Biffy Clyro

0:00So last time, and we don't have much time. So last time you were here, you were with Muse, and I mean, like, that is a show beyond shows in terms of spectacle and performance. And so going on the road with those guys, maybe we'll start with now that you guys are headlining a tour, basically around the world, through January. What did you learn from a performance standpoint from watching those guys play? Well, it's quite a different thing, like you see. It's so grand use and scale. It's really such a big show. And I think those guys, anything they can dream up, they can give it a go. They don't seem to have anything holding them back. It's really just an imagination. And you'll be able to create a show which is unlike many other rock shows or anything of shows you see, it really has an experience.

0:45And, you know, I think you've learned, when you're in a big room, you've got to put on a bit more of a spectacle, especially for the people at the back of the room. You don't want to just be looking at three little dots on the stage. So you bring in video and big lights and that sort of thing. We've learned that much. One thing we haven't changed is trying to remain relatively human about it. You know, I think the new show isn't incredible, but we want to feel that people are a little more involved and the audience are a little bit more a part of the show. So we will strip things back. You know, we'll have some, you know, play a couple of songs just in a acoustic guitar on his own, just to try and create a different dynamic of the show. So it's not all Phil Gunn's blazing big massive rock show, you know, that we like to have more tender moments as well.

1:31And really, I guess the rest, we've just kind of learnt our sales from 50 years on the road. And, you know, this tour we're doing just now, we're right back in small clubs, which is really kind of cut our teeth as a band. And, you know, in a room like this, you can see the whites of people's eyes. Again, that's a different type of performance. Maybe a little bit more intense. But again, we're just trying to create that communal atmosphere and, you know, everybody's in it together and you're trying to get the crowd singing as much as you can. So does a set list change depending on the size of the room for you guys? Yes, I think a little bit. I think we've learnt the hard way. We used to play in small clubs, we played two hours long. And I think even that's too much for some of the audience. It's so loud and intense. So, you know, we just tried to pick songs.

2:17We tried to, we're lucky as a band. We still love playing songs from every record. You know, some bands can maybe disown not earlier. We're still really proud of everything we've done. So we tried to play songs, at least one song from every album. And then, again, you know, mostly songs from the last couple of albums they're after. But we tried to mix it up, you know, just trying to keep it in place, and trying to create a bit of a nice flow to the set so that you have those different sides of the bands coming through. And, you know, so far the tour's going really well. It's nice to be back in these smaller rooms. If you've been living in time playing all the records, you've been living with these 20 or so songs for a year, maybe even two years with some of them going back to the beginning of the record. Which ones, given that there's so many, there's only so much time in this set you're saying,

3:04even two hours is, might be pushing it at times. So how do you, what songs from the new record seem to be sitting in the set every night? What seems to have stayed? I think like Black Shandalier, opposite, biblical, sounds like blooms. I think those songs will be played in most every single night. There's a few songs that kind of come and go. We like to play Skylight when we get into a bigger room. And we've got some really, that's kind of a different side for the last couple of years of the band. We've brought in some more visual elements for the performance. So really that song really helps to have the big production, you know. But, you know, other songs like Spanish Radio, which is a really interesting song to play live.

3:49We try to make the band, so they can marry actually bands. It can be a tough thing to do, but I think they do it quite well. And it's a more playful nature to the song. And again, you know, not to repeat themselves, but just trying to show as many different sides to the band as possible and just trying to keep it as interesting as possible, really. You know, occasionally we'll change things up just to keep ourselves interested. But we know people are coming on this tour. We want to hear songs from the new album. So, you know, we're trying to play as many of those as we can. Yeah, that's interesting. So if you've got the two albums, and if the sand is about the past and the difficulty, then the land is a positive disco moving on, are you trying to get with the live show too? Are you trying to break it into almost two, not sets, but two pieces? Or is it just a melange of everything?

