Biffy Clyro interview: Scottish rockers on brotherhood, topping the charts and West Midlands 'hallowed ground' ahead of Birmingham show
More than 30 years after first jamming together, three lads from Ayrshire have become one of the biggest bands in the UK, serial headliners at festivals and album chart-toppers, but still have the hunger and desire to do more.
What started as a teenage band in a quiet part of Scotland has become a worldwide phenomenon called Biffy Clyro, with a wave of diverse and creative songs full of anthems, as well as experimentation.
The band, made up of Simon Neil (vocals, guitar and piano) and twin brothers James Johnston (bass) and Ben Johnston (drums), are also festival regulars, with a list that includes five sets at Glastonbury, with the most recent seeing them play the pre-headline slot on the Pyramid Stage this year.
Songs like The Captain, Mountains and Many of Horror are well-known and well-loved by the Biffy Clyro faithful, with the latter even providing a Christmas number one for 2010 X-Factor winner Matt Cardle.
They also reinforced their status as one of the UK’s most beloved rock bands with the news that their critically adored new record ‘Futique’ had gone straight to number one on the UK Official Albums Chart, which represents their fourth number one album after ‘Opposites’ (2013), ‘Ellipsis’ (2016) and ‘A Celebration of Endings’ (2020).
It is a remarkable achievement that brings them level with such big names as Florence + The Machine, Linkin Park and Metallica, something James said was a good list to be on, but also modestly saying that the band had always just wanted to make music it believed in.
He said: "It's not a bad list to be on, but when we started, we had no ambition to get to number one, it was more our ambition to have fun making music that we believed in, to keep us occupied and off the streets, so to be sitting here 30 years later and thinking about the accolades is a strange feeling.
"Being Scotsman, we're not so quick to pat ourselves on the back or, indeed, as a nation, even sort of celebrate success, as there's something in the national psyche which is suspicious of success.
"But, all things considered, we're so grateful for the support we've had and as a kind of weird band, to get four number ones is something to be proud of."
The band will be celebrating the success of the album with a big national tour in January, including Birmingham's Utilita Arena on Friday, January 16, and both James and Ben said they had fond memories of playing in the West Midlands and the home of metal.
Ben said: "It's always great to play at the home of metal and a part of the world which appreciates rock music and actually gave birth to that and other forms of rock music, so it's hallowed ground.
"Our gigs have always been fantastic in that part of the world and I remember, even in the early days, it was just that much better than London, because people there were trying to act cool and don't let you know they liked your band, whereas in Birmingham, it's always been a great vibe from the get go, so I've always loved going back."
James said: "Funny thing is that when we started touring more extensively, Birmingham wasn't a regular stop on the circuit at that point, and so we found ourselves in Wolverhampton at the Little Civic and the Wulfrun Hall and I've got great memories, so when we finally go to the Academy in Birmingham, it was like we'd made it.
"Like Ben said, the people are really passionate and are, I think, really friendly and kind of like Scots, very down to earth and take a wee jibe or a wee joke to put you in your place.
"I just get such fond affection from people from that part of the world, and one of our engineers is a Black Country lad and he's just got a nice way about him, so we always like to come down to that part of the world."
