Biffy Clyro – Many of Horror

After a pretty sensational year which saw Biffy Clryo side project Marmaduke Duke scale new heights and Biffy’s new album taking them to new, mainstream heights, The Biff have released this video to their forthcoming single, Many of Horror. It’s out on January 18th 2010. Watch and enjoy.

Biffy Clyro have announced a string of pre-festival UK shows for April and May 2010.

Tickets go on sale on Friday morning (11th December) at 9am. Catch the guys at:

Thursday 29th April 2010 – Perth Concert Hall
Friday 30th April 2010 – Sheffield O2 Academy
Saturday 1st May 2010 – Blackpool Empress Ballroom
Sunday 2nd May 2010 – Leicester De Montfort Hall
Tuesday 4th May 2010 – Portsmouth Guildhall
Wednesday 5th May 2010 – Bristol Colston Hall
Thursday 6th May 2010 – London HMV Hammersmith Apollo

Back in May, Biffy Clyro hit the same L.A studio where Frank Sinatra recorded the legendary ‘My Way’ in order to start work on their new album. Titled ‘Only Revolutions’, the Scottish trio’s fifth record is set to be released next month. On top of recording in the spiritual destination of ol’ blue eyes, Biffy have spent the past few years touring with the likes of The Who, The Rolling Stones and Muse. So, has being in the presence of such musical superstars rubbed off on the band’s music?

Well, Biffy’s new track, ‘The Captain’, certainly showcases an epic new sound to the band. Tumbling, overly dramatic brass open up the track, before Simon Neil’s summery vocals proceed to glide above a gyrating distorted guitar. Horns provide a jazzy back beat throughout the song – giving ‘The Captain’ quite a cinematic soundscape. The whole track has quite a commercialised, radio-friendly vibe to it – noticeably lacking the raw, edgy madness of earlier Biffy material. The lyrics, too, are a little cliché (“I am the son of God/Somebody help me sing/Can anybody hear me?”). Really, the whole song is pretty O.T.T, but it’s still crazily catchy. Admittedly, I’m not sure what old-school Clyro fans will think of the new, softer material (“OMG, DEY SOLD OUT!!” is already making a regular appearance across online forums), but I’m sure this new track will please mass musical audiences.

Watch the official video to ‘The Captain’, below (which features newly bred teenage pin-up icon, Simon Neil) :

‘The Captain’ is released October 26th. Biffy Clyro’s new album, ‘Only Revolutions’, is released November 9th. Pre-order it here

Biffy Clyro have announced a string of UK tour dates for November…

Tickets go on sale on Friday (19th June) at 9am.

Catch the hairy Scottish rock legends at:

Sunday 1st November 2009 – Dundee Caird Hall
Monday 2nd November 2009 – Glasgow Barrowland
Tuesday 3rd November 2009 – Glasgow Barrowland
Wednesday 4th November 2009 – Newcastle Academy
Friday 6th November 2009 – Leeds Academy
Saturday 7th November 2009 – Manchester Apollo
Sunday 8th November 2009 – Nottingham Rock City
Monday 9th November 2009 – Birmingham Academy
Wednesday 11th November 2009 – Norwich UEA
Thursday 12th November 2009 – London Brixton Academy
Saturday 14th November 2009 – Brighton Dome
Sunday 15th November 2009 – Cardiff University
Monday 16th November 2009 – Southampton Guildhall

Back in 2003 two of Scotland’s leading noise-smiths got together with the idea of forming a band based around the idea of concepts and making a soundtrack to hedonism, decadence, deviance and dancing. The band in motion is ‘Marmaduke Duke’ formed by Simon Neil of Biffy Clyro and P J Reid of Sucioperro.

After forming in 2003 it wasn’t until 2005 that the bands debut album ‘The Magnificent Duke’ was released, this was mainly down to the duo’s commitments with other bands, this is the same case and reason why new album ‘Duke Pandemonium’ has been put on hold since 2006, with the sudden rise and success of Biffy Clyro the band felt it would be best to release the album when they could tour it.

