Simon Alexander Neil (born 31 August 1979) is a Scottish musician, best known as the lead vocalist and guitarist for rock band

Biffy Clyro Biffy Clyro are a Scottish Rock music, rock band that formed in Kilmarnock, composed of Simon Neil (lead vocals, guitar) and twin brothers James Johnston (Scottish musician), James (bass, backing vocals) and Ben Johnston (Scottish musician), Be ...

. In 2003, Neil formed the side project

Marmaduke Duke Marmaduke Duke are a Scottish conceptual rock duo from Ayrshire, Scotland, comprising Simon Neil of Biffy Clyro and JP Reid of Sucioperro. Within the band, the pair perform under the pseudonyms The Atmosphere and The Dragon respectively. Accor ...

with JP Reid, releasing two studio album's '' The Magnificent Duke'' (2005) and '' Duke Pandemonium'' (2009). Another side project fronted by Neil, Empire State Bastard, released their debut studio album '' Rivers of Heresy'' in September 2023, reaching number three in Scotland, forty six in the United Kingdom, number three on the UK Rock & Metal Albums Charts and sixty-nine in Germany. With Biffy Clyro, Neil has released nine studio albums, five of which have topped the Scottish Albums Charts (''

Puzzle A puzzle is a game, problem, or toy that tests a person's ingenuity or knowledge. In a puzzle, the solver is expected to put pieces together ( or take them apart) in a logical way, in order to find the solution of the puzzle. There are differe ...

'', '' Opposites'', ''

Ellipsis The ellipsis (, plural ellipses; from , , ), rendered , alternatively described as suspension points/dots, points/periods of ellipsis, or ellipsis points, or colloquially, dot-dot-dot,. According to Toner it is difficult to establish when t ...

'', ''

A Celebration of Endings A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, and others worldwide. Its name in English is '' a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes''. It is similar in shape to the Ancient ...

'' and '' The Myth of the Happily Ever After''). The band has achieved considerable mainstream success across continental Europe, with ''Opposites'' topping the UK Albums Charts, whilst ''Ellipsis'' topped the charts in Switzerland, Ireland, Germany, and the United Kingdom. ''A Celebration of Endings'' also topped the UK Albums Charts.

Career

Biffy Clyro

Born in

Irvine, North Ayrshire Irvine ( ;
; ) is a town and former

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

and grown up in Ayr, Neil formed a band in 1995 at 15 years old, recruiting

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock ( ; ; , ), meaning "the church of Mernóc", is a town and former burgh in East Ayrshire situated in southwest Scotland. The town has served as the administrative centre of East Ayrshire Council since 1996 and is the region's main ...

-based Ben Johnston and someone known only as Barry on drums and bass respectively, calling themselves Skrewfish.Biffy Clyro Biography
on Beggar's Banquet USA Barry was soon replaced by James Johnston, Ben's twin brother, and Biffy Clyro was effectively formed. In 1997, the trio moved to

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

, where Neil studied Electronics with Music at the

University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...

. He also studied Film and TV for a year before leaving to pursue music full-time. By then, Simon's musical tastes had expanded; In 2000, the band was spotted at the Unsigned Bands stage at T in the Park by a representative of the

independent record label An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small and medium-sized enterprise, small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels ...

Beggars Banquet. Soon after, the band was signed to the label. Biffy Clyro have since released nine albums, signed to a major record label, and toured relentlessly. Neil has stated that Biffy Clyro lyrics often come from phrases he writes down in a notebook he keeps by his bed. In 2011, the band was nominated for the Brit Awards for Best British Group. At the 2013 NME Awards, they received the award for Best British Band. On 25 August 2013 Biffy Clyro headlined the main stage at Reading and Leeds Festival. As of 2021, in total, the band have spent 165 weeks in the top seventy-five of the UK Album Charts, with three of those weeks being at the top position at number one and 76 weeks within the main top forty of the album charts. The band's singles have spent a total of 79 weeks in the UK Singles Charts, with six weeks in the top ten and 42 in the top forty.

