Biffy Clyro (2014)
Interview Background
Biffy Clyro frontman Simon Neil might have a similar look to the Game Of Thrones TV series' wide-eyed madman Euron Greyjoy, but the guitarist proved far from deranged and bloodthirsty during our 20 minute conversation ahead of the Scottish band's Australian tour. In fact, Neil has to be right up there with Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl as a genuine nice guy and excellent interviewee. It was a shame so much of this fun conversation ended up being cut from the final story (in fact, the 'finger in the arse' closing paragraph was also cut by sub-editors before going to print too), so it's interesting for me to re-read it and add these unpublished elements of our chat to the version below. I hope you enjoy it, too.
The following is an edited version of an interview first published in mX, September 2014.
Biffy Clyro - Opposites Attract
by Scott McLennan
In the UK they routinely play to a human swamp of 50,000+ fans, but Biffy Clyro’s midday billing on the Soundwave 2014 line-up lit a fire in the Scottish trio’s belly.
Ahead of a return to Australia, frontman Simon Neil recalls the sweat, sunburn and sparse crowds that showed up to watch the frenetic Scottish trio in action.
“We were on stage around half past 11 in the morning at some of these shows, which is the earliest we’ve been on at a festival in around 12 years,” Neil says. “It was definitely a shock to the system, but we really enjoyed it! Ben [Johnston, drummer] and James [Johnston, bassist] only have to stand in the sun for 10 minutes and they turn the colour of a lobster. It was pretty brutal, but if you can survive ‘lobster neck’ you can survive anything. We quite like being the underdogs when no one knows anything about our band. It’s really exciting to feel like a new band, get out there and play to strangers who have no idea what these three Scottish guys screaming their heads off are doing.”
Mixing the stadium rock of Foo Fighters with the widescreen sentiments of Snow Patrol, last year’s double album Opposites confirmed Biffy Clyro as a top-tier force. Unfortunately no one told Trent Reznor, who cracked the sads when he found his band Nine Inch Nails were playing below Biffy Clyro (“Whoever the fuck they are,” Reznor seethed) on the 2013 Reading Festival bill. A year after that minor drama, what is Neil’s favourite Nine Inch Nails song?
“Ahhh, you heartless fucker!” Neil chuckles. “I’m sure you know they aren’t my favourite band at the moment, but I still love the drum beat that opens March Of The Pigs… Basically Trent kicked off because he wasn’t headlining. Unfortunately for him we are bigger than Nine Inch Nails in the UK and I don’t think he liked it too much.
“It was disappointing that perennial outsider Trent Reznor felt the need to take it out on a younger band,” Neil admits. “He should appreciate more than anyone what it feels like not to be a part of the machine and create your own little world, so it’s disappointing when someone like that lets his ego become more important than the music and creation. I respected him before, but he showed his true colours.”
Nine Inch Nails are in the dog-house, but Neil holds a place in his heart for his first pop star crush – Belinda Carlisle.
“Have you got a soft spot for her too? I remember seeing the video for [1988 single] Heaven Is A Place On Earth and Belinda looked so gorgeous – she was like an otherworldly creature. I remember being interested in her in ways I’d never been interested in girls before. She was my pop princess; Belinda, you will forever be mine.”
Belinda Carlisle might have turned this young Scottish lad into a man, but Neil’s clocked up some interesting experiences since then. The tattooed frontman once suggested in Q magazine, “If you don’t like a wee finger up your arse, then you’re not really experiencing life”.
How often does one need to indulge in such acts to meet Simon Neil standards?
“You’re stitching me up!” he laughs. “I think you should do it as often as you desire – as long as you give it a wee try once I think you’ll be alright. Maybe you can schedule it – say, every Thursday evening, just before dinner.
“It is also important you know who the finger is connected to,” he adds. “Very important!”
Opposites (Warner)
Unpublished Interview Material
Hi Simon, how’s it going?
“I’m just at home in my dressing gown. We just got back from Russia so we’re just chillin’ for a few days.”
Is it a lavish monogrammed number?
“Aye, and my diamond slippers are really cutting into my ankles. (laughs)”
What were your impressions of Russia?
