Legendary UK dance group The Prodigy are an institution in British music. With a career that’s spanned over two decades, including four consecutive studio albums and a greatest hits record all topping the UK charts, you can count on one hand the acts from the ’90s who have had the impact on British culture that the electro-punk rockers have achieved.
It isn’t just native shores that have played host to the band’s success. Seminal album The Fat Of The Land achieved success globally, selling over 8 million copies and even reaching the heady heights of the top of the US Billboard 200 album charts (a feat that has only been matched by a handful of British acts since, including The Beatles, Coldplay and One Direction). By anybody’s yardstick, The Prodigy are a big deal.
Iconic, both in look and sound, the group are music pioneers, and they are coming to Abu Dhabi later this month to headline Creamfields 2013.
TOAD spoke with the group’s founder Liam Howlett to learn more about the band’s inspirations, being the figurehead of an entire music movement, and what lies in store in the band’s future.
What’s your motivation – what gets you up in the morning?
Lots of things – the want to make a killer tune, family, the live gigs, sometimes an alarm clock! The music is our lives though. We spend a lot of time together in the studio which is important if you want to make it work, that creative process can be a pain and tests your head, but when you do hit upon a good tune it’s all worth it.
Ever thought of another greatest hits album?
We have already done one hits album (Their Law) so there’s no point in doing another. We didn’t really want to do that one but we were going through a tough time together as a band and it helped to bring us back together, which then went on to us writing The Invaders Must Die album. We are proud of that album though, we put time into it to make sure it felt like a real thing and not some record company thing.
Fans praised your last album Invaders Must Die as a shout out to your old days. How did the album come together? Where did the inspiration come from?
We never saw it as a shout out to our old days, we just believe that if a band has a sound then that’s your sound, and that’s what you work with. We wouldn’t want our favourite bands to change their sound so we make an effort to not do that either; you just try and write a good tune. Like all Prodigy records it took a while to complete because we are not interested in doing it for the sake of it and sticking it out because somebody says we should. It’s got to mean something to us. I remember swapping studios half way through the recording process to a small room and that’s when the formation of the record really started to flow. We were all in there throwing stuff about, every session was really exciting.
Can the Prodigy inspire a new generation of dance music lovers and makers in the Middle East?
If they get inspired enough to produce this music then good. That’s what happened to me and why I’ve done what I have, I felt like I had to do it. Also, I was listening to some of the stuff being made back then and I thought ‘I can make better tunes than this’, so I kind of rebelled against it in a way. You don’t have to be any great musician to write this type of music, you’ve just got to have the drive and an idea. In terms of our punk rock style, we just always wanted to make a cool noise, and still do.
What’s your take on dance music in general at the moment?
It’s fully mainstream now, it has seeped into every type of music. It always annoys me when I hear rappers from hip hop suddenly pop up on a dance tune, because the whole thing was obviously just made for the quick buck. That said, a tune is a tune, there’s always interesting and exciting music being made under the surface, so people have just got to open their ears.
How are you feeling about headlining the Creamfields festival in Abu Dhabi for its fifth year?
We played in Dubai a few years back but we’ve never been to Abu Dhabi. It’s always exciting to play new places. We have played the Creamfields festival in various places across the world so we can’t wait to rock it again. Creamfields always do an amazing job.
What is the best thing about being on tour? Coming to places like UAE?
We love touring and doing gigs, that’s why we make music. It’s the one thing that can’t be downloaded, that feeling of playing it live, seeing peoples reactions to the music. We always have a laugh on the road and are lucky we get to go to places you would never usually have chance to go to.
What’s the best thing about playing live?
The crowd and hearing the music loud and in the place it was written for. Our fans are so diverse; it’s not just one type of person. Playing to a live crowd means we can be spontaneous, try new things and simply feed off the crowd’s energy. Playing stuff live also helps with writing the music too. The Prodigy wouldn’t exist if we didn’t do the live gigs, just because it’s playing live where we get to present the core of every Prodigy track: original body shaking bass!
How long will The Prodigy keep going? Are you better than ever?
We will keep going until we ain’t got any more love for it or we feel it ain’t happening anymore.
The Prodigy will be headlining Creamfields Abu Dhabi 2013 at Du Arena, Yas Island on December 13. Doors will open for the event at 6pm. Over 18s only. General admission is Dhs275, VIP admission is Dhs595. For tickets and more information visit www.thinkflash.ae.
