Biffy Clyro

Scotland's Biffy Clyro emerged as a forceful three-piece unit celebrated for soaring alternative rock anthems and anchored by the raspy vocal delivery of singer and guitarist Simon Neil. The group coalesced in the final years of the 1990s in Kilmarnock near Glasgow, with Neil joined by bassist James Johnston and drummer Ben Johnston. Drawing on Weezer for inspiration, they performed aggressive pop songs throughout the Glasgow club circuit and quickly built an ardent local following. Their debut EP, Thekidswhopoptodaywillrocktomorrow, appeared on Electric Honey and earned BBC Scotland airplay that widened their regional profile. The trio then signed with Beggars Banquet, issuing the single “27” in October 2000 and later supporting Weezer live. A second single, “57,” preceded their March 2002 debut album Blackened Sky. The more ornate The Vertigo of Bliss followed in 2003, and after sustained touring the band tracked Infinity Land for a late-2004 release. The 2007 single “Saturday Superhouse” heralded their fourth album, Puzzle.

Their fifth studio effort, Only Revolutions, arrived in 2009 and featured the singles “Mountains,” “Bubbles,” and “Many of Horror.” The record reached number three on the U.K. album charts, earned platinum certification in 2010, and garnered a Mercury Prize nomination. In 2012 an online trailer announced the expansive sixth album Opposites, which balanced progressive rock with radio-friendly pop and became their first U.K. number-one upon its 2013 release, propelled by “Black Chandelier.” That year they headlined a second world tour. Ellipsis appeared in 2016 after sessions in Los Angeles with producer Rich Costey, whose prior credits include Franz Ferdinand and Muse; the set yielded the singles “Wolves of Winter” and “Animal Style.” The band marked the release with an open-air Glasgow concert, topped the bills at Reading & Leeds in 2016 and Download in 2017, and delivered an unplugged performance at London’s Roundhouse in November 2017 that surfaced as a live album the next spring and included a cover of the Beach Boys’ “God Only Knows.”

They composed the score for director Jamie Adams’ 2019 film Balance, Not Symmetry. The Costey-produced A Celebration of Endings followed in summer 2020 after pandemic-related postponement, and its companion The Myth of Happily Ever After appeared in 2021. In 2023 the band marked the tenth anniversary of Opposites by issuing 12-inch vinyl editions of the era’s EPs Black Chandelier/Biblical and Opposite/Victory Over the Sun.