“That was our first trip and it was quite an eye-opener. We visited Moscow and St Petersburg, but it’s the scale of the city that stuck with me. Moscow was interesting as it feels like the beating heart to Russia and it’s unlike anywhere else. It has a wildness to it but I was very surprised how upbeat and positive the people were. I’m as dubious about Putin as anyone else is, but there was a positivity coming off everyone at the shows and a real joy. I wasn’t expecting that – there was a great feeling.”
It’s exciting to have you back in Australia so soon after Soundwave.
“Yeah, it’s exciting. I guess every time we’ve come down to Australia before we always seemed to have done it last minute, so it nice to be able to plan ahead. We knew just before we came over for Soundwave we were going to play some shows, so to be able to do Soundwave and some headline shows was fantastic, but finally it seems to make some sense that we visit this time rather than do it by the seat of our pants as always.”
Opposites was originally a double album, yet in Australia it was released as a single album.
“Oh really? Well I knew there was a single version of the album available, because when we were talking about a double album the record company basically shat their pants. They immediately started panicking and said it wasn’t a good time for a double album, so I guess because we don’t do so well in Australia they were worried people might not stock a double album. We decided we would do a shortened version but where possible it had to be the double album, since that was how we made it. Obviously they’ve kept it a secret from us that it was a single album in Australia, so I apologise to anyone who wanted to hear the double album. We’ll bring some on the plane when we come over. Without wanting to sound like an arsehole, you’ve spent your time slaving over this piece of art and it can get annoying when it gets chopped because of commercial aspirations. We are on a major label though and we do understand their concerns.”
I can’t imagine you’re someone who compromises too often, yet was this edit akin to Francis Ford Coppola being told to edit Apocalypse Now down to an hour.
“Well that’s exactly it, but we’d rather people hear a shortened version than not hear it at all. That’s what it kind of came down to, since there are so few record stores now. It’s just the way music is these days and if you want to reach people you sometimes have to compromise. We still believe in the double album though, it’s just one of those things.”
You have often said you love Use Your Illusion I and II. Were you a fan of the videos, too? As a kid the Estranged video seemed to me like the most epic thing of all time – dolphins, tankers, white mansions, cops, chicks, personalised Converse…
“(laughs) Absolutely – I think that was part of the attraction for me. I’m sure maybe you felt it as well, Scott, but sitting in a house in Scotland watching this redhead rock star who loved white hot pants jumping off an oil tanker, closing down Sunset Strip so they could hose it down and pretend it was filled with dolphins, it was amazing. We actually were lucky enough to work with the director [Andy Morahan] who did the video trilogy of Don’t Cry, Estranged and November Rain and he’s done about three or four videos with us. It was great to get an insight into those Guns N’ Roses videos. Estranged was meant to be the continuation of the video trilogy but Axl broke up with his girlfriend Stephanie Seymour, who played his new wife in November Rain, and ended up replacing her with dolphins! Axl said to Andy, “I want to be next to dolphins at all times”, so that was the premise! It just shows how insane Axl Rose was even back then.”
I did use an interview with Slash once as an opportunity to congratulate him on the epic nature of Estranged, but all he remembered about it was being cold and wet!
“Right, because Slash comes out of the ocean, doesn’t he? Classic! I wish a lot more bands could make videos like that these days, Scott – it would be a lot funnier.”
[Simon speaks in more detail about the Nine Inch Nails fallout at Reading]…
“We had our stage set up at the back and the bands before us had their set-up in front. Because we had our stage set at the back they couldn’t quite fit their stuff in, but they had known about this set-up for months and months and months. I’ve just heard the other day actually that after Trent pinned it on us he then sacked his management and his agent the day after, so I think that tells you it was more an internal miscommunication than anything to do with us.”
You turned down the opportunity to play on Robbie Williams’ Take The Crown album. Are there any pop stars you would be up for a collaboration with?
“Probably not pop star-wise, but I do think Lady Gaga is interesting as she is as out-there as it gets and she’s created her own little world. A lot of these pop stars try and do that, but really they’re just puppets. Not to simplify it, but the music that matters to me is when you can see the pain in someone’s eyes and know that they slaved over a song to make it happen rather than help from a chain of songwriters and producers. As much as I quite enjoy the distraction of pop music, it’s not necessarily something I’m interested in getting involved in. To me pop music is a wee bit phony. I know that there are some great tunes out there and there’s always a pop song to prove pop music can have depth, but the majority is shallow. I hope that doesn’t sound too old-fashioned.”
