News
Biffy Clyro: “Either love it or hate it, that’s what we want”
We’re down on the farm with the returning Scots in this year’s Festival Guide.
Over the past fifteen years, Biffy Clyro have seamlessly transformed themselves from a trio of rough-around-the-edges experimentalists into fully fledged titans of rock. Six records - two album trilogies – later, they dominate arenas and headline festivals like nobody’s business. So, with new full-length ‘Ellipsis’, they had to try something new.
After the grandiose sonics of their last trio of albums, they wanted to shake things up. Rip it up and start again. “You’re in such a bubble,” says frontman Simon Neil, of their lives in the band, “and especially for a band going on to their seventh record, you’re normally just in the routine. I don’t think we’ve ever just wanted to be a routine band - you know, reliable old Biffy Clyro! We’d rather be completely unreliable and have people think we’ve lost the plot. Either love it or hate it, that’s what we want, that’s what we’ve always kind of wanted.”
Whether or not they’ve lost the plot is yet to be determined, but they’ve certainly gone all out. Recruiting “mad professor” Rich Costey for production, ‘Ellipsis’ is about about pairing beauty and grit, taking left turns and surrendering themselves to giving anything a go. “With Rich, the modus operandi was gorgeousness with real trash,” Simon confirms with a gleeful grin. “If the drums sounded amazing, we wanted a really dirty, smelly-sounding guitar. If the vocals were really angelic, we wanted to distort the drums.” It’s an approach clear from lead track ‘Wolves of Winter’, which packs distorted vocal effects, raw guitars and manic drum parts alongside a rousing chorus. “If we hadn’t made six records previously with the matter-of-fact sound of our instruments, then we would never have wanted to make this record, so it’s definitely a reaction.”
“Rich would just plug in shit all the time,” he laughs. “You’d be sitting playing and hit a brilliant sound, but you’d not care how you got there, or if it’s too loud or going out through an exhaust in the car park! It was just like, ‘it sounds good, so let’s do it.’ That was quite liberating.”
Biffy Clyro grace the cover of this year’s Festival Guide in association with Ticketweb, out 29th April, available at all the great places listed at diymag.com/stockists, or online below.
Photo: Mike Massaro / DIY
Records, etc at
Biffy Clyro - The Myth of The Happily Ever After (Cd)
Biffy Clyro - Opposite / Victory Over The Sun (Vinyl LP - black)
Biffy Clyro - Black Chandelier / Biblical (Vinyl LP - black)
Biffy Clyro - A Celebration of Endings (Vinyl LP - black)
Biffy Clyro - Only Revolutions (Vinyl LP)
Biffy Clyro - A Celebration of Endings (Cd)
Read More
Biffy Clyro to celebrate first three albums with ‘A Celebration of Beginnings’ UK shows
They'll be playing a series of six intimate shows in London and Glasgow this October.
11th March 2024, 12:17pm
Biffy Clyro on “levitating” feeling returning to live shows ahead of Open’er Festival set
We catch up with the band's James Johnston before they head to Poland this weekend.
30th June 2022, 4:48pm
Biffy Clyro announce UK and Ireland arena tour
The group are hitting the road this November.
20th June 2022, 9:40pm
Homeward Bound: Biffy Clyro
In reaction to their eighth album ‘A Celebration Of Endings’, Biffy Clyro spent lockdown pouring pandemic revelations into its gorgeously messy, chaotic follow-up ‘The Myth Of The Happily Ever After’.
25th October 2021, 12:39pm
Featuring SOFT PLAY, Corinne Bailey Rae, 86TVs, English Teacher and more!