Saxon’s Biff Byford recently had a conversation with Metal Pilgrim where he discussed today’s heavy metal genre and its renewed popularity nowadays.

Here’s what Byford said:

“Yeah, I think there’s been a massive resurgence in metal, and especially that New Wave Of British Heavy Metal, the British metal thing. So, yeah, I think we’re all riding a wave at the moment that’s looking good for bands. A lot of new bands, like Burning Witches and things, now they’re doing quite well.

”So, hopefully they can come up with a ‘Number Of The Beast’ or ‘Wheels Of Steel’ or something, or a ‘Crusader’ that gets them into the stratosphere. That’s what they need. Whether you can do that these days, I don’t know.

”But back in the day, it was all about getting a record deal. These days it’s all about getting a million views on Instagram, which is the same thing. It’s still promotion.”