SIMON NEIL
Biffy Clyro have always had one eye on the future. There’s now – and there’s what comes next. There’s that restless creative buzzing in the back of Simon Neil’s head. But this is different. “In 100 years, they’re going to talk about 2020, the moment we all woke up,” he says
The Scottish rock giants’ new album A Celebration Of Endings represents their two cents in a conversation that’s altering the world before our eyes. Amid a global pandemic, as Black Lives Matter protests make their indelible mark, and as venal politicians flounder under the most basic scrutiny, it’s a call for compassion, as well as accountability.
“I was thinking about how I wanted to step up as a human being,” says Neil. “We’re at such an important moment. You look at the world and think, ‘How the fuck did we end up here?’ But what I’ve realised is that asking that question isn’t quite enough. You have to make a difference yourself. You have to change your behaviour, your outlook and your engagement with things.”
On the LP’s seismic first song North Of No South, Neil is unmoored, and he’s using Biffy’s music to help him figure out exactly where he stands. “Your north has gone out west,” he yells. As an opening statement, it’s extremely potent, blending its searching antiauthoritarian streak with a thunderous riff and the arena-ready anthemics that broke the band into the open almost 15 years ago with the release of Puzzle.
