Following their last album Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned there were rumours the lads were finished and another Liam Howlett solo act would have only confirmed it. But thankfully, that didn’t happen, and we should be proud of them, they stand as a shining example of our Great British Culture.1997’s release of Fat Of The Land was the most anticipated album of the year, and the quickest selling album that decade, beating other big sellers, such as the Spice Girls, Oasis and Radiohead and easily became the biggest album of The Prodigy’s very well established career. Tracks such as Firestarter, Smack My Bitch Up and Breathe spat all over the music industry and like the unruly rebel leaders they truly are, gave the world the finger, and got away with it. The rave scene they developed in South London quickly grew on the American music scene and as quickly as it crossed the one sea, punk raves spread like a disease over the other six and into every country and establishment with a PA system, stereo and someone who can relate.
Invaders Must Die has resurrected the monster, poised to destroy, to be unleashed on the world. Tracks such as Take Me To The Hospital and Omen have already been given the nod by Liam and the boys “We haven’t played this tune live yet but I know this tune is going to drop live for us, we can already tell it’s going to be a fans favourite.” Even Omen Reprise puts an interesting twist on how this album plays out “It’s like you get hit with a baseball bat, then get a breather and then back in and then back slapped across your face again” says Maxim. The story of how the albums name came about is an interesting one also, Liam explains “Three years ago we decided the band was in a good place and wanted to make the record. There had been quite a bit of paranoia then, people were starting to infiltrate our unit, starting to bleed into what we were and we needed to re-establish ourselves as a unit. Can’t remember whether it was Keith or Maxim that said it, but one of them went, ‘fuck it, invaders must die!’. I was like that’s the album, title right there. It stayed with us. It’s about protecting what’s yours.” With that the albums creation was a go, like a black ops mission, the band declared themselves as a unit and marched on “There’s no paranoia any more, we’re really tight. We’re not f**king around man, we’re The Prodigy and we’re back!”
From the start this album was going to be a declaration of independence “The process started off really well with ‘Colours’ and ‘Writings on the Wall’ which became ‘Omen’ but then it was a year later that we really started on the album” says Liam. The creation of such a beautiful piece of anarchy never lost its roots however, “When we first started I really wanted to get away from the usual way of working with me writing beats and building the tracks around them. This time I wanted to start with real songs. But that quickly changed!” Never escaping the fundamentals reveals just how true the saying “don’t fix something that isn’t broken” really is.
The lads had it going from the start with some of the tracks they’re hitting back with. Tunes like Warriors Dance and World’s On Fire have definitly got that Prodigy feel “It’s a total look back to 1990-91 rave tunes. It sounds really fresh but it also sounds like early Prodigy” says Liam. Also not without some stealing I might add, The Prodigy as a rave sensation would blatently admit that they ripped off a song, wouldn’t they? “Yeah, we ripped the vocal off from the original, cos that’s our business, that’s what we do, we’re pirates, we steal things and make them our own” says Liam.
Then outside involvement from other well established artists on the track Run With The Wolves created a new spin on the albums writing process, “A track that Dave Grohl got involved with” Explained Keith. “All started with an email to Liam saying ‘listen man I’ve finished touring and I’m bang up for doing something. Liam said he was just finishing the album but Dave said listen, I’m just going to go in the studio and put down some drums, which he did. A hard drive arrived at our studio and out of that come the process of writing this. We had the vocal on another track already but they just weren’t working. They had too much venom for the track. But we still enjoyed the excitement of it and what it was saying and this was the ideal opportunity to make it work. Liam redid the track, then we redid the vocals and we sent it over to Dave who was like ‘yeah I was really hoping it was going to be something like this’. He was really excited and worked some more on it.”
“I think we’re more relevant than ever now” Liam explains “I think we were at our least relevant at the peak of our success. And that matters to me. I want to make a good record that people recognise. I’ve always lived in a fantasy world, we’re not like a pop band you know, like the Kaiser Chiefs who are pop with guitars but they’re not from any culture. So I live in this fantasy world where we come from a wave of culture, which was the next most important culture after punk or ska. I think we should be protected man. I do, I think l we should come under some kind of protection act. Like how Oasis are held up in their world, then that’s how we should be seen, as leaders of one of the country’s great cultural scenes. Rave bleeds into everything it’s grounded to everything in the same way that punk is. Elements of rave come out all of the time. That’s why it should be protected! Rave is a part of UK culture and everyone should be proud of it.” And I think he’s right. The Prodigy have shot to fame since they were recognised as ‘not another one track wonder’ on the dance scene, and since then released albums and tracks that makes Basshunter look like a schoolboy and created an image that dishes out more fear than the devil himself. A true british national treasure.
On March 2nd the new album will be released, and thus will be the fifth official album released by The Prodigy. New tour dates have been released on The Prodigy’s website for their Invaders Tour and you can pre-order the album online so keep a look out. The boys are back, and they’re taking no prisoners.
By Carl Gwynne
Photo Credit: Paul Dugdale
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