The Prodigy Quotes
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We don't do 150 date tours because you couldn't keep the intensity and standard we need over that stretch of time. You see bands doing it all the time, playing along, going through the motions, thinking 'Did I water the plants?' We come to each gig fresh and we live that gig, it is full-on, total commitment. It is an hour of pure concentration.
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Each gig is an hour of madness, and afterwards I'm absolutely exhausted, shaken to bits. The adrenaline charge and energy needed are shattering.
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We were in the car listening to the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Keith was saying how he'd love to do some vocals on a tune, and then two weeks later there he was on 'Firestarter'. As soon as I heard the lyrics I knew it was an explanation of himself, totally Keith. It was another element, it seriously enhances the live show.
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I spent half of the time shouting at people in the crowd anyway, so it was a natural progression from there really, getting it out from my mouth to express myself further. I don't think the lyrics are part of that expression, it's nice if they are truthful to yourself, but that's not what it's all about. The lyrics are things that just sound good, hard and fast, it's more about the noise I make than what I am actually trying to say. The delivery is more important than the message. You can get very safe going on stage doing the same thing - I had been doing that for five years before 'Firestarter', and I was confident, comfortable. But starting vocals changed that - suddenly I was wondering what would happen. I was telling Liam it was not a problem, easy, but all the time I was shitting myself, but I went out and it went off straight away. I did a parachute jump just before that first vocals gig and in the plane getting ready to jump was a similar feeling. The countdown to both was 'My word, what am I doing here?' When those first lyrics came out is was the same as leaping out of the plane. Amazing. It's not a character, it's me, driven by adrenaline and the amazing music. I enjoy being able to totally express myself, and the band is a good excuse to do that. It's not so much singing as vocal expression.
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The first album Experience sums up that period of our lives, going to raves, parties, that whole scene. The album is like a show from those times, with all the elements that people were into - piano riffs, rave stuff, all quite anthemic. Jilted went much darker, it progressed and took us much further forward. It was more electronic, much less dance-based, introducing more guitar and rock into the band's spectrum. The next album is substantially different again, but constant to all the records is the hardness, that Prodigy edge and sound, that is never absent.
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We'll break America, we've been there every year for five years. We'll make it, because we're good and if something's good there are enough cool people in the States to pick up on it. We'll do it and we'll do it the right way...our way.
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I enjoy being able to express myself and the band is the perfect way of doing that.
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If people honestly think that "Smack my Bitch up" is gonna make people go and beat up women, then we'll just do a song saying "deposit all your money in this P.O Box number.
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Firestarter' was a risk, we had never done a fully vocal track before and Keith had never sung before. It was hardly the safe option. We could have turned out the same old tunes over and over again, but that's not what The Prodigy are about. We are about taking risks.
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I'd spent years expressing myself with my body and suddenly I had the chance to express myself with my voice.
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Maxim is chilling out with age, like a good wine. He's a cross between me and Keith - when he's on stage he's got that theatrical edge, his commanding stature, people know he's in control of the mike.
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The whole idea with the 'Breathe' video was for me and Keith to be confrontational, getting at each other without actually making contact. That concept is very similar to how the track feels on stage - the tension and energy between us is electric. When we play 'Breathe' in the set it just sparks something off. It's a combination of the audience, the sound, the track, it's incredible. We tried to capture that in the video but it's very hard. As with all our videos, I imagined I was performing the song live, you feel it much more that way, but even the it is so hard to recreate that live atmosphere. Performing 'Breathe' live is ten times more powerful and overwhelming.
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Performing is the most powerful drug on earth. I get a come-down if we don't gig for a few weeks, it's unbelievable.
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When the van comes to pick me up it's great because as soon as we get to the airport I know we are going to have a laugh. As soon as the shows start, we become a unit, one of four people. Within that unit I feel safe.
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When, and if, I get to 65, I'd like to say that I did everything - the lot. I'd like to think I bedded loads of babes and lived out my ultimate sex fantasies. I'd like to think I'd been through every colour with my hair and everywhere that could have been pierced on my body and been pierced. Even if all my beloved tattoos have gone saggy by then, at least I can stand up and say, I did it. Anyhow, can you think of any other job I could do? My school results were terrible and I don't know how to wallpaper or do anything else.Without this group and this job,I could be making lives a little more miserable for everyone by being the nasty one on the counter at a McDonald's somewhere. Think about it.
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Look, at the end of the day, we do what we do because it suits us. Don't you think it's kind-of cool to have a band that offends MTV, that puts out a video that real fans have to dig around for, or stay up late to see? The point is to be true to yourself otherwise you may as well give up.
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From day one when I first heard Liam's music I knew the potential was massive - that first tape I heard had a serious impact, it was so original. Every tune he has written since then has been a progression, going off at tangents, doing the opposite of what people expect him to.
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I get a buzz from being tired during and after a gig. I enjoy that weariness, it tells me I am putting something in. I wouldn't be pleased if I felt fresh at the end of the show. As soon as 'Breathe' kicks in, it all goes mad and I am constantly rolling till the end of the set, which is massively draining.
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That didn't really matter, how you judge how successful you are is basically when you turn up to do a gig and people come and have a good time.
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When the music evolved away from the more typically dance-based, keyboard-heavy elements, into what you could call more rock 'n' roll, with guitars and hints of verses and choruses, it opened things up to the band on a totally new level. In many ways, 'Firestarter' represents that turning point, with the full vocal track especially. Having said that, it was hardly traditional, it's not exactly in the conventional pop format, not by a long way. Liam's stuff is still very twisted, even when he dabbles with more accepted forms.
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Before the gig I am not thinking of anything, I keep my mind completely clear and empty. I don't even think of the gig, it's as if I was in a room on my own, I shut all the distractions out and don't like to be bothered by anybody. The first time I start to think of the gig is when we leave the dressing room and head for the stage, but even then I am still empty - it is not until we are introduced that I switch on and rapidly become focused. I have never had stage fright.
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I go in and out of the studio in sporadic periods, I don't go in there for hours on end. I'm looking for that initial vibe, be it from a beat, a sound, a loop, whatever. Nothing is planned, nothig is deliberate.
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'Firestarter' was like that. Keith heard the track as an instrumental and thought it was wicked and said he couldn't wait to dance to it on stage. He sat down there for a while and then said 'I would love to put some vocals on this'. We put the actual words down in a London studio, and I can't explain the feeling me and Keith got that night, driving home listening to the tape, playing it over and over again. I knew then it was something original, that I had achieved something.
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All Prodigy music is raw, and that will never change, the production is raw, the sounds are dirty, you can't get away from that. Take it or leave it.