Biffy Clyro are working on fresh material for what will be their seventh album – but frontman Simon Neil says it won’t be out before the end of next year.
Neil closed the weekend MTV European Music Awards in Glasgow, playing a cover of Crazy Train with Slash to honour Ozzy Osbourne winning the Global Icon accolade.
Now he says they’re writing the follow-up to 2013’s Opposites – but reckons the public need a break from seeing them for a while.
He tells the NME: “We’re getting the next album together. Realistically it won’t be out until the end of next year. We’re working on the songs now but we don’t want to rush it – we’ve been in everyone’s faces for the last couple of years, so I think it’s important to disappear for a wee while and then come back with all guns blazing.”
Neil is also busy with his solo project ZZC and reveals he needs to occasionally step away from Biffy because he needs to recharge himself.
He adds: “I’ve got seven or eight songs. After the first three Biffy albums, I made Marmaduke Duke stuff to try and cleanse myself and come back to rock music recharged.
“I’ve been in that zone for the last few months, working on piano and electronic stuff – more soundtrack things. So I’ll get that out while we’re making the Biffy record because it reinstalls my belief in rock music, my love of screaming and smacking guitars. It’s just what I need.”
Earlier this year, Biffy Clyro released a collection of B-sides titled Similarities and will headline the Relentless festival in London on November 22.