Biff Byford

No doubt some of you are wondering: “What on earth is Biff Byford doing in Prog?” Certainly the Saxon frontman is one of the iconic heroes of British heavy metal, but is there any connection between him and progressive music? Well actually, yes there is.

“I enjoy prog music,” he proclaims with considerable enthusiasm. “In the early 70s, I used to see bands like Yes and Genesis when they came to Barnsley Civic Hall or Sheffield City Hall. At the time, I was heavily into the whole prog scene. There just seemed to be so many great bands around, all of who sounded very different from one another and had a big influence on me as a budding musician.”

Byford was actually in a progressive-style band for three years, from 1973, before heading to find fame with Saxon. “We were called Coast, and definitely had a style that relied a lot on what we picked up from listening to Yes. In fact we used to play and in rehearsals. We never did them live in front of an audience. But we loved trying to work