Photo: Press
"There's a bigger part of me," says Biffy Clyro frontman Simon Neil, with a stern voice as he gazes up from his clasped hands. "I put a lot of my self-esteem into my music, and if I can't write music, I feel like half a person. It's probably not healthy, but I had to start writing songs to feel like myself again."
We're talking about how off the back of their last world-dominating album Opposites, personal circumstances and the death of close ones combined with a heavy touring schedule took their toll on his mental health to leave him in a “funk”, having what he refers to as "a do" - as he battled anxiety and questioned his abilities as a songwriter and musician.
"It's going to sound really wanky but I just wasn't inspired by what I was doing and I've never felt like that," he continues. "What came first, the chicken or the egg? Did I feel like that because people started to like the music? I was probably more arrogant on our first couple of records when nobody gave a shit. Once the songs started coming through, I felt more like my old self."
I turn to his bandmates to see if they noted the change in Simon, the friend they'd been in a band with since they were 15-years-old.
"It was hard for us to see Simon going through those difficult times," admits bassist James Johnson. "Difficult to put your finger on it or acknowledge it, like it is for all men. But you tend to forget the bad times once the good times start."
Simon continues: "The thing is Andrew, you can almost stop all inspiration if you stop doing anything for too long. There was never the temptation to put the brakes on. We just knew we had to get on with it so I could start having fun again."
Photo: Jake Dypka
But the fun arrived and the good times started to roll, as soon as Simon stumbled upon another avenue to take their sound. Still with that sense of 'otherness' that makes Biffy so brilliantly baffling and bafflingly brilliant, but replacing the pomp and grandeur of their last three records in place of a more direct rush - letting the spirit of the song carry it along with the energy that it needs, without having to lean on being 'mathy' for the sake of it. In a sense this is The Biff' distilled, and it feels fucking brilliant.
They've always viewed their records as trilogies, and Ellipsis feels very much like the start of the next chapter. But to them, what's ended and what is new?
"The last trilogy ended with us planting a flag in the top of a fucking mountain and being like 'YES, THIS IS OURS'," laughs Simon with arms raised in triumph. "We wanted to make big, expensive-sounding records. We wanted to make them in the same vein as Zeppelin, AC/DC, the classic rock albums. With this one, we're climbing down the mountain and going through the caves."
And the 'cave' they had the most fun in was the studio. Driven by the adventure that the new songs were taking, the band chose to use the studio as an instrument in itself for the first time. Still with the raw drive that all Biffy tracks have, they enhanced it with technology and experimentation, rather than using it as a crutch.
"It is weird because rock bands aspire to these records that are like 30 or 40 years old, and they're classic for a reason but times are changing," nods Simon. "We would be doing the wrong thing if we weren't trying to make records with technology now. It's like entering a fight with one hand tied behind your back. I want us to be able to explore and utilise everything."
Animated, he adds: "We're going through the caves and picking out the grimey insects to put on top of our fruit display...I don't know. Boom! Make of that what you will."
We briefly smile back politely and nod in agreement, before bursting into a fit of hysterics.
Indeed, spirits are high in Camp Biffy right now, as I experienced firsthand at Nos Alive festival in Portugal last week - where the band that are soon to headline Reading & Leeds for a second time next month applied the same level of intensity and vigour to an early evening slot as the sun was still baking down. You very much get the sense that they're just in love with the joy of playing, regardless of when or where, or how much status their billing has. "We've no sense of entitlement," shrugs Simon.
We discuss the beauty of Lisbon and the fun of their recent European festival shows (including discovering how 'chilled' Thom Yorke was when they shared a flight and how 'surreal' it was to wait forever for Neil Young to finish his playing 'fucking Rockin In The Free World' so they could perform), before the conversation leads to the most obvious topics: Brexit, Chilcott and how it feels to be a British band overseas in the EU and abroad in general right now.
