BIFFY CLYRO

Biffy Clyro are a Scottish rock band that formed in a small town called Kilmarnock. They are a three piece composed of Simon Neil on guitar, lead vocals, James Johnston on bass and Ben Johnston on drums. However both James and Ben sometimes do backup singing. In 2001 they released blackened sky which gained them a lot of initial following. They then went on to release 2 more albums before achieving mainstream success with the album puzzles. At this point around 2008 they had developed an unusual following of people which was a bit like a kind of cult. A large proportion of there following were very dedicated to them and followed them from venue to venue across the world. They work well as a group because they are all very in tuned with each other and have done a lot of gigs and practice. There songs are often quite complex with unusual time signatures and guitar riffs. this is want gives the band their unique style.   ​

What Makes them A successful ensemble is that they have been regularly gigging and playing together for over 15 years so they have a lot of experience. Also being good friends from a young age has allowed them to keep a strong relationship going and allows them to have good teamwork. They are also obesely very committed to the band, we know this because they have tattoos and even when going through rough times they stuck with it. There stage performance is almost always entertaining and they are known for rarely wearing any kind of t-shirt or top.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lh3LocS_Bh8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9Pg1iG1uVw&list=RDT9Pg1iG1uVw#t=84

Evaluation of Practice and Performance "wannabe"

In the first lesson on "wannabe" we did planning and deciding what song we were going to and in what style. This was a good lesson because we were efficient and we split into two groups and one group discussed and wrote down things about the specific song and the other group discussed the ideas of what is important in the genres we are doing. We then decided who was going to be playing what instrument and put it into a graph so we easily could tell what was going on.

Practice:
In the setting up for wannabe we were kind of slow and this took a lot of time out of our practice. To be more efficient at this we could do a bit less messing around and also all help set up the drums rather than just make Ed do it on his own. I this we did work well together once we were set though and I think this was because Henry told us what the order of the song was and what chord we should be playing. I think we could have had more time because we only had one day to learn it and we had about an hour to practice

Performance:
The first half of the song sounded good but it wasn't really in the style because we didn't have the skills, time or practice to pull it off well. I think that the performance went quite well and I especially liked the part where the song switched to reggae. This worked really well because we had rehearsed it quit a lot and we all knew I was coming. The first section of the piece was not so successful because it didn't really have a distinct style and you couldn't really tell what style we were trying to produce. On the other hand the reggae section was very successful. We changed the instrumentation when we changed genre. the bass guitar was turned up because this is a feature of reggae. Also we only had one guitar playing on the off beat and Andy was doing a muted strumming pattern which sounded really good and like a reggae song. Also the drum pattern completely changed from heavy use of the snare to using the bass drum and the hi hat. As well as this the shaker was cut out. This was because we really got the off-beat feel with the drum beat Ed was throwing out and the off beat up strokes I was playing on the guitar. I think it could have been improved by James having a Jamaican accent because this would have made it much more authentic but he doesn't so there's not much we can do about that. The End of the performance when we stopped  was also good due to us being quite in sync with each other. this was helped by us all having a bit of eye contact.

Evaluation of Practice and Performance "I Predict A Riot"

In the first lesson on "I predict a riot" we did planning and deciding what song we were going to and in what style. This was a good lesson because we were quite good and we split into two groups and one group discussed and wrote down things about the specific song and the other group discussed the ideas of what is important in the genres we are doing. We then decided who was going to be playing what instrument and put it into a graph so we easily could tell what was going on. We eventually decided to do "I predict A Riot" the genera for the first half was going to be country and the second and the second half was disco. To be honest I think that disco was not a good idea because we dot have a keyboard player.

Practice:
Setting up for our "I predict riot" rehearsal we were quite quick and efficient to set up compared to when we set up in Hey Jude. We were all much more organised and helpful. It also really helped that the drum kit was already set up so that saved a lot of time. We were in quite a small practice room so our co ordination was quite good. Also this helped us have more eye contact with each other. This really helped us stay in time with each other, unlike when we played Hey Jude. In this performance played guitar

Performance:
The performance of I predict a riot went quite well and I think that this was because we had a lot more time to practice and also we spent more time doing actual practice and not just setting up and playing on our own. Also we gad all practised our parts at home so we knew what we needed to do. So when we played it we did it in one take and it sounded pretty good. I think the bass line that James was playing in the performance complimented the guitar line that I was playing well and sounded really good. Also the drums and the fish thing that Ed was playing sounded good in the contrary part of the song. The elements of a musical ensemble are that there are lots of instruments which work well together.  



     

Evaluation of Practice and Performance "Hey Jude"

In the first lesson on hey Jude we did planning and deciding what song we were going to and in what style. This was a good lesson because we were efficient and we split into two groups and one group discussed and wrote down things about the specific song and the other group discussed the ideas of what is important in the genres we are doing. We then decided who was going to be playing what instrument and put it into a graph so we easily could tell what was going on.

Practice:
Setting up for our "hey Jude" rehearsal and performance took us a long time and there was a lot of sitting around and waiting around for other people to get set up. I think that the whole process could have been more efficient if everyone had been more helpful. For example me and James were just standing around once we were set up, when we could have helped set up the drums or something. Once we were all set up our coordination was not very good and there was no real leader of the pack. A lot of the time we struggled to stay in time with each other and had a hard time keeping it all together.

Performance:
To be honest the performance was pretty bad. This was due to the fact that none were at all enthusiastic and it was all just a bit un-organised. this was because I think that we could have done with more time to practice and also our practising time could have been more efficient. One thing that went well was that at the end we all finished at the same time and this was due to us all starting to have a bit of eye contact. This really helped the performance because we looked slightly better syncopated when we finished, The structure of our song was fairly simple apart from the bridge but as a group we really struggled to. I think that the punk part of the to make the performance better would have been a piano because it would add to the a more structured chord pattern.