Credit: Ash RobertsBefore COVID-19 became a worldwide pandemic, Biffy Clyro recorded a new album and called it A Celebration of Endings. Given how many things have ended or changed since our planet was plunged into a global health crisis, the record’s title seems almost prophetic — and drummer Ben Johnstonagrees that A Celebration of Endings has now taken on a whole new meaning.
“A Celebration of Endings now sounds like it’s alluding to lockdown ending,” Johnston tells ABC Audio. “Certainly in Britain everybody’s champing at the bit to get out of the house and to their social lives and see their friends. So A Celebration of Endings is so applicable to that.”
Johnston adds that the recent protests following the death of George Floyd have also impacted how he interprets the album and its title.
“Hopefully we’re gonna be celebrating the end of this systemic racism that’s been going on for ages, and this thuggery from the police force,” he says.
But beyond its title, Johnston feels that other aspects of A Celebration of Endings have changed meaning for him given the current state of the world. Take the lead single “Instant History,” which feels particularly apt given how every day these past few months has felt like “instant history.”
“It’s like [frontman] Simon [Neil] was a clairvoyant,” Johnston muses. “I mean, he hasn’t told me that he knows the future, but he seems to know it because it’s insane that he’s writing these [songs].”
“‘Instant History’ — that was named that way before anything, this was all in the before times,” he adds. “[Neil] definitely has peeked into the future, he’s seen things that are coming, and it’s starting to freak me out a little bit.”
A Celebration of Endings is due out August 14.
By Josh Johnson
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