Brit Awards: Belfast duo Bicep up for two awards

Bicep are nominated in two categories - Best British Group and Breakthrough Artist

Belfast music producers Andy Ferguson and Matt McBriar have said "it's hard to even quantify" the prospect of battling for a Brit Award against the likes of Little Mix and Biffy Clyro.

The electronic duo, better known as Bicep, are nominated for two Brits at Tuesday night's event, which they said was "just surreal".

This time last year they were trying to navigate lockdown.

They decided to use the extra free time to work on their second album Isles.

After a fierce battle with Sheffield rock band Bring Me The Horizon, Isles landed at number two in the charts.

Speaking to BBC's Good Morning Ulster programme, the pair described the success of the album and the possibility of bringing home not one, but two, Brit Awards as "absolutely bonkers" and "bizarre".

They were not convinced the album would work well for the charts, but at the height of the pandemic last summer, with touring off the cards, Bicep decided they "might just have to put it out" and see what happened.

They laughingly said: "When you're in an actual chart battle it gets a bit scary. It was never really the intention and it was just all mad that it kind of spiralled into that."

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Bicep is in the running in the Breakthrough Artist and Best British Group categories.

Best British Group sees them competing against the likes of Biffy Clyro, Little Mix and The 1975.

While in the Breakthrough category, they are nominated alongside four others including Arlo Parks and Celeste.

This year's award features one larger, multicoloured trophy

"Honestly it's hard to even quantify it for us. It's just surreal," said Bicep.

"You watched it as a kid and Michael Jackson and Jarvis Cocker were performing.

"It's just always been at the forefront of the music industry when we were growing up.

"Even to get two nominations is just crazy."

'I'm not used to crowds anymore'

On Tuesday night, 4,000 people will be attending the Brit Awards at London's 02 Arena.

The event will go ahead with a live audience, as part of the government's research into how events might work after the pandemic.

It will be fronted by comedian Jack Whitehall, and the audience will not need to wear masks or be socially distanced, but will need a negative Covid test.

Although Bicep are used to performing in front of thousands of people in club venues, they told Good Morning Ulster that attending a large event during the Covid-19 pandemic is a daunting prospect.

"We are excited, but I'm scared about being around that many people it's been such a long time.

"I'm not used to crowds anymore."

However the pair say they are looking forward to seeing some of the big acts performing "because everyone pulls it all out for this kind of event, so it's exciting to have a front row seat for it all".