Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
The Prodigy
BURNING DESIRE
Eighteen years since The Prodigy burst out of the rave scene and into the charts, the 30 millionselling London group are in unrepentant and confrontational form on their seventh album, No Tourists.
“We never feel like a band that thinks we have to change our sound. We’re only interested in keeping it fresh and sounding like The Prodigy,” insists mastermind Liam Howlett, 47.
Quite right, too. With No1s like Firestarter and Breathe, no one ever sounded like The Prodigy and no one else ever will.
Liam was a DJ on the rave scene when he met fellow clubber Keith Flint to form the group named after a synthesiser. In 1991 their debut single, Charly, sparked an underground revolution and set them on the way to international fame and fortune.
“I knew it was special when I made it,” Liam reflects. “I had a feeling.
“We’ve never been a band that needs other people to buy our records to make us feel like we’re doing the right thing. It’s about finding some kind of atmosphere and tension. We rebelled against any form of backing it up commercially.
“All we did was play Charly at the raves. Radio stations wouldn’t play it.
Eventually they had to. We didn’t go on Top of the Pops. We were anti that. And we kept it real, all the way through.”
Fame and controversy came in equal measure and Liam married All Saints singer Natalie Appleton in 2002 – but their careers have operated on parallel paths, with no pairing ever on the cards.
“We’ve never talked about it. The girls are doing their thing, we’re doing our thing,” says Liam.
“We support each other but we never talk about collaborating. It’s different worlds.” With Flint, 49, and rapper Maxim, 51, up front taking The Prodigy limelight Liam has been able to shun celebrity life.“it never could offer me anything. It wouldn’t make my life better,” he says.
“I was always interested in being the sound man, the controller of the sound.”
Among the invincible anthems offered up on No Tourists is the mission statement “We Live Forever”.
“That’s basically about how you can’t be erased from history, you know. You’ve stamped a mark on it. I guess as much as it’s talking about rave culture, it’s talking about the band as well. You can’t get rid of us. We can’t be erased.” No Tourist out now. Tour starts tonight at The SEC, Glasgow
’We don’t need other people to buy our records to make us feel like we’re doing the right thing’