Features

YM: Some aspiring young musicians might find the stereotype of drugged up, screwed up rock stars appealing. But I'd imagine you'd have to actually be quite fit and together to deliver your live shows?
Keith: That's the real funny thing, if you look at Pete Doherty, he's your stereotype, your drug taking loon, doing the right cocktail of drugs to really be this proper rock & roll star, but you know, when you're in the Prodigy, you can't be smacked up and on stage, because it's all about the energy.

YM: What advice would you give to young musicians starting out, about approaching the industry?
Liam: They've got to have an identity. Get an identity for yourself. With a lot of the street music they've got the right idea because they've got their crews. So many holes have already filled that you've just gotta find you're new shape that fits. It's so different these days because the internet has opened things up. I think record companies are becoming less important now
Maxim: I think to survive you have to be an entrepreneur today. Before it was like you could just write music and give someone your demo tape and they'd take care of it. Now I think you've got to know the business. You've got to know the ins and outs of every part of the business to survive.

YM: Did you face any set backs in the early days?
Liam: Something happened to me at the beginning. I was blown out by a mate and a record company. I wrote a track - I was in a Hip Hop band called Cut To Kill and it was just at the point where I was going out to the dance parties and the early raves. So I'd started to write what I was hearing there but combined with beats. So I wrote this track and I gave it to my friend and he took it, put a rap on it, then went to a record company and got a deal with it. But he didn't tell me about it. Then he said, 'Oh I've got a record deal and I'm releasing that track’. But I knew I'd got other tracks so I f***** him off and thought, ‘forget about that, he can have that’. I felt like I'd flown away from the nest anyway. I thought, 'well I've got confidence in what I'm doing now'.

YM: Do you think it’s true that music helps young people to develop intellectually and creatively? Was that the case for you?
Liam: I think it gave me more confidence in myself early on, because I was always really pretty quiet. When I was at school I didn't know what I was good at. I was good at art and stuff, that was the only thing. So the music definitely gave me more confidence.
Maxim: And just travelling the world and seeing other cultures. If I was just living here I might be quite small-minded. It broadens your horizons.

YM: Would you agree that you don't need heaps of gear to get started in music, and that actually, having limited options can make you more creative?
Liam: Absolutely. That's what happened at the beginning. When I did the first album - 'The Prodigy Experience' (1992) - it was done entirely on one Roland W30, with 14 seconds of sampling time. That was it!
Maxim: Liam knew the ins and outs of the W30 better than anybody else.

YM: You're going to follow this single collection with a new album next year. How far has work progressed on that?
Keith: We've got three or four tracks, but nothing's ever set in stone. We'll get to 20 or so tracks then see where we're at. We're working toward it because our hunger and our energy is in the right place, and our want to do it is in the right place. That's why it's gonna happen.
Maxim: We say the end of next year, and the reason we're predicting that is because we're on a flow and everything is good in the band at the moment.

The Prodigy's 'Their Law - The Singles 1990 - 2005' is released on XL, October 17.
A double A-side single 'Out Of Space/Voodoo People' is out Oct 3, it features remixes from Pendulum and Audio Bullys.

www.theprodigy.com

THE PRODIGY UK TOUR

Tues Nov 22 - Newcastle Arena
Wed Nov 23 - Manchester MEN
Fri Nov 25 - Birmingham NIA
Sat Nov 26 - Bournemouth Int Centre
Sun Nov 27 - Cardiff Int Arena
Tues Nov 29 - Brighton Centre
Thurs Dec 1 - Brixton Academy
Fri Dec 2- Brixton Academy

Interview: GAL DETOURN

Find your nearest Youth Music Action Zone

back to Features

send this story to a friend