Biffy Clyro have announced the delay of their ninth album ‘A Celebration of Endings’, admitting they felt uncomfortable about releasing the record during the coronavirus outbreak.
‘A Celebration Of Endings’ will now arrive on August 14 instead of May 15 as originally planned. “With all of the turmoil and anxiety that the coronavirus situation is causing everyone’s lives, we decided that it would have felt wrong to have continued with our original release plan,” a statement from the band reads.
— Biffy Clyro (@BiffyClyro) March 27, 2020
“Music is of course important, but there are bigger issues at stake right now. We know that many of you will be as disappointed as we are, but we feel this is the right thing to do.”
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Read more: Exclusive – Biffy Clyro return with ‘Instant History’: “I feel a responsibility to the world now”
To console fans the band have organised a Facebook Live today (March 27) at 6pm GMT where lead vocalist/guitarist Simon Neil will perform songs.
So far, the band have shared two single from the upcoming album with ‘Instant History‘ and ‘End Of’, both showing polar opposites of the sounds on the band’s new record. Lyrically, the band have said that it sees them look outside of themselves for inspiration for the first time.
“The whole album represents us as a band and society as a whole,” frontman Simon Neil told NME. “We need to learn from the good, the bad and the ugly. We can make a better world for everyone. That sounds so fucking drippy, but it’s within our power. There are good people in the world. We have a song on the album called ‘The Champ’ that talks about “the grey man’s curse”. So often, decent people don’t pipe up. Empty vessels make the most noise. It doesn’t reflect what’s going on in any situation.”
He continued: “I’m normally very personal with what I write, but in this day and age it’s impossible to not be affected by these things that are constantly happening and infiltrating every aspect of all of our lives.”
The Scottish rockers are planning on touring the UK later this year, provided the pandemic improves. See dates below
SEPTEMBER
25 – Aberdeen, P&J Arena
26 – Glasgow, The SSE Hydro
27 – Nottingham, Motorpoint Arena
29 – Newcastle, Utilita Arena
30 – Birmingham, Arena
OCTOBER
1 – London, The O2
3 – Manchester, Arena
4 – Leeds, First Direct Arena
6 – Belfast, SSE Arena
9 – Cardiff, Motorpoint Arena
11 – Bournemouth, BIC
Biffy Clyro are one of dozens of acts who are using time to entertain fans who are social distancing or self-isolating at home during the health crisis.
See NME’s deep-dive into some of the livestreamed concerts put on by musicians in the last few weeks here