Simon Neil and his Tattoos - A little update!

A report came on BBC Breakfast the other day about tattoos and whether policemen/women should be able to have them or not. I got talking to my Mum about different tattoos and why people get them and a name that kept popping up for me was Simon Neil.

Simon Neil is the AMAZING frontman of Scottish rockers Biffy Clyro whose entire top half of his body (excluding his head) is covered in tattoos and each one means a different one to him. Neil says he has about 30 tattoos all in all from lyrics to Di Vinci sketches. I thought I'd go through some of his best ones.

A Perfect Circle's Debut Album Artwork
from 2000.

For his 21st birthday, his girlfriend (now his wife) got him his first tattoo which was a reference to A Perfect Circle's debut album "Mer de Noms" and is the little symbol right at the bottom on the left hand side. Although he no longer considers himself a fan of the band, he says the tattoo still means a lot to him because it was from his wife.

Biffy Clyro's third album "Infinity Land"
artwork.

All members of the band have some kind of reference to their albums tattooed on them somewhere. I know Simon, Jim and Ben all have a puzzle piece tattooed on their left side of their ribs in reference to their 4th studio album "Puzzle" (which is personally my favourite) and a lot of fans also have this tattooed in the same place as a sign of dedication towards the band. Simon has the heart held in the hands of the figure on the front of "Infinity Land"'s artwork tattooed on his left arm.

Simon's mother's painting.
Taken from an interview from Radio 2.
To see the interview go to:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmJdfNXyl20

If you are a Biffy fan, you will know that Simon's mother, Eleanor, passed away in 2004 and that their single from "Puzzle", "Folding Stars" was written about their relationship with each other and said after the songs release "She really liked the quiet songs, so I wrote the song for her. It's the kind of song she'd like and although it was really tough to record, I'm immensely proud of it. it makes me happy when people say they connect with the song but I'm not sure if we'll ever play it live. Not any time soon, anyway". Since then he did perform an acoustic version of folding stars live at Wembley on their "Revolutions" tour without Ben and James (to see that performance go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gE3S8S-gVRQ). Simon has one of his mother's paintings tattooed on his back in memory of her.

Simon with Brian.

Simon married his wife in 2008 in Ayr, where they live. Neil has been a Beach Boys fan all his life (he recently met Brian Wilson and interviewed him for NME as part of the heroes feature) and so his first dance with is wife was to "God Only Knows What I'd Do Without You". His most famous tattoo is the one on his chest which says "God Only Knows What I'd Do Without You" as a tribute to his wife.

I love Simon Neil's tattoos because they aren't pointless or to make a statement, the are each a small bit of the jigsaw of his life and mixed with his music, it paints a beautiful picture about his take on the world.

(08/10/13) This was the video I used for this article, Simon Neil does an interview with Jo Whiley for Radio 2. Hopefully this will give you a better view of what he was talking about!

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Biffy Clyro - "Folding Stars" Live at Wembley.

I stumbled across Biffy Clyro completely by accident. I was on iTunes and I saw "Only Revolutions" in the chart and really liked the artwork and so bought it two Christmases ago. I listened to it and loved it straight away. Around March 2011, I was in Morrisons in West Brom and I can across the live album of the Wembley Gig in December (at this point I'd only listened to "Only Revolutions") and begged my parents to get it and they bought it for me. I came across "Folding Stars" on that album and it is the most amazing song I'd ever heard by them and I thought I'd share it here because I just posted it on Tumblr. I love it so much and I also think the story behind it is so gorgeous that I should share it! There is more on the song in this post: http://goo.gl/tkxqG

Follow me on Twitter: http://goo.gl/29FG9

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"Puzzle" - Biffy Clyro Review

Track List:

1. "Living Is A Problem Because Everything Dies"

2. "Saturday Superhouse"

3. "Who's Got A Match"

4. "As Dust Dances"*

5. "A Whole Child Ago"

6."The Conversation Is"

7. "Now I'm Everyone"

8. "Semi-Mental"*

9. "Love Has A Diameter"

10. "Get Fucked Stud"

11. "Folding Stars"

12. "9/15ths"*

13. "Machines"

*Tracks containing hidden track "4/15ths"

I thought it was time to do a review of another one of my favourite albums. Last time I did Dry the River's "Shallow Bed" which is a lovely laid back folky album that you could easily play at your grandparents house and get away with it. This album is NOT one of those albums. I love all of Biffy's albums but this is definitely one of my favourites, released in in 2007, it was there 4th studio album in 5 years and was the album that really put the band on the music map.

The album was written when Simon, the lead singer, was going through a very rough time after losing both his mother and his grandfather in the same year. The album does really reflect that and the album cover shows a man with a piece missing this is meant to symbolise Simon's loss.

The album has an explosive start with "Living Is A Problem Because Everything Dies", "Saturday Superhouse" and "Who's Got A Match" beginning the record which is a mass of guitars and drums and beautiful orchestral tones throughout (especially in "Living Is A Problem..."). The orchestra is used a lot in this album, Simon has played violin since he was a boy and so has always been good at composing really affective string pieces for his albums. The start of the album really does suck you in, the fat choruses with very catchy lyrics start to capture you in the music.

At track 4 ("As Dust Dances") the album settles down a bit and turns a bit more sombre. "As Dust Dances" is one of the reasons I love this album, my favourite kind of Biffy songs are the slower ones because Simon's skill really comes to light in these pieces. The amount of bands who write songs with a good riff and lots of distortion but don't actually use that much imagination in what they're writing down or playing is so great and it really does make music a bit boring but Biffy Clyro don't do this, especially on this album. The song slowly builds up to the heavy Biffyness throughout the song starting with just the electric guitar and vocals which is very clean and pure and then the guitar is very basic. It isn't until the 2nd chorus when you really start to get a very rocky feel to the song and even then it isn't until the first bridge where you get the distortion coming in. Biffy Clyro really experiment on this album with what instruments they use together and how each instrument is played. The album has a hidden track "4/15ths" which is a beautiful track when put together, it is a perfect example of how Simon blends distortion and an orchestra well having both subtle and very powerful elements to the track.

The middle section as a whole is very pop-y for the Biff. At this point, Biffy Clyro where trying to capture the American market and so had to make their music that way to appeal to the wider audience but it for just seems to be the same as a lot of the songs on "Infinity Land" (their third album) - for example, "My Recovery Injection" has a nice reggae feel to it and is a nice easy track to listen to if you don't like rock. For the first time with "Puzzle", Biffy Clyro were writing songs you could actually dance to. Before, especially with "Blackened Sky" and "The Vertigo Of Bliss", the music was very good but very moody and was more something you would sit down and head-bang to rather than get up and dance to but this album really pushed the band forward. Although the album has quite a dark message about it, it has an overall major tonality about making it more appealing to the wider audience.

There is a beautiful end to this album with two of the most personal song Simon has ever written making up the finale. "Folding Stars" was written about his mother and how her death affected him and "Machines", the final song, is about him starting to be able to pick himself up again after his mother's death. "9/15ths" is an amazing piece of composing, although the lyrics never change (apart from the "4/15ths" bit), the use of strings  and the choir is so affective and it is for me one of the most absorbing pieces on the album.

All in all, this is an amazing album. If you were to ask me which Biffy Clyro album to get, I would definitely say "Puzzle" just because of the variety of music you get on in. This album was the beginning of a new era for Biffy, it was them leaving behind the moody headbanging music of before and saying "hello" to the future of arena tours and no.1 albums. If you haven't listened to this album, listen to it NOW, it is a hidden gem of a record!

9.5/10

To listen to "Saturday Superhouse", click here.

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