Interview: Biffy Clyro
Text: Martien Koolen
“The live experience has to be a different animal from the record.!”
Biffy Clyro are a Scottish rock band, still consisting of Simon Neil (lead vocals, guitar), and twin brothers James (bass guitar) and Ben Johnston (drums) and albums like ‘Opposites’ (20130 and ‘The Myth Of The Happily Ever After’ (2021) achieved considerable commercial success. The band has never disclosed where the name Biffy Clyro originated, but it certainly is a name that sticks… This year the Scottish trio are on the Pinkpop line-up again and before their gig I had the chance to talk to the twin brothers, so here we go….
Back on home ground, right as it is not the first time that you play here, I think it is your fourth turn…
James: “Really, fuck me, mate, that often, we always like it here, but it is ridiculously hot today, especially as we come from Scotland and we are not used to these temperatures. Ha ha.”
Ben: “The bill is always great here, with lots of eclectic bands and we always hang out with friends from other bands here, great festival indeed.”
James: “The Dutch crowd is always a challenge, it is not an easy crowd, and we have to work hard to “convince’ the audience!”
You do work hard!
Ben: “Yes, we always work hard as a band, ha ha. It is always nice to play for such a large crowd, they singalong and they really get into our music.”
Did you prepare something special for Pinkpop 2025?
James: “No, not really, no… ha ha, every show is special, we are starting this show with our new song.
The one that came out as a single called A Little Love…
Ben: “Yeah, exactly that one, and I think it is actually quite bold to start with a new song that the crowd does not know so well…”
James: “But in fact every show is special, we have been playing as a band now for more than twenty-five years so, we know what we are doing, right?”
How difficult is it to make a setlist as you have so many songs to choose from?
Ben: “We don’t, ha ha..Simon does that, we do not care, ha ha..He is searching for good songs to get the right vibe, so, and he does a great job there.”
Are there songs that you must play, so called crowd pleasers?
James: “It is hard, there are so many great songs, every song in the set is a single, but there is probably always someone in the crowd who is complaining about a certain song that we are not playing, so yeah, it is difficult”
Are there Biffy songs you have never played live?
Ben: “There is a few, yeah, so, but maybe those are songs which do not really fit into the setlist…”
How did Biffy’s music evolve in all these years?
James: “I think that our songs have become more simple and we have created a certain Biffy sound over the years that is always changing, we are not a band like Iron Maiden, I love Maiden by the way, who have a certain signature sound, we are not like that. We like to experiment and fool around a bit, you know, we like to surprise our fans.”
There is a significant difference between your live performances and your studio work, what could be the reason for that?
Ben: “The albums are maybe softer, that is true of course, I think what happens is when we play live our complete energy and adrenaline comes out and we become fucking monsters, ha ha…”
James: “We play a little bit faster on stage then in the studio, but I think it is good to have that difference! The live experience has to be a different animal from the record!”
The new album is almost finished, what are the main musical differences between the new one and the previous album?
Ben: “A different album indeed and we used a brand-new producer, a younger gentleman, who brought fresh ideas to the table, so the production techniques are quite different, especially the drums are recorded in a way that I never recorded that way”
You are a power trio band; did you ever consider bringing in a fourth guy to “change “the sound of the band?
James: “For the album it is a no, but live we have a couple of guys to help us this time. I think there is seven of us on stage later on, ha ha.”
Ben: “In the studio we are quite content with the three of us!”
What are the advantages of a trio, music-wise?
James: “It is easier to come to one line, one resolution, if you have six band members it becomes difficult to have everybody in the room on the same page, which is quite difficult really”
Ben: “And of course as we are twin brothers we are one, ha ha, our language, our communication is hard to follow for “outsiders,” if you know what I mean, ha ha. We are a very tight unit indeed.”
What are you most proud of so far?
James: “Still being here, I would say that is the thing we are really proud of as we have been through a lot of ups and downs. We have been friends with many bands that have broken up and we managed somehow to stay together longer than most marriages and we are proud of the fact that we are not divorced yet, ha ha”
Ben: “And we just made our tenth studio album and that is fucking amazing. To be doing it and enjoying it and still feeling hungry and not thinking of it as a job or just trying to make money… these things are not that important to us, it is still about our musical ideas and sharing those ideas with our audience. We still like what we do, although it gets tougher when you get older, ha ha….”
Any ambitions left to fulfil?
James: “yes, we still have lots of countries where we have not played yet, so, we are ambitious, but we are quietly ambitious, as Scotsmen we are a bit more preserved, we are not going to fucking land on the moon, you know, but we are ambitious for the band, we just want people to hear our music”
Ben: “If we can still play live in ten years’ time that is an ambition for us!”
Which band would you like to be on stage with once?
James: “ooooo, nice question, mate…Pearl Jam, big youth heroes of ours! They are a very down-to-earth band, and I like that! They just plug in and play and that’s it, great! Massive respect for Pearl Jam as they have been there for so long!”
Last question, if I were in Biffy Clyro and you were the music reporter, what would be your final question?
Ben: “ooooooooo, another great question, would you like a million pounds, ha ha…
What would be your answer?
James: “Yes…. (very loud laughter) ….
Thanks for your time, gentlemen.
Ben/James: “Thank you, great interview, mate. Interesting questions!”
Website: https://www.biffyclyro.com/
