Liam Howlett Spills The Beans

  As the unanswered phone continues to ring it finally stops to the sound of a soft spoken Canadian. It’s former All Saint Natalie Appleton and she dutifully informs me that her husband has gone out. But fear not, he’ll be back in a matter of minutes. At the second attempt of calling, an even softer spoken yet sharply accented Essex man picks up, it’s Liam Howlett…   How are you Liam? Had a nice weekend? "Yeah it was cool man. Went to Thorpe Park and then the Zoo. Sometimes you’ve got to do that ****ing shit to bring you back to reality."   You had a good time at the V festival. Didn’t the wife buy you a white dog? "Nah that’s bullshit. While I was talking to the NME the missus comes over with this tiny dog and I’m thinking “What the **** is this?” but it was all good fun. V’s one of those family friendly festivals so we had a bit of a mental party as it was my birthday."   Didn’t your wife buy you a bus the year before? (Says with puff-chest pride) "Yeah."   Where is it? "In my drive. I’ve got as massive drive and we live near Stansted airport so people must look down and think “What the **** is that?”"   Any plans to take it on tour? "I’m not ****ing Cliff Richard! Nah it stays put so I decked it out. We have meetings in there with the band."   You’ve got a ‘best of’ coming out in October, that’s usually the sign of the beginning of the end for most bands? "(Says perplexed) Is it out in October? I’m not sure. (I assure him the release date is October 17th) The contract we signed with XL was always to make album number five the best of and I’m happy with that. It’s a best of with a twist as I’m not sure what’s going on disc two as of yet."   In saying that, you’ve already committed to a new album in 2006. "Yeah it’s gonna be huge. We’ve got the main players back so it’s gonna be a lot more melodic than (last album) Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned. We’re a lot more of a force together, there’s a lot more brand power."   Is that to suggest you’re looking for another commercial juggernaut like Fat Of The Land? "I never write music with the intention that it’s gonna sell loads of records but I do keep an ear out for melody and the production process, I don’t tend to think about commercial value. I was happy with AONO but when I played it back to Keith he wasn’t feeling it. It was something I needed to put together on my own and I love it, I don’t give a shit what anyone else thinks."     On the forthcoming UK tour will you be playing a straight best of? "Nah that’s boring. I want to keep the main components of the tracks but just to run it as a best of is boring and introspective. I feel like it’s a new era for us but I’m not going to give away too much stuff."   You’ve been writing a lot of tracks on the road, will any of these be previewed? "Probably not. If they do some shit will swipe them off the net and then it’s an exclusive to no one. I’m holding these ones back as I’m really happy with the stuff I’ve put together with Keith and Maxim."   What do you think of Keith and Maxims solo efforts? "Each to their own really. I suppose they needed an outlet after Baby’s Got A Temper (The Prodigy’s poorly received 2002 comeback single). It was just a time where we weren’t happy and it was shit so we all agreed to take a break from it. Personally, solo albums never work for me but their stuff was OK. I just wish they’d let me put some good ****ing beats on there!"   Any plans for a Dirtchamber sessions part 2? "Definitely. It probably won’t come out on XL recordings but there will be a mix very soon. The problem with the first one was getting clearance on all the different samples I used and being fairly pissed off the whole mix didn’t make it to disc. I probably won’t do a live mix of it and pre-empt what I’m gonna be playing, which is bit shit."