"Embarrassing, actually," sighs drummer Ben Johnston. "We've talked about it in every country we've been in over the last few weeks. We're all pretty ashamed of what's happened, and the feeling from other countries is a bit of shock, awe and disappointment. It doesn't feel great to be British at the moment."
He continues: "At a time when the whole world needs to pull together, politicians have let off a divisive bomb and then gone 'hey, deal with this'. There's so much hatred and fear'."
Simon tilts his head to reveal an angry snarl before interjecting: "People might get the wrong idea about our country and think that they're not welcome here. Plus with Chilcott being last week, it was hilarious seeing Tony Blair say that he thinks the world has become a safer and better place. Really? Just look at the statistics on the increase of terrorist attacks and casualties. They just don't take responsibility and he's going to get off as well. Tony Blair should be in fucking jail. It's only been a week and they've already stopped fucking talking about it."
It's clear that we've touched a nerve, as the band's eyes lock in agreement and a degree of disbelief that we're dealing with a seismic mistake that will take a generation to undo. However, their anger is just, and aimed at those at the top, rather than the voting public.
"The Brexit thing is so, so wrong," spits Simon, shaking his head. "They've all scrambled from the nest. They've all told their lies, got what they wanted then ran away. Fuck off. Where's the sense of responsibility? Everyone else in the country is responsible for the decisions they make - apart from these fuckers. David Cameron was humming a song as he walked away from his resignation speech. What fucking planet is he living on?
Rubbing his fists, he goes on: "They'd all canvassed London and felt safe that they were remaining, but then just ignored the parts of the country that they've fucking destroyed. It's hard to be angry at the people who voted leave. They're sitting in towns with no jobs, no money, no future, and these people are going 'yeah, the EU is to blame for this'. They've just pulled the wool over their eyes and I think any right-thinking person is just baffled.
"This is the only time I haven't agreed with democracy!" he jokes. "We have to fucking deal with it. It's kids who are leaving school and university now, their lives are going to be really up in the air for the next five to ten years."
I put it to them that it's largely an older generation voting for a future that they're not going to inherit...
Simon: "Exactly, and it's so fucking selfish and wrong. It's all about 'bringing things back to the good old days' - what good old days are you talking about? Are you talking about enslaving and colonising the entire world? Are you talking about the post-war landscape? The time when Thatcher demolished the country?"
Safe to say that their not fans of Boris Johnson having any power, either then?
"Boris Johnson is a fucking buffoon," Simon lets out a dry laugh. "It's all self-promotion for him, ever since the Bullingdon Club. He's trying to be a brand, he's just so fucking selfish. He assaulted a child on a football pitch!"
The band then find some solace in the fact that their native Scotland voted by majority to remain, and that there's still some hope for them if they can strike an independent deal with the EU or Scandinavia, but ultimately conclude: "We have to turn it around with a glimmer of hope, but it's so fucking sad."
So to end on a happier note, we turn our attention more towards optimism, and what next month could hold when they headline Reading & Leeds for a second time - and just three years after their last epic appearance topping the bill.
"We've got a really cool stage set that's a bit more streamlined," says Simon. "Everything is conceptual. Last time we had the whole ribcage thing, but this is going to be a bit more matter of fact and just like watching a band on stage. Hopefully it'll still look pretty - we're paying a lot of money so it fucking better!
"Last time, we knew we deserved to be there, but not if we could do it. This time we just know we have to better it. We've only got 75 minutes so I won't even be able to get my monologue out! What about my state of the nation address?"
I think we've just had that. With such short time, they'll just have to let the music do the talking - and there's enough life in that to silence any doubters. Half a person? This new era of Biffy is them reborn as giants.
- Ellipsis by Biffy Clyro is out now
Biffy Clyro headline Reading & Leeds alongside Fall Out Boy, Foals, Disclosure and The Red Hot Chili Peppers, as well as performances from Chvrches, The 1975, The Vaccines, Two Door Cinema Club, The Vaccines, Imagine Dragons and more.
Reading & Leeds takes place from 26-28 August 2016, and you can get tickets and more information here.
