Biffy Clyro: “We literally finished our new album last week”

Biffy Clyro have revealed that they finished work on their “amazing” new album “literally last week” – and that fans can expect it “hopefully out in October”. Watch our video interview with the band above.

The Scottish trio only released their acclaimed eighth album ‘A Celebration Of Endings‘ last August, but soon confirmed to NME that they were working on a “sprawling sister record“.

Speaking to NME on the red carpet of the BRIT Awards last night (May 11), where the band were nominated for Best British Group but lost out to Little Mix, the band told us that work on one of the four records that Neil had been working on was complete but that it would no longer be called ‘A Commemoration Of Commiserations’. They’ve been teasing the title on social media with the initial ‘RMV’.

“The title has changed and we’ve got to keep it top secret at the moment, but we finished it literally last week,” frontman Simon Neil told NME. “We weren’t intending on doing it, but we’ve ended up making an amazing album.”

Asked if the album could still be considered a “sister record” to its predecessor, Neil replied: “Originally it was going to be completely hand-in-hand. They do relate, but because we didn’t tour I ended up writing about seven or eight new songs for the album. Originally it was intended to be a few off-cuts from ‘A Celebration Of Endings’, but now it’s got wonderful new art and it’s kind of its own beast.

“The lyrics correspond at certain points and there are a lot of Easter eggs for fans in there, but it’s a proper record. It’s not like we headed in, rushed it and banged out a few songs – it has become this epic ‘meister werke’, if I can say that about our band, which I can’t. I’ve turned full dickhead now! I’m sorry.”

Opening up further about the album’s lyrical themes, he continued: “It’s about that reflection of how you can experience the same thing but react in a completely different way. We’ve all had this huge global experience, but we’ve not had the same experience for many, many reasons – and I feel that’s what the record is about.

“It’s about the aftermath of coming through something together, but also not being able to comprehend what someone else is going through. We’re all trying to make the best of that.”

Neil added: “It’s still a fairly positive outlook with a shit tonne of bone marrow nihilism going down inside of it.”

Bassist James Johnston meanwhile, told us how it had been “a relief it was to be making music again after spending months in lockdown”.

“I was going down in a big way,” he told us. “I started making tables and doing the gardening because I lost it, but music brought us right back and reminded us of how much power it has.”

Watch our full video interview above to learn more about the strength of James’ tables, how Ben went “full Forrest Gump”, and Neil’s decision to attend the ceremony in his get-up of “pyjamas and a dressing gown, and sunglasses even though there is no sun”, as well as growing a mullet before it was cool.

Check back at NME for more news, interviews and more from the BRIT Awards 2021.

Biffy also recently rescheduled their huge outdoor show in Glasgow with Yungblud, Frank Carter and Porridge Radio for September 9, as well as their intimate ‘Fingers Crossed’ UK tour – which will now take place in October and November.