Biffy Clyro frontman Simon Neil might have a similar look to the Game Of Thrones TV series' wide-eyed madman Euron Greyjoy, but the guitarist proved far from deranged and bloodthirsty during our 20 minute conversation ahead of the Scottish band's Australian tour. In fact, Neil has to be right up there with Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl as a genuine nice guy and excellent interviewee. It was a shame so much of this fun conversation ended up being cut from the final story (in fact, the 'finger in the arse' closing paragraph was also cut by sub-editors before going to print too), so it's interesting for me to re-read it and add these unpublished elements of our chat to the version below. I hope you enjoy it, too.
The following is an edited version of an interview first published in mX, September 2014.
Biffy Clyro - Opposites Attract
by Scott McLennan
In the UK they routinely play to a human swamp of 50,000+ fans, but Biffy Clyro’s midday billing on the Soundwave 2014 line-up lit a fire in the Scottish trio’s belly.
Ahead of a return to Australia, frontman Simon Neil recalls the sweat, sunburn and sparse crowds that showed up to watch the frenetic Scottish trio in action.
“We were on stage around half past 11 in the morning at some of these shows, which is the earliest we’ve been on at a festival in around 12 years,” Neil says. “It was definitely a shock to the system, but we really enjoyed it! Ben [Johnston, drummer] and James [Johnston, bassist] only have to stand in the sun for 10 minutes and they turn the colour of a lobster. It was pretty brutal, but if you can survive ‘lobster neck’ you can survive anything. We quite like being the underdogs when no one knows anything about our band. It’s really exciting to feel like a new band, get out there and play to strangers who have no idea what these three Scottish guys screaming their heads off are doing.”
Mixing the stadium rock of Foo Fighters with the widescreen sentiments of Snow Patrol, last year’s double album Opposites confirmed Biffy Clyro as a top-tier force. Unfortunately no one told Trent Reznor, who cracked the sads when he found his band Nine Inch Nails were playing below Biffy Clyro (“Whoever the fuck they are,” Reznor seethed) on the 2013 Reading Festival bill. A year after that minor drama, what is Neil’s favourite Nine Inch Nails song?
“Ahhh, you heartless fucker!” Neil chuckles. “I’m sure you know they aren’t my favourite band at the moment, but I still love the drum beat that opens March Of The Pigs… Basically Trent kicked off because he wasn’t headlining. Unfortunately for him we are bigger than Nine Inch Nails in the UK and I don’t think he liked it too much.
“It was disappointing that perennial outsider Trent Reznor felt the need to take it out on a younger band,” Neil admits. “He should appreciate more than anyone what it feels like not to be a part of the machine and create your own little world, so it’s disappointing when someone like that lets his ego become more important than the music and creation. I respected him before, but he showed his true colours.”
Nine Inch Nails are in the dog-house, but Neil holds a place in his heart for his first pop star crush – Belinda Carlisle.
“Have you got a soft spot for her too? I remember seeing the video for [1988 single] Heaven Is A Place On Earth and Belinda looked so gorgeous – she was like an otherworldly creature. I remember being interested in her in ways I’d never been interested in girls before. She was my pop princess; Belinda, you will forever be mine.”
Belinda Carlisle might have turned this young Scottish lad into a man, but Neil’s clocked up some interesting experiences since then. The tattooed frontman once suggested in Q magazine, “If you don’t like a wee finger up your arse, then you’re not really experiencing life”.
How often does one need to indulge in such acts to meet Simon Neil standards?
“You’re stitching me up!” he laughs. “I think you should do it as often as you desire – as long as you give it a wee try once I think you’ll be alright. Maybe you can schedule it – say, every Thursday evening, just before dinner.
“It is also important you know who the finger is connected to,” he adds. “Very important!”
Opposites (Warner)
Unpublished Interview Material
Hi Simon, how’s it going?
“I’m just at home in my dressing gown. We just got back from Russia so we’re just chillin’ for a few days.”
Is it a lavish monogrammed number?
“Aye, and my diamond slippers are really cutting into my ankles. (laughs)”
What were your impressions of Russia?
