Reading festival 2013: Biffy Clyro emerge from Nirvana's shadow This Ayrshire power-trio started out in the mid-Nineties as little short of a teenage Nirvana tribute band, supplementing the quiet/loud dynamic perfected by Kurt Cobain and co's formative influences, The Pixies, with a winning layer of Caledonian eccentricity and a slightly less winning layer of prog-rock bombast. There was no irony involved in their dalliance with Pink Floyd album cover designer Storm Thorgerson. Happily, the idiosyncratic touches that inspire such affection in Biffy Clyro's fan base (which other heavily tattooed rock act can claim to have taken its name from a Cliff Richard souvenir pen, drunkenly spoonerised from Cliffy Biro to Biffy Clyro?) have survived their steady career progression. Biffy Clyro - Many Of Horror [When We Collide] on MUZU.TV. When the band's sixth album - the double CD 'Opposites' - became their first UK number one earlier this year, a few long-term fans complained about its generic stadium-rock sheen, but most just lay back and enjoyed the mariachi band. Much like fellow bill-toppers Green Day (Reading Friday, Leeds Saturday), Biffy Clyro have learnt to ground their loftier, more portentous, ambitions in a solid foundation of functional power-pop. And while this might insulate them from the kinetic fragility that made Nirvana so thrilling, it's a much more viable strategy for survival. If it's self-excoriating candour you're after, the third of this year's headliners Eminem (Reading Saturday, Leeds Sunday) is the one you'll really be looking forward to. Reading Festival is now sold out, but tickets to Leeds Festival are still available; both festivals run Fri to Sun