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Biffy Clyro’s Simon Neil has offered an update on the band’s progress on new albums from Marmaduke Duke and Tippie Toes. In an August 2020 interview, Neil said he had four albums lined up with his various musical projects – Biffy Clyro, Marmaduke Duke, Empire State Bastard, and Tippie Toes. Now, the Scottish musician has told NME that work on the new albums is progressing well.
“Well believe it or not, I did just spend two weeks working on Tippie Toes. We do have an album’s worth of material, we just need to edit it,” Neil said in a recent interview. “I don’t want to be flippant with music and would never put it out because it’s almost ready. Tippie Toes is going to have a purpose and be special.”
As for Marmaduke Duke – the duo comprising Neil and JP Reid of Sucioperro – Neil said that they are making good progress on their new album. “Marmaduke Duke is already special and will complete that, which John and I are a bit scared of,” he said. “Once that’s done, it’s over and the Duke is dead. But, I don’t want to distract from this. This has got a bit of momentum for us, emotionally, spiritually and physically. Biffy is also always at the top of my list, that’s who I am. I need to make time for my four wives.”
Empire State Bastard, the metal side project of Neil and Biffy live guitarist and former Oceansize member Mike Vennart, is also making good progress on their debut album. “I’ve put all of my nihilism and misanthropy into this record. The anger needs to be real. When the pandemic happened, there was so much to be angry about over that period,” Neil said of their debut record. “Even since then, I keep having this optimistic point of view that there’s going to be a right sharp turn of goodness and growth and everyone’s going to see the light. I just needed to unleash something.”
The musician added that he and Vennart had been “so close for so long” but had to to “push each other and take this somewhere that it wasn’t meant to go”. Empire State Bastard recently released a new video for the debut single ‘Harvest’ and have announced a UK headline tour, which is set to take place in April.
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