Indeed, the creation of A Celebration Of Endings saw the band return to developing the songs live in their rehearsal space, having foregone the process for much of the Ellipsis album that precedes it. “That was a deliberate decision for that album, and that’s one thing I would maybe tweak about it [if we were to go back to that time],” Simon admits. “The essence of who we are is the three of us playing in a room. Every song needs to work in that setting. Even [A Celebration Of Endings’ lead single] Instant History, which lots of people described weirdly as an EDM-style song, we have a version of that song that works in this space. When we take a song to the studio, it can end up sounding like whatever, but we need to know it has the pulse and the heartbeat of our band: guitar, bass and drums, all of us singing together.” Its results are evident across each of the album’s 11 tracks.
Their Kilmaurs HQ, then, stands as a testament to and embodiment of that core bond: with each other, with themselves, with their history and their future. “The attitude of this place, of this village and part of the world, is so important to us,” begins James. Simon takes over: “There’s a need when we’re here; that same desire to get out, to see the world, that we had when we started. That was a little bit of our motivation when we started, you want to get out and see the world. We couldn’t love this part of the world more, but there is still this essence of, ‘We don’t just want to be here, do we?’ And so when you go back out on the road, it gives you that joy.”
He takes one last drag of his cigarette. “I’ve always thought that all I needed was to make the songs and record. And, actually, [touring] is such an essential part of our identity; it’s in our DNA. If anything, this period in time has made me even more sure of wanting to do this band forever.
“It seems even more special today that we are the same band and the same people, and I want to cherish that aspect of it. It’s special that we can go on a stage and share things with people all over the world. This is special.”
Biffy Clyro’s A Celebration Of Endings is out now via Warner Music.
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