Newly formed side-creation to Scottish rock band, Biffy Clyro’s, Simon Niel’s Empire State Bastard performs their first ever show. Aside from Niel, the group features the likes of Mike Vennart(guitar), Dave Lombardo (drums), Naomi Macleod (bass). With the ranging familiar faces in rock music, this group presents itself as an amalgamation of the iconic names that make up this particular scene. Their first live gig took place in the Cathouse Venue in Glasgow last night(March 26th), performing a total of 13 songs. The group began with their smash debut single. “Harvest”, originally released last week and then closed with a track titled, “The Looming”.

The new heavy metal band does not plan to slow down their wave and will continue a run of performances for the 2023 year. Making an appearance to perform at Manchester’s Rebellion on March 27th and a performance at  London’s Underworld venue on March 28th. This is serving as an intimate 3-stop tour around the UK for this newly fledged group to reach the audiences they know best. As well as summer performances set for June 9th for this year’s Download Festival and French Festival, HellFest, on June 18th. 

“I don’t just want to do the same shit. Every time between records, I want to do something that’s fucked up and off the wall. It brings me back to Biffy and I’m more in love with it now than I’ve ever been”, Niel explained in a 2020 interview with NME when asked about the reason for wanting to pursue these side projects. Through his own journey of musical and personal discovery, he has created this fully formed rock-icon collage into an entirely new and fresh face in the heavy metal genre.