Simon Neil and his Tattoos - A little update!

A report came on BBC Breakfast the other day about tattoos and whether policemen/women should be able to have them or not. I got talking to my Mum about different tattoos and why people get them and a name that kept popping up for me was Simon Neil.

Simon Neil is the AMAZING frontman of Scottish rockers Biffy Clyro whose entire top half of his body (excluding his head) is covered in tattoos and each one means a different one to him. Neil says he has about 30 tattoos all in all from lyrics to Di Vinci sketches. I thought I'd go through some of his best ones.

A Perfect Circle's Debut Album Artwork
from 2000.

For his 21st birthday, his girlfriend (now his wife) got him his first tattoo which was a reference to A Perfect Circle's debut album "Mer de Noms" and is the little symbol right at the bottom on the left hand side. Although he no longer considers himself a fan of the band, he says the tattoo still means a lot to him because it was from his wife.

Biffy Clyro's third album "Infinity Land"
artwork.

All members of the band have some kind of reference to their albums tattooed on them somewhere. I know Simon, Jim and Ben all have a puzzle piece tattooed on their left side of their ribs in reference to their 4th studio album "Puzzle" (which is personally my favourite) and a lot of fans also have this tattooed in the same place as a sign of dedication towards the band. Simon has the heart held in the hands of the figure on the front of "Infinity Land"'s artwork tattooed on his left arm.

Simon's mother's painting.
Taken from an interview from Radio 2.
To see the interview go to:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmJdfNXyl20

If you are a Biffy fan, you will know that Simon's mother, Eleanor, passed away in 2004 and that their single from "Puzzle", "Folding Stars" was written about their relationship with each other and said after the songs release "She really liked the quiet songs, so I wrote the song for her. It's the kind of song she'd like and although it was really tough to record, I'm immensely proud of it. it makes me happy when people say they connect with the song but I'm not sure if we'll ever play it live. Not any time soon, anyway". Since then he did perform an acoustic version of folding stars live at Wembley on their "Revolutions" tour without Ben and James (to see that performance go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gE3S8S-gVRQ). Simon has one of his mother's paintings tattooed on his back in memory of her.

Simon with Brian.

Simon married his wife in 2008 in Ayr, where they live. Neil has been a Beach Boys fan all his life (he recently met Brian Wilson and interviewed him for NME as part of the heroes feature) and so his first dance with is wife was to "God Only Knows What I'd Do Without You". His most famous tattoo is the one on his chest which says "God Only Knows What I'd Do Without You" as a tribute to his wife.

I love Simon Neil's tattoos because they aren't pointless or to make a statement, the are each a small bit of the jigsaw of his life and mixed with his music, it paints a beautiful picture about his take on the world.

(08/10/13) This was the video I used for this article, Simon Neil does an interview with Jo Whiley for Radio 2. Hopefully this will give you a better view of what he was talking about!