With Ellipsis, Biffy Clyro’s seventh record, Simon Neil and his bandmates for the past two decades—bassist James Johnston and twin brother Ben Johnston on drums—wanted to make sure that they weren’t becoming too predictable. Ellipsis covers familiar sonic territory for Biffy—blistering hard melodic rock with a touch of ’90s alternativity and a quick taste of sweet-tart pop—while offering a furiously contemporary energy. Biffy Clyro will be editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our feature.
James Johnston: During another restless night in the tour-bus bunk, I began to wonder … how many years of my life will be spent sleeping? Or in this case, how many hours am I wasting trying to sleep? What time should I reset my alarm for since I’ve been staring at the tourbus roof for three hours? What time zone are we even in just now? When does the sun rise here? What time is soundcheck? In an attempt to ease my racing mind, I start to calculate my original question—it should be eight hours a night, a third of my day, therefore a third of my life. But what happens when I snooze my alarm for an hour every day? One extra hour in bed a day equates to 27,375 hours in a lifetime, 1,140 days or 3.125 years. Just as I’ve finished my calculations, I hear the kick drum start for soundcheck. I guess that answers that question, too.
