THE PRODIGY
The Prodigy producer on speed, scepticism and eating insects.
Liam Howlett gets Confidential, pooh-poohing the muppets of EDM, bringing trenchant Brexit critiques and recalling his trusty old BMX back in the day.
TWENTY-EIGHT years into their existence, The Prodigy are still starting fires. Uniquely among the rave generation, they managed to parlay hardcore’s energy into something that has worked across the decades, using the basics of howling acid house electronics, Def Jam rock-rap beats, and snarling punk vocals into something that can whip up moshpits from Virginia to Vladivostok. Their new album, No Tourists, makes no attempt to be anything other than a distillation of these elements, and as such is the most fun ‘Prodge’ record in some years. “Mate, I can only do one thing,” says Howlett, “and I do it to the maximum of my ability.” The new record has a classic Prodigy sound…
I can’t shake off my inspirations, but I wanted this album to be every angle that’s good about the band. It came quick; I’d only intended to do an EP then get back on the road, because I’m known for taking my time, but ended up really committing to it and fired up, recording in hotel rooms in Moscow and stuff. We haven’t backed ourselves into a corner just yet.
More acts do electronic music on a stadium scale now – where do The Prodigy fit into the EDM world?
Who gives a fuck? EDM is nothing to do with us. The last record company, whoever the fuck they were… they were getting all excited going, “Oh yeahhhh, the EDM shit is huge in America, we’d better slot The Prodigy in.” Fuck that. They’re talking bollocks. That’s got nothing to do with what we do. We don’t even look at ourselves as dance music. We just use electronic instruments. If we could play other instruments we’d do it on those.
Is it true you told [Madonna’s] Maverick Records that you wanted to repackage Fat Of The Land for the US market and call it ‘Land Of The Fat’?
Yeah. I don’t really like the companies. I don’t get on with them, and I don’t think they like me very much. I can’t be bought or told what to do, so I’m a problem for them.
Are you politicised?
Of course, man. We live in it. No Tourists, the title, is about trying to escape all the shit and step off the track. What we’re saying is we like the idea of people exploring again, they’ve forgotten how to do that, because they can just pick up a device, go online for two seconds and go, “Oh, OK, that’s the answer, that’s what it is, oh yeah.”
What about concrete political things, in the age of Trump and Brexit?
No. No, no, I don’t preach my views. All I want to say to people is, whatever you’re going to do – fucking do it. Do Brexit or stop Brexit, whatever. People can cope, you know, they’ve fucking dealt with shit for hundreds of years, but just make up your fucking mind what you’re doing to do and do it, and we’ll deal with what happens. Let us get on with our lives.
Are you naturally an optimist?
Yeah. I’ve seen a lot, every week I go to different countries, and what I do see is that people – the kids at least, people who go out – are pretty much the same. They believe in straight-up communication. So yeah, I’ve always been an optimist. But all the shit now makes it hard.
You’ve got a teenage son, does he introduce you to music?
Not particularly, no. He’s into old stuff – but it’s how he accesses it that’s odd. For his generation, music is something on films, games, adverts. Live music is the one place where it’s untouched, you go and see a band, and you’re there. That’s why it’s important that The Prodigy is a band.
Tell us something you’ve never told a journalist before.
I was 12 and had a BMX for my birthday. I took a jump off the kerb with mouth wide open in excitement and swallowed a daddy longlegs. It was stuck at the back of my throat until I got to the shop to buy an ice pole. Joe Muggs
No Tourists is released on November 2 on Take Me To The Hospital.
“EDM is nothing to do with us.”