Thursday, 12 January 2017

Simon Neil 'owes a bit of gratitude' to David Bowie

Biffy Clyro's Simon Neil says he "owes a bit of gratitude" to David Bowie.

The 'Space Oddity' hitmaker passed away in January 2016 at the age of 69 after suffering from liver cancer, and the Biffy Clyro frontman has now opened up about the legacy of the late star, saying he's "a part of the tapestry" of music.

Speaking on UK radio station Radio X, the 37-year-old musician said: "I think just anyone who's ever played music or ever listened to music owes a bit of gratitude to David Bowie.

"For us Bowie's always been there. I think he's such a part of the tapestry of the culture coming out of the UK and the music."

The 'Wolves of Winter' hitmaker - who is joined in his band by twins Ben and James Johnston - was then asked which tracks from the music icon had inspired him the most, to which he chose 'Low' and 'Sound and Vision'.

Speaking about his choice, he said: "Even though there's not a lot of vocals on that one, it's one of my favourite songs, I love how he put a three or four-minute intro to songs.

"For me there's so many amazing songs, so many beautiful songs, so many songs that bring out different feelings."

And the 'Many of Horror' singer went on to say "thank you" to the late musician for inspiring him, as he revealed Biffy Clyro would often play 'Let's Dance' to prepare them for their own live shows.

He said: "We used to go onto 'Let's Dance', which I know isn't Bowie's greatest song, but it got us right pumped up, so thank you David Bowie for all you've done."