[Photo by Luke Gilford]

Scottish rock trio Biffy Clyro—vocalist/guitarist Simon Neil, bassist James Johnston and his drumming brother Ben—are regular festival headliners and arena tour dwellers in the U.K., Europe and beyond. Fall Out Boy and Brand New have opened for them in the U.K., and they have played alongside (and even above) the likes of Metallica, Nine Inch Nails, Muse and Arctic Monkeys and racked up 20 years of life and music together.

They are absolutely massive—deservedly so—and yet they are strangers to most alternative music fans in America. How is this?

“America is the place we’ve spent least amount of time, and that’s been a frustration to us,” admits Neil. “The reality is, when you start to do well elsewhere, people want to come and see you, so you go and see them and before you know it, a few years have passed. The reason America is still important to us is because U.S. bands educated us; they had the scenes we wanted to be part of. To me, our entire musical story can be told through music in America, and that’s why it’s so important we have a connection there.”

“We didn’t want to be a big band. We wanted to change people’s lives…”

Neil was 12 when he first picked up a guitar. Filled with a passion for music and a deep shyness, he used the instrument to create a world for himself and his friends to inhabit. “When we started Biffy there wasn’t any social network,” he remembers. “Music was its own underground world; it was a code you had between your friends and somewhere you belonged.”

“We didn’t want to be a big band,” he adds. “We wanted to change people’s lives, which is probably an even bigger goal. If anything, our ambitions were beyond selling records, because the great art we saw never sold. Fugazi didn’t sell millions of records, neither did Shudder To Think, Braid, Mineral or Karate. But they changed our lives, and that’s what we wanted to do.”

“That album shows that we don’t give a fuck what genre of rock we’re making as long as it moves us and means something.”

With early albums Blackened Sky, The Vertigo Of Bliss and Infinity Land, the band sculpted a reputation as a formidable live unit who braced the sounds of alternative America with a resolute Britishness. Britpop had the charts and nü metal had the fans, but just underneath the surface Biffy were building an army across the U.K. It was their fourth album, Puzzle, that sent them over the top before their fifth album, Only Revolutions, took them far beyond. “That was the big breakthrough album,” Neil admits. “And it’s also the album I would tell someone to start with. It shows the quirkiness, the heaviness, the seriousness and the tongue-in-cheek-ness of our band. That album shows that we don’t give a fuck what genre of rock we’re making as long as it moves us and means something. On that album we put a brass band in a song, a string quartet in another and whatever else took our fancy inbetween. It’s our most succinct record, and for AP readers, it shows that we’re a kickass fucking rock band.”

“America is the last terrain in the world for us to break through, and that puts a fire in our bellies.”

Neil is hugely proud of what Biffy Clyro have become. Not arrogantly so, or with an air of entitlement, but with that deep and genuine sense of warmth and joy toward a band that has gone from the smallest of Scottish towns to some of the largest stages the world has to offer. “I’m hugely confident in our band,” he agrees. “After all this time, I don’t see many bands who I think can touch us, and I’m pleased with that, as I’ve devoted my life to this band. America is the last terrain in the world for us to break through, and that puts a fire in our bellies. I love the fact we’re underdogs; we perform best when we’ve got a challenge.”

Biffy Clyro have made a career from beating the odds. They were never the fashionable choice, they never hid their battles and never, ever played it safe with their music. Combining fearless bravery and willful ignorance, they are now the group every British rock band doff their cap towards. And the even better news? They are at the top of their game in the live setting, whether it’s festival, arena or club.

“I’ve finally accepted that we’re a popular band—I’ve settled that in my mind and I’ve left the punk-rock guilt behind me.”

“Right now we’re freer than we’ve ever been,” Neil says. “I lost my mum just before we made Puzzle, and after that Ben had a long battle with alcohol that slowly debilitated him and the band. With us being men now, not boys, and Ellipsis being out for half a year, I can’t remember a time we’ve enjoyed being in this band more. I’ve finally accepted that we’re a popular band—I’ve settled that in my mind and I’ve left the punk-rock guilt behind me.”

For years, Biffy Clyro have played their live shows shirtless. Massive arena? Nipples out. Freezing cold festival performance? Teats out every time. A Biffy Clyro show is a visceral, emotional and physically revealing experience. “I can’t wait to be close to people at these American shows,” Neil admits, laughing. “I can’t jump in a crowd anymore, I’d probably have to ask four fucking people at a festival to help me get to the audience these days. But on this U.S. tour, the spontaneous moments in a club will be back. That’s fucking cool, and I hope it ends up in bedlam. We’re there to be part of the show; we want to be touched, grabbed, shouted at and sung along with. As long as no one spits at me, it’ll be amazing—I really don’t miss those days at all.”

Simon Neil, the singer of a gargantuan British rock institution, is excited to be touring clubs in America. Most venues are 10, if not 20, times smaller than the audiences Biffy Clyro are used to playing for in other parts of the world. But Neil does not care, and that overwhelming passion and unbridled enthusiasm is what makes his band magical.

“I’m so happy as the singer in Biffy Clyro,” he says. “If this band defines me for the rest of my life, that would be the greatest gift for me, and that’s what gives us strength and power. When people come to these shows, I don’t think they’re gonna believe what they will see. There’s a glory in sharing emotion and that’s what we bring with our shows, there’s discovery, jubilation and transcending. It’s our own world at these shows, like it always has been, like it always will be.”

Biffy Clyro will head to the U.S. this spring—their first touring stint in North America since 2014. Find out where you can see them live here.