Hello , My Name is James
Biffy Clyro : James Johnston ( right )
Scottish heavy rockers Biffy Clyro have returned to North American shores for their first US tour since 2017 . It doesn ’ t sound like a long stretch of time , but the constant delays , cancellations , and uncertainties that came with COVID make it feel like an eternity . The band is opened their tour in Chicago last month at House of Blues , but bassist James Johnston is even more excited to make connections with people , something he ’ s been craving these past few years . Though Johnston is eager to play music every night for thousands of people , he ’ s looking forward to chatting with people , whether it be fans , a random taxi driver , or even a music journalist in Chicago . Before we can get down to business and talk about Biffy Clyro ’ s new documentary , Cultural Sons of Scotland , we chat about vacation plans , what concerts we ’ ve seen post-pandemic , and must-see Chicago spots . Though he ’ s nearly 4,000 miles away in Scotland , it felt like we were having a drink together in a pub . But when we do get down to business , Johnston dishes on the band ’ s new intimate documentary , what he misses about North America , and how he ’ s ready to rock the fuck out in Chicago .
Illinois Entertainer : Cultural Sons of Scotland is out now and it ’ s a look at the making of The Myth of the Happily Ever After and a look back at the band ’ s early years where you guys visited certain locations in your hometown of Ayrshire that holds great significance to the band . Was it always part of the plan to do a documentary like this ? James Johnston : It wasn ' t part of the plan to do a documentary at all because we were already some ways through the recording process before the guys came along . It grew arms and legs as often things do . Unless you explain why the story of the band making a record at home during lockdown was different for us , I don ’ t know what the story is . We had to explain how we never recorded at home , otherwise it ' s like band records in their own place , cool ( laughs ). That ' s what bands do , isn ' t it ? We ' ve always gone away to make albums . So , it was important to tell some of the backstory and tell the story about lockdown and that sort of process . The backstory explains , obviously what brought us there , but why it was unique for us to be recording at home . We had to try and explain the contrast of the West coast of America , where we usually record , and the West coast of Scotland . Throughout the entire recording of that movie , the West Coast of Scotland looked like the West Coast of America because it was gorgeous . The shine was shining for like 12 weeks straight , so it didn ' t quite tell the story we wanted to tell . We wanted to tell the story of the glitz and the glamor and the beautiful sunsets in LA and then the rain and the oppression and the degression of Scotland and we couldn ' t tell that story because it was so nice every day ! It ended up being quite idyllic little few weeks of our lives . It was a really unique time . I think we ' ll look back at that time of our lives in amazement to some degree . I ' m really happy we were able to document it .
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IE : What inspired you to want to capture the recording process for this album ? JJ : I don ' t think it came from a spark of any of the band members . I think it was that [ director ] Jack Lowe came to us . We ' d worked on some things with Jack before . We did a really nice version of “ Space ” at Abbey Road with an orchestra , which was gorgeous . So , we had a bit of a rapport . I think it was his idea initially . I don ' t know many bands who ’ d put their hands up and rush to say somebody put a camera in my face for 12 weeks . Maybe Jared Leto . We ' ve done some shows with him and there ' s always a camera pointed at him , and I think he ' s quite happy with that . God knows he looks good on screen , so good for him .
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