Live the duo are joined by fellow Biffy brothers James and Ben Johnston with appearances also from drummer Fergus Munro and a masked culprit known only as ‘The Duke’.

‘Duke Pandemonium’ is a synth direction for the band and is the second part in a three-album trilogy. Mixed by Rich Costey (Muse, Mars Volta and Foo Fighters) and mastered by Howie Weinberg (Nirvana and Smashing Pumpkins) the band has created an album uniquely different to anything they have released before. Songs that take you back to the childhood days of the school Casio keyboards and take you forward to a world you aren’t sure what’s going to happen, but the one thing you do know is it sounds damn good. There are even moments for the most hardcore of Biffy fans with song such as Silhouettes which harnesses a riff that could sit happily on a Biffy album if it wasn’t for the electro feel and sound of ‘The Duke’.

In all Simon and Reid have created quirky witty pop music that is sexually ironic fun for all to behold. With single Rubber Lover already doing the rounds the album is set to be released via 14th floor records on May 11th and will be available to buy via download and CD.

Download: Rubber Lover, Silhouettes, Skin The Mofo and Kid Gloves.

It’s undeniable that V Festival is a lot more commerical than other music festival’s across the country, and while the bash has certainly recieved the odd bit of criticism for it’s uber radio-friendly line up, the fest is no less fun in our eyes. Certainly – going by the awesome line-up, it’s unsurprising that the event managed to sell out in just two hours this year.

The summer bash – which is happening on Saturday 22nd to Sunday 23rd August – will be taking place across it’s two usual sites this ‘09: Hylands Park, Chelmsford and Weston Park, Staffordshire.

Oasis (pictured right) and The Killers are the two big name headliners confirmed to be playing the festival’s top spot this year. Other major acts gracing the fest’s main stage (aptly titled ‘V Stage’) across the weekend include Razorlight, Snow Patrol, The Specials, Elbow, Biffy Clyro, Lily Allen, James, Seasick Steve and, intriguingly, Taylor Swift.

The smaller sized ‘4Music’ stage will also be featuring further super cool artists including Fatboy Slim, Pendulum, The Ting Tings, The Wombats, Keane, The Enemy, Katy Perry and Dizzee Rascal.

If nothing has still managed to catch your eye (or ear!), why not head over to ‘The Arena’ where you can check out a varied selection including MGMT, Lady GaGa, Happy Mondays, The Streets, Pete Doherty, and latest girl band sensation, British Sea PowerThe Saturdays.

If that’s still not enough, the festival has another 50 acts up its sleeve to announce in the coming few weeks. Exciting!

As I told you earlier, tickets for the Chelmsford leg have sadly sold out. There are still some available for the Staffordshire event, however. For more information regarding ticket outlets, check out V Festival’s website.

Top photo comes from stevec77’s flickr stream, and side photo from John Griffiths’ flickr stream under the Creative Commons License.

The exciting duo of Marmaduke Duke are back, times have changed since their debut dropped (both are now miles more successful with their main projects), but ‘the essence of the Duke’ hasn’t gone anywhere. We caught up with JP to talk about the new record..

Give us a quick description of your sound..

Sexual, instinctive, hard, soft, sweet.

Your first album was recorded a long time before your band or Biffy Clyro really took off, what are the differences now that both you and Simon are in very successful bands?

We just have to arrange our schedules a little more in advance but it’s healthy for young virile men to keep busy.

To what point do you treat this as a side project and how much importance do you give it in relation to your other project?

It’s our main thing when we’re doing it and we devote a lot of time to it but the biggest chunk of time is taken up with our main bands. Side project makes it feel like an afterthought when that’s far from the case.

The first album boasted a remarkable versatility with the Implodes/Explodes/Corrodes sections – are there similar plans for this release?

It’s versatile in other ways, there’s nothing even remotely like the first record on here and we both sing and play in a different way on it too. The first record will still be a big part of the live extravaganza though so hopefully fans of the first record will be along for the ride with us, we know everyone understands what we’re trying to do.

The album was recorded soon after the first, with some tracks dating back to 2005, how different is the new record?

