Vocalist Biff Byford of British metal veterans SAXON spoke to Liselotte "Lilo" Hegt of HeadBangers LifeStyle about the band's plans to return to the road in 2022. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "[We're doing] 40th-anniversary shows [in the U.K.] with a big production. And we've got three of those to do [in January]. And we've also got some of those to do in Europe as well in the summer, at the festivals. So I don't know what's happening with them. They're still on. They've been postponed and put back to next year, like Bang Your Head!!! in Germany and Graspop [Metal Meeting in Belgium]. We're doing festivals in the summer — they're still there; we're still doing them. And I think we're gonna be touring in autumn in Europe and the U.K. I think the first tour we might do next year will be America."
He continued: "You can't book things too far in front — too soon, I mean — because it all gets changed; the governments are changing things all the time [due to COVID-19 restrictions]. But you can make it a little bit later on, to see whether we can get over the new variant — omicron or whatever the fuck it is. Just fingers crossed, really, that we can do that. But meanwhile, just in case, we're planning albums to do. If we're not gonna be touring, then we're gonna be making more music. That's the plan."
Asked what the situation is like with live events in the U.K. at the moment, Biff said: "We're wearing masks again in shops. They haven't said anything about big events yet. I just think they're waiting to see if this variant makes people more sick than the last one [did]. I think that's what it's about. Everybody has to have a booster. They're vaccinating people like crazy in the U.K.; that's what they're doing."
SAXON will release its 23rd studio album, "Carpe Diem", on February 4, 2022 via Silver Lining Music. The LP was produced by Andy Sneap (JUDAS PRIEST, EXODUS, ACCEPT) at Backstage Recording Studios in Derbyshire with Byford and Sneap mixing and mastering.
