This interview was conducted after one of the best shows I attended in years. La Rotonde at the Botanique must be one of the cosiest clubs around, the band on stage was in superb form and the audience was enjoying the intensity on stage. Luckily band members Simon (guitars and vocals) and James (bass and backing vocals) saved some breath to answer a couple of questions.

Soundslike: How’s the European tour going?

Biffy Clyro: Great! We have had a very busy year and we were coming straight from America to Europe. We hadn’t been touring in Europe for two years, except for playing in support of Bloc Party. We’re excited to see everyone back after that time.

SL: Is the audience growing and growing?

BC: Most of the time we’re playing for 400-500 people and lots of people are singing along with the songs. It’s great to feel that connection with the audience.

SL: So tonight was a rather small show?

BC: Yes, but we don’t really care about the size of the show, as long as the audience has a good time and there’s a good vibe, we’re having a great time. Tonight was great.

SL: Your music is not that easy to listen to. How do you explain your success in the UK?

BC: You have to work a little bit harder to get into music to really connect with it. And I think that it’s really important to play a lot of shows, to tour constantly so people get the opportunity to understand the music. Once they get under the skin of it, it’s almost pop music. It’s hard to explain, but we’re probably the weirdest band that’s almost in the mainstream rock in the UK. There are not a lot of bands that are able to play the weird stuff we’re doing. We’ve released four albums up until now and were able to work on our fanbase. We are really lucky to do this for such a long time.

SL: In my review of ‘Puzzle’ I stated that with this album you’re ready for total world domination, after your success in the UK. Do you think you’re capable of achieving the same kind of success outside the UK?

BC: We are really comfortable playing live shows so I think that as long as we can play shows and come back on tour we’re able to let our fanbase grow. We’ll be in the States and the UK next month and in the new year we will be coming back to Europe and do more shows. It’s the most important way to connect to people. I think we make great records, but if you don’t play shows, you’re just a cd and nothing behind it. The album is just one thing, but the shows are another.

SL: Now you’re headlining your own tour. Next week you will be playing in support of Queens of the Stone Age. Is it a different experience to play in support of a band?

BC: It’s slightly more lonely when you’re headlining. When you’re supporting you just get to see everything that’s going on and there’s less pressure. We quite enjoy trying to convince an audience that doesn’t have an idea who we are. We just have to get out there and play as loud as we can. But then nothing beats to be on stage and people are singing all the words along. Nothing beats that. We’ve done enough headlining shows and enough support shows to enjoy each of them.

SL: Do you feel that the change of record label has given the band more opportunities?

BC: We are more aware of the music industry. The major labels have a lot of power. You can make a brilliant album that no one will ever here about. On the other hand you can make a shit album on a major label and sell hundreds of thousand of copies. We have a strong belief in what we do and think our music is good enough to reach a lot of people. As long as we don’t have to compromise and can do what we’re doing, we’re happy on a major. It is good for us because it’s a new challenge. We’ve got a new company to impress and it made us work harder I guess. We get the chance to reach more people and don’t want to mess up.

SL: So for the band it was a necessity to switch to a major label?

BC: Every time we toured Europe before, we had to pay for it ourselves. So we had to play a dozen of shows in the UK to pay to come over and play five shows in France, Belgium or Germany. We wouldn’t be able to go to America if we were on the same label we were before. We want to take our record to a lot of places and the new label makes that possible.

SL: How does it feel to be on top of the charts in the UK next to Rihanna?

BC: We have been away for most of the year so we didn’t have to think about it. If we would sit home, we would probably get big egos and think we are pretty brilliant. But actually we’re just three guys making music for ten years. It’s very surreal to be on top of the charts in between all these popbands and being talked about. It’s pretty surreal because we’re an unusual band and not an easy band to listen to. And it’s actually pretty strange to find out that there are Biffy-ringtones.

SL: To me it seems that the musical progression between ‘Infinity Land’ and ‘Puzzle’ is bigger than between your previous records.

BC: It doesn’t necessarily matter what step you make between albums, as long as you make a step. We’re a band that has to try something different every time again. We have to evolve all the time to keep ourselves and the audience interested. We prefer to take a risk and make a shit album over not taking a risk at all. It’s too easy to play on auto-pilot and repeat yourself. It was time for us to make a bigger rock-album because we didn’t do that before. Every album before we did in two of three weeks, while now we had two months. It was a new challenge and we needed that.

SL: Is playing in a band becoming a regular job after a while?

BC: The excitement is still very much the same actually. You never have the feeling that you’re just doing a job. Of course there are moments when you’re tired or feel like missing home, but even now that we’re doing the heaviest touring ever, we’re never at a point that we feel that we’re just doing a job. It’s still a pleasure to go to all these great places and play for people that came to see your performance. (…) When you start touring you drink all day, but when you’re on the road for eight months, you don’t want to mess up next day’s show. We know how to drink and how to party, but the show is the most important. If we can’t perform 100% percent because of boozing, it’s not fair to our fans.

SL: In our reviews for SL we have to add three bands that sound like the band we’re reviewing. Which bands can I add for the review of your next album?

BC: Rush, Nirvana and … (the last band I didn’t know and couldn’t understand on my tape. Jawbox, Foo Fighters and Sunny Day Real Estate were not that bad either- KS)

SL: Thanks for the interview and good luck with all upcoming tours.

KOEN STASSEN