Marmaduke Duke

Neil plays with JP Reid of fellow Ayrshire group Sucioperro in

, under the pseudonym "The Atmosphere", which released their first album, '' The Magnificent Duke'', in 2005. It was announced in late 2008 that the Duke was to make a return in 2009 with the follow-up album and second in the trilogy, '' Duke Pandemonium''. The first single from the second album, "Kid Gloves" was released on the 9th of February, 2009. Marmaduke Duke have thus far only played two small tours, during which they played at venues in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

, and

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

. On the 9th of June, 2009, they were added to the Reading & Leeds Festival lineup, headlining the Festival Republic Stage on the Friday in Reading and the Sunday in Leeds. They also played the T in the Park festival in 2009, on the Radio 1/NME stage. Live, the group consists of JP Reid (vocals, guitar) and Simon Neil (vocals, synth, guitar and bass). The duo are accompanied by James Johnston (bass, vocals) and drummers Fergus Munro and Ben Johnston. There is usually also a cloaked/masked figure on stage during performances, known only as "The Duke"; played by Sucioperro's ex-bassist Michael Logg (also known as "The Big Slice"). This character might be construed as the band's own version of

Public Enemy Public Enemy is an American Hip-hop, hip hop group formed in Roosevelt, New York, in 1985 by Chuck D and Flavor Flav. The group rose to prominence for their political messages including subjects such as Racism in the United States, American r ...

Flavor Flav William Jonathan Drayton Jr. (born March 16, 1959), known by his stage name Flavor Flav ( ), is an American rapper and television personality. Known for his catchphrase "Yeah, boyeeeeee!" when performing, he is a founding member alongside Chuck ...

or the

Happy Mondays Happy Mondays are an English rock band formed in Salford in 1980. The original line-up consisted of brothers Shaun Ryder (vocals) and Paul Ryder (bass), Gaz Whelan (drums), Paul Davis (keyboard), and Mark Day (guitar). Mark "Bez" Berry la ...

' Bez. Regarding the inclusion of Ben and James, Neil's Biffy Clyro bandmates, Neil states: "It wouldn't feel right to be out and playing without them, you know?".

Empire State Bastard

Empire State Bastard is an

extreme metal Extreme metal is a loosely defined umbrella term for a number of related heavy metal music subgenres that have developed since the early 1980s. It has been defined as a "cluster of metal subgenres characterized by sonic, verbal, and visual tran ...

duo composed of Neil and ex- Oceansize frontman Mike Vennart. The project has been described as "grindcore extreme metal" by Neil, with Mike writing the songs and recording all guitars, and Simon focused on vocals and lyrics. The band currently tours with Dave Lombardo on drums and Naomi Macleod on bass. Empire State Bastard released their debut single "Harvest" in March 2023, with their debut album '' Rivers of Heresy'' released in September 2023.

Solo career

Neil performs under the name ZZC. His debut single, "To the Bone", was used in the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

's ' Radio 1 Rescores: Drive (curated by

Zane Lowe Alexander Zane Reed Lowe (born 1973) is a New Zealand radio DJ, live DJ, record producer, and television presenter. After an early career in music creation, production and DJing, he moved to the UK in 1997. He came to prominence through pr ...

)' project. In 2017, Neil released a 7-minute instrumental track entitled "The Myth" under the ZZC moniker. Two tracks from an unreleased ZZC solo album, "Plead" and "Fever Dream" were released on the 2019 Biffy Clyro soundtrack album Balance, Not Symmetry.

Personal life

Neil lives in Ayr with his wife Francesca, whom he married at St. Columba Church in Ayr on 5 January 2008. The song " God Only Knows" by

The Beach Boys The Beach Boys are an American Rock music, rock band formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian Wilson, Brian, Dennis Wilson, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and their f ...

was used for their first dance, and Neil has the song's chorus, "God only knows what I'd be without you", tattooed on his chest.''Ayshire Post'', 9 January 2008
Sweet music
/ref> In 2021, he presented a series of shows on

BBC Radio Scotland BBC Radio Scotland is a Scottish national radio network owned and operated by BBC Scotland, a division of the BBC. It broadcasts a wide variety of programmes. It replaced the Scottish BBC Radio 4 opt-out service of the same name from 23 N ...