“That was our first trip and it was quite an eye-opener. We visited Moscow and St Petersburg, but it’s the scale of the city that stuck with me. Moscow was interesting as it feels like the beating heart to Russia and it’s unlike anywhere else. It has a wildness to it but I was very surprised how upbeat and positive the people were. I’m as dubious about Putin as anyone else is, but there was a positivity coming off everyone at the shows and a real joy. I wasn’t expecting that – there was a great feeling.”
It’s exciting to have you back in Australia so soon after Soundwave.
“Yeah, it’s exciting. I guess every time we’ve come down to Australia before we always seemed to have done it last minute, so it nice to be able to plan ahead. We knew just before we came over for Soundwave we were going to play some shows, so to be able to do Soundwave and some headline shows was fantastic, but finally it seems to make some sense that we visit this time rather than do it by the seat of our pants as always.”
Opposites was originally a double album, yet in Australia it was released as a single album.
“Oh really? Well I knew there was a single version of the album available, because when we were talking about a double album the record company basically shat their pants. They immediately started panicking and said it wasn’t a good time for a double album, so I guess because we don’t do so well in Australia they were worried people might not stock a double album. We decided we would do a shortened version but where possible it had to be the double album, since that was how we made it. Obviously they’ve kept it a secret from us that it was a single album in Australia, so I apologise to anyone who wanted to hear the double album. We’ll bring some on the plane when we come over. Without wanting to sound like an arsehole, you’ve spent your time slaving over this piece of art and it can get annoying when it gets chopped because of commercial aspirations. We are on a major label though and we do understand their concerns.”
I can’t imagine you’re someone who compromises too often, yet was this edit akin to Francis Ford Coppola being told to edit Apocalypse Now down to an hour.
“Well that’s exactly it, but we’d rather people hear a shortened version than not hear it at all. That’s what it kind of came down to, since there are so few record stores now. It’s just the way music is these days and if you want to reach people you sometimes have to compromise. We still believe in the double album though, it’s just one of those things.”
You have often said you love Use Your Illusion I and II. Were you a fan of the videos, too? As a kid the Estranged video seemed to me like the most epic thing of all time – dolphins, tankers, white mansions, cops, chicks, personalised Converse…
“(laughs) Absolutely – I think that was part of the attraction for me. I’m sure maybe you felt it as well, Scott, but sitting in a house in Scotland watching this redhead rock star who loved white hot pants jumping off an oil tanker, closing down Sunset Strip so they could hose it down and pretend it was filled with dolphins, it was amazing. We actually were lucky enough to work with the director [Andy Morahan] who did the video trilogy of Don’t Cry, Estranged and November Rain and he’s done about three or four videos with us. It was great to get an insight into those Guns N’ Roses videos. Estranged was meant to be the continuation of the video trilogy but Axl broke up with his girlfriend Stephanie Seymour, who played his new wife in November Rain, and ended up replacing her with dolphins! Axl said to Andy, “I want to be next to dolphins at all times”, so that was the premise! It just shows how insane Axl Rose was even back then.”
I did use an interview with Slash once as an opportunity to congratulate him on the epic nature of Estranged, but all he remembered about it was being cold and wet!
“Right, because Slash comes out of the ocean, doesn’t he? Classic! I wish a lot more bands could make videos like that these days, Scott – it would be a lot funnier.”
[Simon speaks in more detail about the Nine Inch Nails fallout at Reading]…
“We had our stage set up at the back and the bands before us had their set-up in front. Because we had our stage set at the back they couldn’t quite fit their stuff in, but they had known about this set-up for months and months and months. I’ve just heard the other day actually that after Trent pinned it on us he then sacked his management and his agent the day after, so I think that tells you it was more an internal miscommunication than anything to do with us.”
You turned down the opportunity to play on Robbie Williams’ Take The Crown album. Are there any pop stars you would be up for a collaboration with?
“Probably not pop star-wise, but I do think Lady Gaga is interesting as she is as out-there as it gets and she’s created her own little world. A lot of these pop stars try and do that, but really they’re just puppets. Not to simplify it, but the music that matters to me is when you can see the pain in someone’s eyes and know that they slaved over a song to make it happen rather than help from a chain of songwriters and producers. As much as I quite enjoy the distraction of pop music, it’s not necessarily something I’m interested in getting involved in. To me pop music is a wee bit phony. I know that there are some great tunes out there and there’s always a pop song to prove pop music can have depth, but the majority is shallow. I hope that doesn’t sound too old-fashioned.”
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