RS: I've heard Pendulum described as Prodigy for the new
Millennium. How do you respond to that kind of comment?
Gareth (of Pendulum): Well I can understand why people would say that
because we've followed a very similar path to them. It's through no
design of our own, it's just the way things happened. They came from
a really sort of insular, closed-off genre of hardcore dance music and
they just kind of grew out of it and started introducing more elements
in to their music and changing it that way. They became popular
outside of the genre they were born from and I think that's what we've
done as well. So in those regards we are very similar, but other than
that I mean Liam himself, we've got our sound and he's got his sound
and we're completely different.
RS: You've also worked with Freestylers, how did you meet up with him?
Gareth (of Pendulum): That was through out old label boss, Dan Fresh
from Bad Company. They really liked our tunes and they were keen to
hook up with us, so we hooked up and did a tune swap with us for our
album and we did a tune with them for their album.
RS: What was it like interfacing drum and bass with break beat together?
Gareth (of Pendulum): It was cool and we sort of stuck with it. We've
got quite a few break beat tempo tunes on our new album and I think
they work well together. Breakbeat to me sounded like it was born
half out of the Miami bass scene and a little bit out of the house
scene and half out of the drum and bass scene. Obviously they took
their tempo from the slower kind of Miami base house arena, so I think
they're really compatible, they've got a lot of similar elements.
RS: How is performing this music live affecting how you think the
next album will come out?
Gareth (of Pendulum): We try not to let the fact that we perform live
affect the music as such because then we're going start thinking how
are we going to play that live? In the last instance, we just ignored
that and said we'll figure out how to play it live later. Let's just
let the music be as complicated or as simple as it needs to be
regardless of the fact we play live and we'll just deal with the
playing live element later. Playing live won't affect it too much but
now that we've sort of grown as a band and we've got more musicians
involved and we've got a drummer and a guitarist - they're more
permanent members. We're probably going to write a bit more together,
which could be interesting. Both our drummer and guitarist played on
In Silico and they just played what music was already written. So
maybe next time we'll try and make it more of a band effort.
RS: I read that you performed with Linkin Park. How did you meet
up with them?
Gareth (of Pendulum): They asked us to be part of a Projekt Revolution
gig that they were doing, which was a pleasure because it was a good
cause. It was wicked. We're not massive fans of theirs obviously,
but it was good to be involved in something that big and it was a good
opportunity to get out and play to a big audience. Jay-Z and N*E*R*D,
their performances were absolutely amazing. It's always good to meet
those guys and we really respect what they do.
RS: Pendulum also did a cover of a Coldplay record for a charity
of some sort?
Gareth (of Pendulum): Yes. For those who don't know, Radio One in the
UK invite band on to the radio station to play their new single live
and so we agreed to do that. Then they ask the bands that they have
on to do a cover of a song that's on current rotation on the radio
station. We looked at the list and there were a lot of songs on there
that were just a bit too obvious for us, they were like oh that's
pretty obvious that Pendulum would pick that kind of tune to cover.
So instead we thought let's just pick something completely out there,
and I think the opportunity to turn Coldplay into metal, drum and bass
was too tempting. They loved it apparently, and the processes go to
charity.
RS: Now a little bit on the goofier side – since you started in
Australia we always have to ask - Dannii or Kylie, which one do you
like better?
Gareth (of Pendulum): Kylie is gorgeous and she's such a trooper as
well, surviving her illness and getting back on the horse and getting
out there. You go to love Kylie, she's the kind of woman you could
take home.
RS: What would you like to say to all of your fans out there?
Gareth (of Pendulum): To our American fans, I think we've got
something that they're really going to like. We thought maybe the
American audience were going to be a bit more sort of laidback or
something just because they hadn't heard of us before and weren't sure
what to expect. But the Coachella audience was absolutely nuts and it
was such a good feeling to get a response like that in the States.
We're touring the States for five weeks. I can't wait because I love
seeing America. I've toured there twice before as a DJ and that was
really good, so with the band, it's going to be a really good
experience So definitely come down and see us, I think we've
definitely got something for everybody.
(Pendulum launch their first ever headlining US tour on October 1st in Boston. Check out the Listening Booth for a special "Tour of the America" megamix and concert footage.) Posted September 22, 2008