Saxon frontman Biff Byford recently updated fans after undergoing his first round of chemotherapy in his fight against bowel cancer.
“It’s Biff here,” the singer said in a video shared to social media. “Just checking in to let you know how things are going. Yeah, so I went through the first chemo. I’m feeling pretty good, actually. A bit brutal at times, but I had a week off, so I’m feeling good now.”
He also discussed upcoming show dates.
“Yeah, Belfast is sold out, by the way so get your tickets bought or the rest of the shows,” he said. “Everything’s going well. So, yeah, I’m gonna be out getting fit, exercising in a couple fo weeks, (getting) ready (for the tour). At the moment, (I’m) writing the new (Saxon) album. There’s a track playing in the background, actually. If you can listen, check it out. So, yeah, we’ll see everybody in November. And I’ll give you an update later on, next month, to see how everything’s going. So yeah, keep the faith and peace and quiet. See you soon.”
Saxon cancelled a slate of summer shows, and Byford first revealed in a video shared to social media last month his health battle.
“So, yeah, I got sick and, obviously, as you know, I had a heart problem,” Byford said. “So this time it wasn’t my heart. I went for an MRI scan on my prostate gland before I went to America a few months ago, which was OK, but they found a shadow, a tumor, a small tumor, which they didn’t know was there, So, that’s why I had to have an operation done really quickly on the 8th of July.
“We never like cancelling shows or postponing shows — it’s absolutely rubbish — so I’m over the operation now,” he continued. “It’s been five weeks since I had the operation. It was a small tumor. Unfortunately, I have to have a short period of chemotherapy, what they call a mop-up, just in case there was something there that they didn’t miss. The operation was successful, they got all the cancer out, but the just need to make sure there’s none floating around in my bloodstream.”
The 74-year-old Byford has been performing since 1970.
Saxon formed in 1975 and had a string of eight UK Top 40 albums during the 1980s. The band has reportedly sold more than 23 million albums.