Amy Brookes overcomes her apprehension and talks to Biffy bassist James Johnston…
south american soup fest | don’t believe the hype | broken, bloodied and hoodied
South American soup fest
Having heard tales of Biffy Clyro‘s rock star arrogance and disdain of the media, it was with a certain apprehension that I followed their tour manager through a labyrinth of roadies, discarded drum kits and what appeared to be an entourage of South Americans eating soup. (Who were they with, The Bronx?) To my relief and delight, when I finally met him in the subterranean dressing room, bassist James was a very pleasant guy, answering all my questions with candor and a certain Scottish charm.

After first apologising for the rest of the band not being there due to them being rather ill, (the pile of flu meds stacked in the corner being testimony to this) we moved onto my first and most pressing question; the band’s name. Biffy are notorious for giving a different story every time they are asked about it, so I asked what was the best story they’ve ever given to a journalist about the origin of the name? Turns out his personal favourite is that it is an acronym for, “Big Imagination For Feeling Young. But maybe we should have spent longer on the story,” he laughs. Ultimately, he tells me, they just wanted a name that stands out, which it certainly does, albeit conjuring up images of some kind of twee fluffy rabbit at the same time. At least to me… Well, I prefer it to rumours of a spoonerism for Cliff Richard’s biro.

Don’t believe the hype
The gig at the Carling Academy tonight is a part of the Kerrang tour, including California punk rockers The Bronx as support. But one thing I am curious about is, knowing how the band dislike media hype, and as Kerrang have championed them all along, how they feel about this in terms of their own success? Hastily, James tells me that it’s a not an issue they have with the media, but rather that they feel, “It’s important to build up a solid fanbase before letting the hype get in the way. Some bands rely solely on hype, but we wanted to make sure that we had a solid fanbase.” Will he name names? Of course not…

Their 4th and latest album ‘Puzzle‘ which is out this spring, will be their first release on a major record label. “It was a new label and a new challenge and it was daunting working with people of such a high calibre,” James admits, though assures us that the band have lots of fun recording in Canada. “We always try to be away from home when recording, it removes us from distractions, like family members.” Regarding the writing of new material, “Simon does the majority of the writing, but it’s fairly democratic – if one person doesn’t like something, we’ll speak out.” And on the inspiration for the new songs? “Our inspirations have moved on, but the specific things that are personal to the band are still there.” In answer to another burning question of mine, “Food, cannabis and women are still quite prominent”.

On their reputation as a hard-rocking live band, the key to a great gig, in James’ opinion, is wanting to do it. “Some [bands] can’t be bothered, or think ‘it’s just a wee gig’; we’ve never had that attitude.” And if he wasn’t in a band, what would he otherwise be doing? “I’d probably be a performing clown; actually I am a performing clown!” And can Biffy fans be expecting more passionate live gigs after the new albums release? “Definitely, there’s a proper headline tour to come this year.”

Broken, bloodied and hoodied
After a couple of opening bands who aren’t worth the space or time it takes to write their names, The Bronx took to the stage. Lead singer Matt Caughthran commented that his foot was broken, then promptly jumped into the crowd to begin a frenzied pit. ‘False Alarm‘, ‘ They Will Kill Us All (Without Mercy)‘ and ‘Gun Without Bullets‘ were effortlessly screamed to a bruised and bloodied crowd who were now well and truly warmed up.

When Biffy eventually appeared, Simon – clad in tight red jeans, white shirt and hoodie – thrashed out the opening three songs with his mop of hair covering his face, much to the anger of the darting photographers below.
The band’s energetic set included tracks from the ‘Infinity Land’ album alongside others from ‘The Vertigo of Bliss’.
‘My Recovery Injection’ had the crowd bouncing, with those who had room to do so twanging along on their air guitars, ‘Wave Upon Wave Upon Wave’ had the clap-a-long fills nicely echoed by the sea of hands in front of the band and ‘The Kids From Kibble…’ brought a mix of head-banging rock with starry back-lit serenity.