SAXON’S BIFF BYFORD SAYS HE DOESN’T THINK THAT KISS SHOULD BE USING AVATARS OF THEMSELVES FOR FUTURE TOURS

In a new interview with Barry Robinson of Classic Album Review, Saxon frontman Biff Byford was asked to his opinion on KISS‘s announcement that the legendary rockers will continue as digital avatars. The technology, originally developed for ABBA‘s Voyage show in London, will allow KISS to stay “on the road” in retirement.

Byford said (as transcribed by blabbermouth.net), “I don’t think they should do it. I think it works for ABBA because ABBA’s been defunct for years and years and years, and ABBA, they’re a pop act; they’re not rock. [But] if people wanna go see an avatar show of them, then fair enough.”

“I’ve not seen the ABBA one,” he continued. “I’ve been told that it’s absolutely fantastic. But [it costs] millions and millions to develop this thing. And they built their own theater. I don’t know if KISS is gonna do that. I think it probably works better when it’s in a place that’s been sort of built and equipped for it rather than touring. Because I’ve seen some touring things with Ronnie, with [Ronnie James] Dio. It was all right, but it wasn’t perfect. Wherever you sat in the room, sometimes you wouldn’t see [the hologram from the right angle]. It just wasn’t perfect. But I suppose if you build a purpose-built theater for it and you can see all from every different seat and every different angle and it’s all different… But I think it’s a curiosity thing as well.

When Robinson raised the possibility of other artists, such as The Beatles and The Doors, getting their own avatar shows in the future, Byford said, “To do it properly, you have to have somebody that’s… I mean, you don’t have to have the original artist moving around [while hooked up to the motion capture technology that helps generate the avatars]. As far as ABBA goes, it was actually them that did all the moves, and they sort of just used that for the avatar. But I don’t know. I really don’t know. To tell you the truth, I don’t really give a sh-t whether they do or they don’t — Beatles or KISS. I probably won’t go. I might go see the ABBA one, if they invite me.”

The KISS avatars were created by Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) and were financed and produced by the Swedish company Pophouse Entertainment, which is behind ABBA Voyage.

Unlike the ABBA Voyage show, which recreates a 1970s-era ABBA concert in a custom-built London arena, KISS’avatars that appeared at the band’s final concert in New York earlier this month will not be as grounded in reality as ABBA’s digital replicas. According to BBC News, the KISS avatars were eight feet tall, breathing fire and shooting electricity from their fingers, while floating above the audience.

Saxon will be releasing their new album,  Hell, Fire And Damnation, on January 19th 2024. To read more details about this forthcoming release, and to listen to the title song, please click here.