. Neil is an avid fan of Rangers F.C. and attended matches at Ibrox Stadium in his youth.

Musical equipment used

14-08-08 Taubertal Biffy Clyro Simon Neil 2

The following is a list of musical equipment used by Simon Neil:

Guitars

''Electric'' * Fender Standard StratocastersBiffyTabs Equipment – Simon
– Various different Mexican models, including White, Red, Sunburst (with neck pickup & controls removed), Black, and Metallic Blue. * Fender 1960 Custom Shop Stratocasters – Fiesta Red, Frost Metallic, Lake Placid Blue, and White. * Fender 50s Stratocaster Relic *

Fender Telecaster The Fender Telecaster, colloquially known as the Tele (), is an electric guitar produced by Fender (company), Fender. Together with its sister model the Fender Esquire, Esquire, it was the world's first mass-produced, commercially successfulLes ...

Standard – USA model, owned by James Johnston, three tone sunburst, can be seen in the music video for " Living is a Problem Because Everything Dies". *

'62 Custom – Japanese model, three tone sunburst, can be seen in the music video for "Only One Word Comes to Mind". * Fender Telecaster Custom 1972 reissue, black. Can be seen in the music video for "Mountains". * Squier Simon Neil Signature Stratocaster *

Patrick Eggle Patrick James Eggle is a British guitar designer and luthier. The company he founded in the 1990s, Patrick Eggle Guitars, first based in Coventry and then in Birmingham, is known for designing and releasing such guitar ranges as the Berlin (1991) ...

New York – Red. * Gretsch White Falcon Used live for the song "Diary of Always" and is seen in the music video for " Folding Stars" *

Gibson ES-335 The Gibson ES-335 is a semi-hollow body semi-acoustic guitar introduced by the Gibson Guitar Corporation as part of its Gibson ES Series, ES (Electric Spanish) series 1958 in music, in 1958. It has a solid maple wood block running through the cente ...

– used live for "God & Satan" * Gretsch G2420T – used for music video of "Howl".

Effects pedals

* Boss TU-2 Chromatic Tuner * Boss MD-2 Distortion * Boss MT-2 Metal Zone * Boss DD-6 Digital Delay * Boss LS-2 Line Selector * Origin Effects Cali76 Compressor

Previous effects pedals

* Boss DS-1 Distortion * Boss HM-2 Heavy Metal * Dunlop Cry Baby Wah Wah * Electro Harmonix Micro POG

Amplifiers

* Peavey Delta Blues Combo * Fender Hot Rod Deville 4x10 Combo * Marshall 1959SLP Head * Peavey Classic Head and Peavey Classic 412 Cabinet * Hayden MoFo 30W tube head with Hayden 4x12 * Fender Super Sonic 100 BLK Head * Kemper Profiler Head

Discography

Biffy Clyro

* '' Blackened Sky'' (2002) * ''

The Vertigo of Bliss ''The Vertigo of Bliss'' is the second studio album by Scottish rock band Biffy Clyro. Produced with the band by Chris Sheldon, it was released by Beggars Banquet Records on 16 June 2003. The album reached number 48 on the UK Albums Chart, an ...

'' (2003) * '' Infinity Land'' (2004) * ''

'' (2007) * '' Only Revolutions'' (2009) * '' Opposites'' (2013) * ''

'' (2016) * '' MTV Unplugged: Live at Roundhouse, London'' (2018) * '' Balance, Not Symmetry'' (2019) * ''

'' (2020) * '' The Myth of the Happily Ever After'' (2021)

Marmaduke Duke

* '' The Magnificent Duke'' (2005) * '' Duke Pandemonium'' (2009)

Empire State Bastard

* '' Rivers of Heresy'' (2023)

Other appearances

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Neil, Simon 1979 births Biffy Clyro members Living people People educated at Prestwick Academy People from Ayr People from Irvine, North Ayrshire Scottish rock guitarists Scottish male guitarists 21st-century Scottish male singers Scottish rock singers Scottish male songwriters