SAXON’s Biff Byford Talks The Scintilla Project, Working With Andy Sneap, And Future Plans - “We're Writing The Next Saxon Album On And Off"

September 11, 2014, 9 years ago

Greg Prato

feature heavy metal saxon

SAXON’s Biff Byford Talks The Scintilla Project, Working With Andy Sneap, And Future Plans - “We're Writing The Next Saxon Album On And Off"

Over the years, quite a few Saxon tunes have had a "cinematic" quality about them ('Dallas 1PM,' 'Crusader,' etc.). So it would make sense that the group's longtime singer, Biff Byford, would merge music and film, which he has accomplished as a member of the Scintilla Project, and their debut album, The Hybrid (which was issued via UDR Music on September 2nd), which contains songs inspired by the sci-fi film, Scintilla.


Joining Byford on the recording are a rhythm section comprised of bassist Anthony Ritchie and drummer Lionel Hicks, while none other than Andy Sneap supplies guitar - as well as co-producing the album, along with Byford. Byford recently talked with BraveWords correspondent Greg Prato about how the project came to be, plus Saxon's future plans.

 

BraveWords: How did the Scintilla Project come together?


Biff Byford: "It came together because Saxon were asked to write a song for the film, called The Scintilla Project, which is now called The Hybrid. But apart from that, Saxon wrote a song for it, which was on the Call for Arms album. The producer of the film is the drummer - or was the drummer - of a band called Balance of Power. So after meeting him on that first project with Saxon, later on, about three or four months ago, he said, 'We have these songs, this music we've written. Do you fancy re-writing some parts and making it a concept album, and connecting it with the film?' So I said, 'Yeah. I'll have a listen to it.' I listened to it and liked the stuff - I'm a big of a prog rock fan anyway. We were having a bit of a break with Saxon, so yeah, just decided to do it, really. I brought in Andy Sneap to do a few guitars and help me produce it and engineer it, and it went from there, really. We asked a few other friends to do it, and it grew form there."


BraveWords: From what I understand a Saxon song is in the film, but is music from this album in the film, or was the music on this album just inspired by the film?


Biff Byford: "No, it's not in the film. The only thing that's on the album from the film are the actor's dialogues that's on the album. But basically the lyrics connected the film, so it's a concept about the film. It's basically about some scientists developing a super race after finding DNA on a meteorite, and mixing it with human DNA. I think the story has been done before, but this one is done in more of a sort of descent type scenario, in the catacombs, and things jumping out at you."


BraveWords: How different was it working on the music for this project compared to Saxon's music?


Biff Byford: "It was completely different, because usually I'm the chief on a Saxon album. This one, it's like three or four chiefs. So it was quite good working on my part. But some of it was recorded in the US, and some of it was recorded in England. I suppose me and Lionel [Hicks], the producer, we had executive producer roles in it, so we were making sure everything was going well and people were playing good bits. We didn't really change a lot…me and Andy did quit a bit of editing, as far as the arrangements go. It was a bit of a transcontinental project, really, via the internet."


BraveWords: How is it working with Andy Sneap, and would you say he's one of the best hard rock/metal producers of today?


Biff Byford: "I would say he's definitely one of them, yeah. He did our last album, and has done quite a bit of work with us now, and he'll be doing the next album. We have a good relationship with Andy now."

 

BraveWords: For those who haven't seen the Scintilla film, do you highly recommend it?


Biff Byford: "I think the Scintilla film is great. It's not a Steven Spielberg production, but it's British cast and it's a great film. It's one of those films, there is a lot of tension gets going quite slowly. But once it gets going, there are people's heads falling off every five minutes, so yeah, it's pretty good."


BraveWords: Is it comparable to any other films?


Biff Byford: "It's a sci-fi horror really, so it's pretty unique in the sense of they actually made a human-alien sort of hybrid. So basically, the governments are trying to catch it. And that's really the plot. But I've not really seen anything that comes quite close to it, really, as far as plot goes. I could be wrong, there might be films out there. But I've not seen any."


BraveWords: Do you think this will lead to you working on music for films in the future?


Biff Byford: "Most of the time, the people on the film want the old catalogue. They want things like Back in Black, 747, and Overkill. A lot of the films want the old classic stuff, so it's difficult to get a foot in with new stuff, which is why this film is so good for us."


BraveWords: But if the opportunity ever came up, would you consider?


Biff Byford: "Yes. If the opportunity ever came up, we'd definitely do it."


BraveWords: Working on any other projects at the moment?


Biff Byford: "We're writing the next Saxon album on and off, we've already started, and I'm doing a solo album project. So those are the things we're working on. There will be a new DVD coming out to go with the tour, in October. The Scintilla Project is selling quite well - it's only just come out in the US. The film is #1 on the HMV and Amazon charts, so we might do a few shows with the Scintilla Project, who knows? At the moment, we're finished with the festivals next week in Europe, and we're putting together an American tour. I think we're going to bring the 35th Anniversary Tour to America, that's the plan. And people will probably like that rather than touring on an album - it's a tour on more of a celebration/setlist, if you know what I'm saying."


BraveWords: As far as when your solo album and new Saxon album will be issued, do you think both will arrive in 2015?


Biff Byford: "Yes, they will."

 



Featured Video

KELEVRA - "The Distance"

KELEVRA - "The Distance"

Latest Reviews