Cover Feature Biffy Clyro: Why Not Aim High?

“I think we were tired,” begins Ben Johnston, the percussion backbone of Biffy Clyro. “We were starting to drift apart a little bit as friends, probably through spending too much time together.”

Those are not the words you’d usually expect to hear when sitting down with one of Britain’s biggest bands on the cusp of releasing their most ambitious project to date.

Having spent almost their entire lives in each other’s company, the Scottish trio’s current position in the musical landscape has been in a large part thanks to relentless touring and hard work. Heralded in their early days as a cult experimental rock band, they were a little strange, and rough around the edges, but that was their charm. Their genre was neither here nor there; heavy enough to keep people on their toes, but not without catchy idiosyncrasies buried deep beneath the weirdness. Fast forward to the present day and they’ve won over all manner of audiences, as much shaping the mainstream to fit them as changing their sound to fit in. A real life case of slow and steady winning the race.

The Biff are a band who wanted to challenge their listeners from the start - they even admit that’s why they chose their name – and that ethos has remained. Yet, as touring on their last album drew to a close, things took an unexpected turn.

‘Us against the world, again.’

In 2009 the band released their fifth album ‘Only Revolutions’ and, just as their previous full-length ‘Puzzle’, it was heralded a success. What followed was a blur of world widetour dates, TV appearances, high-profile festival slots and press run after press run. By the time a year had passed, they were playing to a sold out Wembley Arena and shooting a live DVD; a long way from the childhood friends who started to play together in their early teens. Like so many before them, the cracks began to show.

“I think for the first time as a band we drifted apart,” frontman Simon Neil confides. Despite his reflective tone, he’s all amicable smiles.

“We worked that album really hard. We hadn’t been used to an album campaign lasting that long,” Ben tells us. “Two years seems like a long time.”

“Ben was drinking a lot and he wasn’t devoting himself to the band in the same way,” explains Simon. “Me and James were worried about him a lot. People react in different ways to any chemicals, and so there came this point where it seemed I had written songs that were reflecting on all the bad points. We really hit a low point, just before the album, where we had to say to Ben, ‘Look, we can’t see this. It doesn’t work with you and you’re a much nicer person without it.’ We want to enjoy each other’s company; we’re not just workmates in a band. It’s about trying to protect a member of your family.”

“It built up over a couple of years,” he continues. “We were drifting further apart. I felt that,” he pauses, “I was taking on more responsibility, because I write all the songs. I started to resent the fact that while I’m writing all these songs, he can’t even bother to turn up. So, the first album [of ‘Opposites’] is reflecting on how we got into that situation.”

The concept of their latest opus becomes more evident. An ambitious idea in itself, ‘Opposites’ is a double album, the first disc of which reflects on past hardships and struggles, some of which posed a genuine threat to the life of the band itself.

“It certainly wasn’t written with that [concept] in mind,” Ben assures us. “We came home and had a really short break, and Simon panicked, thinking he might have writer’s block because nothing was really coming. Then he went ‘boom’ and before you know it, we had 45 songs. I guess that happened during a certain period of time, and throughout that time, me and Simon went through some negative and positive emotions, and that’s what you hear on the record.”

It’s alongside their more personal breakdowns that the band – Simon, especially - began to look back on past regrets. Living a life constantly on the road inevitably means you miss key events in your family lives, and there is undoubtedly always going to be the question of, ‘What if?’

“It’s a weird existence. You have to sacrifice things no matter what you do, I guess,” Simon reflects. “But you begin to neglect certain things in your life; friendships and relationships. That’s very easy to let happen, especially because we’ve never really stopped. We’re all looking in our early 30s now. I think once you hit 30, you’re kind of like, ‘Hey, wait a minute, we’ve spent 15 years doing this, but what’s real life?’ Music is everything to us but you need to have a life away from that.

‘We feel it’s the best record we’ve made.’

“It seems ridiculous but it’s almost easier when you are just floating constantly. You just take it as it comes. Then, when you go home, you’re sitting in your place, with your wife or something, and you don’t know how to relate to a real life situation. How do you relate to music not being the be all and end all, because it is to all of us? It’s not going to get you help if you can’t afford to pay a bill. No one gives a fuck if you sing a few songs at that point.”

