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On this day, 12 July 2002, Scottish rock band Biffy Clyro played Cardiff’s Barfly.
In March the band had released their debut album Blackened Sky. The album reached number 78 on the UK Albums Chart, and spawned four singles.
Critical reception to Biffy Clyro's debut album was generally mixed. John Murphy of independent music website musicOMH, writing at the time of its release in 2002, claimed that Blackened Sky was evidence of Biffy's status as "the most exciting new band in Britain", drawing comparisons to influencing band Nirvana and praising elements such as the consistency in the vocal performances.
The band have never disclosed where the name 'Biffy Clyro' originated, and Simon Neil has said that it was "a stupid name" that was often "awkward" to explain its origins when the band started and when not many had heard their music.
Whilst being interviewed on Soccer AM, the band said that they make up stories about how they are named because they are bored with being asked the same question. Among the conflicting answers the band have given are:
In a Soccer AM interview, the band stated that they named themselves after a footballer named Biffy Clyro who played for South Ayrshire football club Ayr United,
Another story is that the band members were thinking about manufacturing Cliff Richard merchandise and they thought about the Laszlo Biro pen and thought of "Cliffy Biro" that was then accidentally spoonerised on a drunken night out to 'Biffy Clyro'.
Another interview claims that the name Biffy Clyro comes from an acronym for "Big Imagination For Feeling Young 'Cos Life Yearns Real Optimism".
The band stated in an interview for BalconyTV that the name was that of a Finnish footballer from the 17th century.
On Off the Ball in August 2011, Ben Johnston said "Well it's a marriage of two words: Biffy is in fact the nickname of the spy who the James Bond novels were based on and Clyro is a village in Wales where both our families … used to go on holiday …"
In an episode of Music Choice's Pop Quiz, Simon Neil said that Biffy Clyro is the name of a Scotsman that built his own rocket and was the first man in space.
"'Mon the Biffy!" or, in more recent times, "'Mon the Biff!", are well known chants among Clyro fans,[42] usually shouted in between songs at gigs, or before the band comes on stage.
