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meets BIFFYCLYROss f t w

Summer Sessionswillbe sun-thing special

BIFFY Clyro have vowedit’ll be ‘taps aff’ rock ’nroll at the biggest evergig of their careertomorrow night.

The Ayrshire lads will play to asellout crowd of 35,000 at Glasgow’sBellahouston Park as part of thecity’s Summer Sessions.

And they’ve promised to bring a ray ofsunshine with them.

Drummer Ben Johnson said: “Biffyhave a history of bringing the sunshine.

“Even at festivals, if it’s been p***ingdown all day, when we hit the stage theclouds break.

“So let’s see if we can make that hap-pen on Saturday.”

The band — alsoincluding singerSimon Neil and bassplayer James Johnston— are coming into thegig off the back oflast month’s smashNo1 album Ellipsis.

It was the follow-upto Opposites, whichsold bucketloads andincluded big singleBlack Chandelier.

Ben admitted theyhad to rubber-ear themoney men aroundthem and just do their own thing whenit came to how the new album wouldtake shape.

He said: “It’s the music business afterall. People are putting money into you tomake a record. So they’d like an Oppo-sites II, as that would sell fine andeverybody would be happy.

“But the band wouldn’t. We’ve got tobe turned on by what we do, or we can’tgo out there and put on a show.

“You can see it in our eyes. We’ve gotto be enjoying it.

“This band works best when it’s thethree of us making the decisions. Andthat’s that happened on this record.”

Ellipsis’ success shocked the group.They didn’t plan on it being commer-cially accepted.

Ben said: “We expected it to split opin-ions. That’s because we’re a band wholike to evolve a lot and like to challengeourselves. We’re not a band who don’t

By CHRIS SWEENEY

realise how lucky we are to get that sortof thing to happen to us. So for it to goto the No1 spot is unbelievable.”

While Biffy have played to biggercrowds at festivals, like topping the billat T in the Park, Bellahouston Park isTHEIR show.

Ben, 36, said: “It’s going to be a fantas-tic night. It is our biggest headline dateso far. There couldn’t be a better placeto do it than Bellahouston Park. I hearit’s magic playing there.”

Some fans have given the boys peltersfor performing fully clothed. Theyexperimented with boiler suits and evenappear in the zany video for currentsingle Howl in smart tuxedos.

But it’ll be old-school Biffy tomorrow.Ben said: “For the video it’s OK. You’re

miming so you don’t quite put in theeffort you would at a gig.

“When we’ve done the odd thing likeJools Holland and other telly stuff, youtend to keep your shirt on.

“James bought this really nice boilersuitin LA. I got a cheaper one somewhereelse. We tried it for a bit. It was fun butit didn’t feel like a gig. And Jamesstarted getting stick for not having hist*ts out. So we’ve reverted back to theclassic Biffy — trousers and no tops.That’s how we’ll be at Bellahouston.”

Los Angeles has become the recordinghome for Biffy. And it looks like stayingthat way.

Ben added: “We do like sunshine. Welove Scotland and that’s where we live —and we plan to continue that. But whenyou’re away working and you’re lookingfor that motivation, the sunshine helps. Itputs a smile on your face It makes youwant to grab the bull by the horns.

“We enjoy life in LA, we have friendsthere now and we always come backhealthier. And they’ve got great studios.

“But you can’t beat Scotland. It’swhere we cut our teeth and get the bestsingalongs.”l Biffy Clyro play Glasgow’s SSE Hydro onNovember 29 and Aberdeen’s GE Arena onNovember 30. Tickets go on sale on September2 from www.gigsinscotland.com or by calling08444 999 990.

NEWMUSICBy Jim Gellatly

RORY BUTLERWHERE: London.FOR FANS OF: Ben Howard,John Martyn, Paolo Nutini.JIM SAYS: The music scenemay be awash with singer-song-writers at the moment, but RoryButler is a cut above most. Myjaw dropped when I first heardhis track Window Shopping lastyear. A beautiful song with atimeless, classic feel.

Raised in Dumfriesshire andLeith, Rory headed south afterstudying English at uni in Glas-gow. The move to London wasprompted after reading a bookabout one of his heroes.

He explained: “The decisionto move to London reallystemmed from reading the JohnMartyn biography Some PeopleAre Crazy by John Neil Munro.The story of him going down toLondon from Glasgow and soonending up playing in his barefeet with the likes of Davey Gra-ham, John Renbourn and BertJansch played out like fairytalein my head. When I moved here Idid feel like I was in the footstepsof great musicians. I got a buzzout of that.”

Dreams sometimes do cometrue. Rory told me: “A year ago Ifound myself jamming withDanny Thompson (legendarybass player for John Martyn andNick Drake back in the 70s) inhis house in London. My bassplayer at the time, Jenny Hill, is afriend of his and hooked me upwith a total hero. He invited meto his 75th birthday jam in Put-ney to support Richard Thomp-

son a month after. A momentshared with the greats. Dannyand I played John Martyn’s MayYou Never together. Unforgetta-ble. And I was playing a JohnMartyn guitar!”

The 25-year-old has hookedup with former Longpigs front-man Crispin Hunt, these days asuccessful songwriter withcredits including Florence andthe Machine, Newton Faulknerand Jake Bugg. Crispin said: “ Irecorded his first demo tracks inmy London studio, which gotplayed by Annie Mac on Radio 1and have just produced hisdebut single Black And Blue. It’sa stripped-back, raw and honestintroduction to Rory’s dark, wry,haunting, political and acidfresh music.”

Grabbing himself a majorpublishing deal with BMG,Rory’s also been writing andrecording with Daniel Merri-weather, as well as Snow Patroland James Bay collaborator IainArcher. Fresh from the release ofBlack And Blue, Rory heads outon his first solo UK tour nextmonth, kicking off with a date atSneaky Pete’s in Edinburgh onSeptember 9. The followingnight he’s at Ullapool’s The ArchInn before playing dates in Not-tingham, Leeds, Manchesterand London.More: www.rorybutler.coml Jim presents a weekly show-case of New Music on AmazingRadio Sundays 2-4pm.

www.amazingradio.comwww.jimgellatly.comPIC: Sandy Butler

Watch videoof Rory at:

thescottishsun.co.uk

TAPS AFFTHE CHART. . . Biffy arecoming intogig on highafter albumshot to No1