It’s a leap in another direction but still very much contains the essence of the Duke.

Describe the sound of the new album..

Superfunky, supertight, superunique

Tell us more about the upcoming singles ‘Kid Gloves’ and ‘Rubber Love’..

‘Kid’ was the last song written for the record and for me is very much the comedown from the hedonism and decadence of pandemonium. ‘Rubber’ is the coming up and is about one love for a prosthetic real life doll.

How did you find working with Rich Costey whose already worked on such successful records?

It was a great laugh actually. Like most supertalented people he’s confident and patient and gets the job done whilst regaling fabulous stories about Rick Rubin et al.

What can you tell us about The Death Of The Duke?

It will be a modern classical two guitar death march. At the moment we’re working on riffs and rhythms.

Marmaduke Duke have announced a week long tour in early March around the UK.

The band is a side project of Biffy Clyro’s Simon Neil and Sucioperro’s JP Reid.

Tickets go on sale shortly I believe.

Saturday 28th February 2009 – Edinburgh Bongo Club
Sunday 1st March 2009 – Manchester Deaf Institute
Monday 2nd March 2009 – Birmingham Rainbow
Wednesday 4th March 2009 – London Heaven
Thursday 5th March 2009 – Leeds Brudenell Social Club
Friday 6th March 2009 – Glasgow School of Art

Side photo comes from st0dge’s flickr stream under the Creative Commons license.

To find tickets, we suggest you try using Needtickets. Needtickets.com offers you the most comprehensive ticket service in the UK. With one click you can search every nationwide online ticket agent and as a result you can find tickets for any live music event that can be booked online. Every ticket is 100% guaranteed as Needtickets.com only offers links to official agents.

Looking for the 2008 Mencap Gigs? Click here. This page is about 2007’s Mencap Gigs!

Updates: I’ve just added the 20th November gig and the 26th November gigs, thanks to a comment from Kathryn below. This was originally posted on 4th October.

The brilliant Mencap have announced this year’s “Little Noise Sessions”, a series of intimate, acoustic gigs, which will take place from Tuesday 20th November to Wednesday 28 November 2007, at Islington’s Union Chapel in London. They’ll be hosted by Radio 1 DJ Jo Whiley.

To get tickets you’ll have to register here to get tickets when they go on sale. Ticket registration opens on Tuesday 2 October and closes at 12.00 Friday 19 October. Those who have registered can then buy tickets online on a first-come-first-served basis from 9am on Monday 22 October. Tickets are £35 each.

The gigs will raise money for Mencap’s Arts Awards scheme which enables children and young people with a learning disability to take part in local arts projects.

Tuesday 20th November – Secret Headliner, Jack Penate, Laura Marling, Joe Lean and the Jing Jang Jong
Wednesday 21st November – Athlete and The Hoosiers
Thursday 22nd November – Will Young, Newton Faulkner and Adele
Friday 23rd November – Biffy Clyro, We Are Scientists and Young Knives
Saturday 24th November – The Pigeon Detectives and The Metros
Sunday 25th November – Snow Patrol and Cajun Dance Party
Monday 26th November – Kate Nash, Robyn, The Ting Tings
Tuesday 27th November – The Enemy + Special Guests
Wednesday 28th November – Keane, Rilo Kiley + Scouting For Girls

Everyone’s favourite rockers Biffy Clyro are off on their biggest tour to date in November, stopping just about everywhere it seems. Tickets are on sale at 9am on Friday morning. They’re playing:

Tuesday 6 November Dundee Fat Sams Live
Wednesday 7 November Glasgow Barrowland
Thursday 8 November Glasgow Barrowland
Friday 9 November Edinburgh Corn Exchange
Sunday 11 November Newcastle Academy
Monday 12 November Manchester Academy
Tuesday 13 November Birmingham Academy
Wednesday 14 November Nottingham Rock City
Thursday 15 November Sheffield Octagon
Saturday 17 November Cardiff University
Sunday 18 November Bristol Academy
Tuesday 20 November Southampton Guildhall
Wednesday 21 November London Brixton Academy
Thursday 22 November Norwich UEA