stage props and the venues were too small for us to get lost in them! The film that was uncannily like us was Bad News.”

Saxon play the Mandela Hall, Belfast (April 26) and The Academy, Dublin (27) with Doro and Belfast NWOBHM-ers Sweet Savage.