HI ROSS, how are you feeling about the Belsonic gig?
We’re totally excited – it’s going to be amazing. We’re all big fans of Biffy and it’s something that we had hoped would happen at some point.
Getting the call was great. I’ve heard great things about the venue, and I've seen pictures –it looks incredible.
What can people expect from your performance?
It’ll be a mixture of all three releases that we have done. We’ll try to fit in all the bangers, and we try to make the set flow.
We’ll be playing plenty from our new album. It’ll be a high-energy performance, and we’ll try to get the crowd going for Biffy.
You joined the band in 2014, a few years after its formation. How did that come about for you?
I didn’t know the band. One of our current managers is an old friend of mine. The guys needed someone quite last minute to help out on tour. I literally joined a few days before going out on tour.
I met the guys on Mothering Sunday. We went through some of the songs, and then the tour started on the Wednesday. After that I really wanted to join, and I seemed to fit – hopefully they’ll agree.
Since then it has been full on, non-stop touring at writing. If we didn’t click so well on that first tour it might not have worked. Something just clicked straight away.
Is this your first album with the band?
Yeah, I joined just before the first record dropped. We did the re-release of The Days War which I was involved with. It was re-workings of the all the tracks and four new tracks.
This is the first proper new album with the band.
Have you got a favourite track on the album?
It changes quite regularly, but I’m really proud of the whole record. I think it really flows and works as an album. There are several tracks that I feel stand out.
The first track Wait In The Car is completely different to anything we’ve done. It was more of an intro idea that then turned into a whole piece. It’s quite a unique sounding song to us.
What If You Fall In is one of my favourites too. I just love everything about that song; the musicianship, the vocal performance, and I think it really captures the essence of the album.
The last track, Jaws of Hell, is a special track for everyone in the band. It took quite a long to get that track finished. It started with a simple acoustic idea that sounded like a country song almost, and it turned into this post-rock kind of piece.
When we finished that in the studio and listened back to it, it ripped our faces off, basically.
What’s it like being on tour? Do things get pretty crazy?
We’re quite sensible on tour these days. We’ve learned the hard way that if we get wrecked every night the performance the next day is not going to be the best.
Obviously there’s times when we let loose, and we’ve had some funny times. If you’re on the road and you’ve got a lot of booze on the bus, it normally ends in a bit of nudity from certain members of the band, and a bit of loutish behaviour, but in the nicest possible way.
There’s a few band members that I have seen too much of. What I have seen cannot be unseen. I won’t mention any names, but it’s definitely not me – it’s a spectator sport for me.
Most of our rock and roll antics come when we’re off tour.
:: Lonely The Brave support Biffy Clyro at Belsonic tomorrow night. for Tickets and full line-up, see Belsonic.com.
