Selling The Drama

Stillness does not come easily to Biffy Clyro. The Ayrshire trio have a famously intense work ethic, and a catalogue of eight wildly inventive albums nurtured in between a tour schedule that would strike fear into the less motivated. But when lockdown hit, just as they were preparing to take their magnificent new album A Celebration Of Endings on the road, they were forced into the longest period of domesticity of their career.

“Some days I feel quite fortunate that we still get to put the record out, and some days I feel heartbroken that we can’t do what we’re meant to do,” says frontman Simon Neil. “I’ve got adrenaline to spare. If you were to put us on a stage right now we’d probably spontaneously combust!”

Now one of the biggest bands in the UK, at heart Biffy Clyro are still the punk brotherhood they were to begin with, when their first three albums on indie label Beggars might have been realised in Abbey Road and Los Angeles, but it was conceived in the rehearsal room they’ve used for years, set on an Ayrshire dairy farm. Bassist James Johnston and his twin brother, drummer Ben, have been doing it up, but it still doesn’t have running water or an indoor toilet. “We’ve got a toastie machine now though, and a microwave, so we really are living in the lap of luxury,” Ben says with a laugh.