Few bands have covered as much territory as Klaxons. from their unfortunate and unfair nu-rave pigeon-hole, they have gone on to cover everything from electro, to rock, to pop, to psychedelia - working with the best of the rock world as well as the likes of LCD Soundsystems' James Murphy. Talking to them backstage ahead of their epic show at Reading Festival, we asked them about the thread that keeps them going.
Watch our interview with Klaxons above
"We've been the only band to play every single stage, minus the main stage," said singer and keyboardist James Righton. "In a heavier world, there are certain bands like Biffy or Foo Fighters that can do V Festival but also Download."
Simon Taylor-Davis added : "I do think we're an incredibly confusing band. I think we've tried to cover too many things in too short a space. We've made a rock record with Ross Robinson, arguably the king of nu-metal - he's made records by Blood Brothers, At The Drive In, Limp Bizkit. We made a pop record with Gorgon City with Erol Alkan on it, and we made our first record with a great indie producer. I think we're perhaps confused a lot of people."
James added: "Some people probably love certain things that we do, and probably hate other things - we're kind of a Marmite kind of bands for people. I don't know of many bands that have gone through as many drastic changes in sounds as we have."
Watch our interview with the band above, discussing festival nightmares, 'genuinely terrifying' death threats from techno fans, how to confuse people and their crossover to the mainstream and back again.
