Constructing the musical world of biceps
While Bicep's Andy Ferguson and Matt McBriar are releasing their second album, Isles, the duo discuss the process of creating the artwork along with the record itself and how their muscle-flexing emblem has become one of the most recognizable symbols in dance music
The influence of Andy Ferguson and Matt McBriar from Bicep is deeply rooted in the UK dance music scene. As DJs, producers, promoters, label owners and all-round music salesmen, the Belfast-born duo has become synonymous with the renaissance of house music over the past decade. Whether they're curating a variety of genres on their popular blog Feel My Bicep, which vacillates between Italo and Techno and more, or playing their own musical muscles on their debut album of the same name and its highly anticipated sequel, Isles, the Bicep sound has become instantly recognizable .
The friendship between Ferguson and McBriar dates back to their elementary school days in Belfast when they played mini rugby together. The seeds of their creative partnership were planted in 2008 when they went their separate ways for college and decided to jointly set up a music blog to keep in touch. "Before social media really got going, I don't even think Facebook was there. It was certainly very early and YouTube didn't have any music on it, so the blog became kind of a mood board for records that we would find and us used this as a place to share with each other and between our friends, ”says McBriar.
Biceps Feel My Bicep Icon
They settled on the name Feel My Bicep as an ironic nod to much of the Italo disco music they were listening to at the time, and quickly turned down a wheel-shaped logo with three pimped biceps – a design that remains unchanged to this day and has since become a musical stamp of recognition in and of itself. "We always said we'd redesign it in a couple of years, we'll get a really good one, and then it just stuck." We started making stickers and sticking them on vinyl and it seemed to work because of its absolute simplicity, ”adds McBriar.