It was after a break from the band that the trio found a way to overcome their problems. With Simon’s new found inspiration and Ben heeding the advice of those closest to him, their hardships eased and they began to remember just how lucky they were. “I think after we’d had the difficult time at the start,” offers Simon, “after the first couple of weeks of Ben stopping drinking, we did great. I mean, Ben’s the healthiest and best he’s ever been. It really galvanised us. Making the record was actually a thrill.”

“That was really quite a crazy time for the band,” adds bassist James Johnston, Ben’s more reserved twin brother. “You’ve got to go through these difficult times in order to move forward. Those difficult times brought us back together and made us feel like a gang; like us against the world, again. You have to feel like that. It was nice to rekindle that flame.”

The second disc of their album does just that: reunites the band and plants them firmly facing forward, the exact opposite direction from which they had come.

“The second disc is about trying to grab hold of life again and take control,” says Simon. “To take the reins and not allow things that you’ve spent your entire life working for to fall apart. That’s true in any facet of life. For us, it was primarily the band at that point: are we that clichéd that we could actually let that happen here?

“I think those songs are about leaping out there and about being a team again. I hope at the end of the double album there’s a positive feeling. It’s got some sad songs but hopefully really uplifting ones as well.”

Needless to say, the lyrical side of ‘Opposites’ is more than fully realised, but with any double album there’s always going to be the question of excess. Whilst they’ve spent their entire career challenging what’s acceptable within music, and they may have a great story to pin it on, the thoughts in everyone’s mind will remain the same: was a second disc not a step too far?

“Things just started to slot in place,” states Ben. “Certain songs worked together and then, they started to tell the story.”

“Like any other band, we want our latest record to be the best. With ‘Opposites’ we couldn’t go any further,” replies James, explaining their choice. “We’re not afraid to try something out and if it doesn’t work, get rid of it.”

As a band who are renowned for pushing the boundaries of their own sound, there’s enough reason to wonder how far they’ve gone this time. It seems that whilst they’ve explored new territory, Biffy Clyro remain true to their core.

“It’s fucking out there but, at the same time, it’s massively accessible,” offers Ben, before James joins in. “I think that’s important. You’ve got to maintain your sound as a band but be able to develop and move forward.”

“Music should never be a struggle to get through,” adds Simon. “Over the years we’ve realised with each record that something doesn’t need to be impenetrable to be worthy. I don’t think it’s going to be this marathon that people have to strain to get through it.”

‘It would be nice to think that we are on the cusp of building a legacy.’

And, in true Biffy fashion, they’re anything but arrogant when it comes to their answer of what they think this record could become.

“We’re obviously really proud of what we’ve done,” James offers. “We’re not going to see this as the best record that anyone’s ever going to hear. Although obviously, inside us, we all feel it’s the best record.”

“Well,” interjects Ben, cutting a little more to the chase. “We feel it’s the best record we’ve made.”

“I believe it’s one of the better rock records, hopefully…” Simon starts, reluctantly, before trailing off into laughter. “Why not aim high?! Best rock album of the decade! Let’s go at that.”

They’re not far off. Yet to put a foot wrong in terms of both niche and mainstream support, and with their legions of fans – old and new - already awaiting their return, ‘Opposites’ is a genuine contender for the title.

“It would be nice to think that we are on the cusp of building a legacy.” Ben muses. “It would be nice to continue to the point that our name will remain forever. I don’t know if that sounds over-ambitious or not. If someone said to me years ago that Biffy Clyro might become a household name in Britain – two words that don’t even exist in the English language – I’d say, ‘You’re off your head.’ But we’re getting there; we’re really close, and I think it would be a little slice of magic if we could achieve that.”

So, if the three-piece really have just produced the best rock album of the decade, there’s only one place to celebrate - surely Reading & Leeds will finally have to give in and offer up a long awaited headline slot?

“That would be a fucking pinch yourselves moment,” Ben answers instantly. “In fact, Simon has a jotter from school that he was pointing out to me. On the back of it he’d written a fake Reading line-up for the year 2000, which at this point, seemed like the fucking mad future. It had Biffy Clyro headlining, with Nirvana and Pearl Jam and all of these bands. That’s how much it would blow our minds if we did something like that.”

We know who our money’s on for 2013, schoolbook scribblings and all.

Biffy Clyro’s new album ‘Opposites’ will be released on 28th January via 14th Floor Records.