Biffy Clyro Interview

It’s that time of year again, when magazines, newspapers, radio stations and websites look back at the past twelve months in music, and we’re not going to buck the trend.

Throughout December we’ll be featuring a different band each day, that has formed the soundtrack of 2007 at Room Thirteen.

One such band is Biffy Clyro, who returned in the spring with the album ‘Puzzle’. The LP has taken them onto the next level and ensured they’re constantly mentioned in lists of the UK’s best rock bands.

During their recent UK tour, we bagged some time with bass player James Johnston, to review what has been one hell of a year for the Scottish trio.

R13: How is the current tour going?
JJ: It’s going great. We’ve just got started and done a couple of nights in Glasgow and now we’re in Edinburgh, so things are going really well.
R13: Have you been getting a good response from everyone?
JJ: A great reception yeah. The shows have all been fantastic, everyone’s having a ball. This is the first tour that we have done since the album has come out so it’s nice that everyone knows all the songs and are singing along.

R13: How have you dealt with the increased attention since ‘Puzzle’ has been released?
JJ: We have been away to be honest. We have been on tour; been in America; been in Europe so we haven’t really been at home to experience most of it. It’s really nice to bring attention to the band and the record and have people coming to the shows. In terms of attention it doesn’t really affect you on a personal level, it’s nice for the band but it’s not the most important thing about what we do.

R13: This time last year, was the album finished and what was the feeling in the camp about how it might do?
JJ: I think the three of us were together just finishing the album and we were feeling really excited; we felt like we had accomplished something. The album was already a success before it came out just because we were happy with it and that’s the most important thing I guess. You never know how people are going to react to it. I can’t imagine when The Beatles were sitting on a record they thought, ‘this is going to sell a million copies’. You just have no idea, but we were definitely happy with what we had produced.

R13: New album, new record ��" for a fresh start. Are you happy with the way it’s all turned out?
JJ: Very happy. There are not a lot of bands these days that get the chance to make four albums. Mostly if you don’t sell a lot of copies with your first two albums you get dropped by your label, so we have been quite lucky with the way things have gone slowly for us. We have built up a solid fan base and it’s amazing that we have now got to a fourth record and things are now in a way starting to take off for us.

R13: What do you remember of the night when you supported Bloc Party at Brixton only to then move to a tiny venue in Camden for a late night Camden Crawl headline set?
JJ: I remember it vaguely. It was two shows in one night, it certainly was really good fun.
R13: What’s it like to go from a big venue like Brixton to such a small one?
JJ: To be honest it’s one of the greatest things about what we do, you get a chance to be in lots of different environments all the time. You have such a different experience with each one as you can imagine. It’s nice to have it mixed together, I think if you were doing the same show every night it would get really boring so it’s nice to mix things up in a short period of time, it’s really quite intense. You enjoy each show for different reasons but it was a really amazing night.

R13: One of the other people we’re talking to to round off the year is Frank Turner who supported you on the May tour, how did you find having him on the road since his style is quite different from yours?
JJ: Frank’s a really really nice guy so it was a pleasure to have him on tour. In terms of music I think it’s nice to have different styles of music on tour, as a support band. Also when we are supporting a band it’s nice to support different types of bands because it just gets boring if you’re listening to the same stuff all night. We think that Frank is a really good performer and the crowds really enjoyed him so it was really nice to have him on tour.

R13: What was playing Wembley Stadium with Muse like?
JJ: That was really exciting. It was the first show that we had done of that size, so it was incredible and also it was a big event being one of the first shows at Wembley. We were very nervous, but I think as soon as we got on stage we just felt great.

R13: What was the stand out festival set for Biffy Clyro for this summer?
JJ: I guess this summer our new album had just come out and so we were very much just trying to introduce that in a way so we were playing a lot of stuff from the new album. At the same time there were old songs from the previous albums that we just didn’t want to stop playing, so we mixed it up a bit and we played a little bit of both, mostly new stuff. It’s hard at a festival because you only get 30 or 40 minutes and trying to choose the right songs is pretty tough.

R13: How are Biffy Clyro going down in the US and did you enjoy it there?
JJ: We did enjoy it a lot. It’s nice to have spent so many years on the road and then go to another country where nobody knows what you’re about. It really feels like a rebirth for the band in many ways, we can just go there and start again. It’s not a daunting task, I think like a lot of bands that have success elsewhere touring America is perfect because no one gives a shit at first because there are so many bands and it’s such a big country. You just have to get out there and work hard and tour. It’s something that we have been well used to because of the way things have gone over here; we have always had to work hard. It’s been really fun and it’s been really exciting just going out playing, even if it’s just been a few gigs that people know what we are about or enjoy what we are doing; that’s enough for us. It’s been great and we are looking forward to spending more time out there next year and hopefully getting some new fans while we are doing it.
R13: That’s great. So you have conquered the UK and been to the US. Where do you want to go to next?
JJ: I would love to go to Japan or Australia.
R13: Japan seems to be the prime place for most bands to venture to at the moment.
JJ: Yeah! Are you from New Zealand by any chance?
R13: (Laughs) No, I’m from South Africa.
JJ: South Africa? Wow. I guess in away it’s a similar accent. I don’t know if many bands go to play in South Africa but we would love to go to a place like that. Just to go and try different things. There are a lot of bands that are going to play in Russia now and in Eastern Europe to get their music out there.

R13: We’ll be compiling our albums of the year list soon, which ones have been favourites of yours this year?
JJ: There have been some good albums this year. I think maybe an obvious choice for me would be a band called Aereogramme. They’re a Scottish band, who has sadly just completed their last record together, they have just broken up. They made an album called ‘My heart has a wish that you would not go’ and it’s just an amazing album. It’s a real shame that not that many people got to hear it, so that’s really an album that I would encourage your readers to go and pick up, it’s really an amazing album.

R13: What plans are already sorted for 2008?
JJ: We are probably going to start the year with touring, and then we are going to finish the year touring. We are definitely going to spend a couple of months in America; there will be some dates in the UK and some in Europe. Then we will be thinking about the next album, and have some time off to write and do some recording. It will be a busy year, but that’s the way that we like it. There’s no point being a band if we are just going to sit about at home. We are definitely going to make the most of things I think and hopefully have a year like we did this year.

R13: What is your best story of 2007?
JJ: Best story of 2007? I know there have been lots; we have had some amazing experiences this year. We played at Glastonbury festival; it was the first time we had ever been there and you know it was raining and it was crazy. So we played there in the afternoon and then we had been offered a gig with Muse in Paris on the same day. The only way we could get there is by helicopter and then by private jet. We did the show at Glastonbury and came straight off the stage into a waiting car and drove to the helicopter. Got a helicopter to the airport; private jet to Paris; and then get picked up by a waiting taxi. We had a police escort to the stadium and literally ran straight on stage. Our gear was already set up and we played three or four songs and had the craziest time in the world. We came off after that show and I think we were all ready to just start crying. It was such a weird day, it was so exciting. I don’t think we will ever have a day like that again, so that was definitely the craziest story of 2007.