4:37It's not so much in two halves, so to speak. But, you know, we definitely try to, you know, the album obviously by the opposite, it's a different kind of emotions that are made on the songs. And, you know, I think that kind of comes through in the performance. Some songs are a little bit more upbeat. Some songs are a little bit more introspective. And, you know, we don't, we don't have to mimic the album with the live set, but it certainly has, you know, what we think is all the best bits that is the record. How did the themes of the record influence the changes and the arrangements when you were making them to fit into? Or maybe it just didn't, and the songs just ended up fitting, but were there arrangements that needed to be changed to fit into each of the themes? Not too much. I mean, most of that was kind of done

5:23before we went to actually record. We're not a band that, you know, it's a little bit of experimentation when it comes to sounds and recording techniques and that sort of thing. But when it comes to the actual music, most of that is pretty much set before we went to the studio. You know, it's a kind of expensive place to be. And, you know, we do want to spend, you know, three weeks writing music, you know, we travel just kind of work on the recording. So, you know, I think most of those things are, at a certain point, the song that takes out how it wants to sound, I know that sounds a little bit hippy, but some songs try out for the really aggressive sound and something like Spanish radio, which I mentioned, really wanted that mariachi pipe in there. And, you know, something like pocket is much more simple.

6:11So we're just going through a kind of classic sound on that one. So where did the three of you compose the music together then before going to the studio? Do you have a jam space, a rehearsal, one of your pluses? Or is it drinks or? We have a rehearsal space on a farm and a very sleepy little village near where we live. Oh, that's nice. And Simono writes songs at home and we're cring things and then bring them into rehearsal room and we'll kind of make them loud and try to play them in lots of different ways. Sometimes songs the first time you play them, it's like, yep, that's it. Other times maybe we try to do different styles, maybe try them kind of a push to the way and strip back and I'll go through everything in the kitchen sink at it. So I guess it's really different for each song, but at some point it feels like the song takes over

6:56and luckily we've all so far been on the same wavelength as to where the song should go and it kind of just becomes apparent through the process really. Which one of the songs took the most arrangement changing and shifting to find what felt right? And that's a good question. Maybe a song that will host the two, was one of the recorded about 23, 24 songs. And with a view, just sometimes songs turn out better than you could have hoped. Some of them don't think quite as good as they might have done, you might have thought, you know? So, the two hospitals was one that was a little bit later in the recording process, we just felt we wanted something that was a little bit

7:43ducking sleazy and can add a bit more of a punky edge. So that one came a little bit later, something like the Kazuz, there's Kazuz on that song that can have come out of nowhere. And that came a little bit later, you know, somebody handed Sam in a bag of Kazuz and he went into the studio and we were just rolling around the last door but really, brutally happy how great it turned out. That was one of the kind of surprises you're doing in the recording process for suddenly it was like foxy, but I sent for me of Kazuz, I'll be losing your mind. But, you know, sometimes it's easy so IP is what the best. Yeah, that's when you throw a bag of Kazuz out at every show into the audience and let them play along. Exactly, we should be doing that every night. Yeah, well, my get a little pricey, but once in a while. Yeah, yeah. Speaking of pricey, I don't have too much time.

8:29So I want to know about this Prince of Norway birthday party from this summer. Oh, yeah. Can you explain that? Well, the Crown Prince, as it turns out, it's a big, biffy fan. And he was on television and they were asking about his favourite bands and he said it was biffy. And then the Princess was throwing a 40th birthday party form in the Crowns of the Palace and they were making it like a little music festival. So that's when they got the call. The Princess would like you to come and play. Of course, we didn't. You can't turn something like that down. So that was kind of fun. You know, it was weird to get background jakes by the police and the army. And we turned up as loads of guys, the machine guns and that was a little bit intimidating. But then we got onto the grounds of the house and the Crown Prince and the Princess are dancing

9:17and the King of Netherlands is over there dancing. And it was a very surreal experience, but most fun, very different. You know, there was maybe only a couple of hundred people there, but we were surprised at what he does, but he did. So we went here and did our thing. And it'd been really fun. That's the kind of thing you won't forget, just to be in a whole different world. You know, we didn't get a glimpse into how other people live. But yeah, we were a real fun experience. Cool. I'm going to let you go. So we do something called Five Questions. Five quick questions. One word answers. Yep. Road or studio? Studio. Leonard McCartney. I'm going to say controversially, I'm going to say, if you've been to you in a car,

10:04you'd think, okay, all right. Oh, he gets a hard save. He does get a hard time, it's true. When you hear a song that usually hits you first, lyrics, melody or rhythm? And melody. If someone's never heard Biffy Cliro before, what song do they start with? Pypical. Cool. And in one word, Biffy Cliro. And Prince. Paulus. Oh, I like both of those words. That's good, though.