EDM — aka electronic dance music — has been reinvented, redefined and rebranded six ways to Sunday in the past ten years. With every Calvin Harris, Skrillex and Martin Garrix, the genre gets younger, shinier and more commercial.
But to the Chemical Brothers, a UK duo that’s been making electronica for nearly 30 years, it’s ‘alien’. And it won’t stop them doing their thing.
With their just released single C-H-E-M-I-C-A-L, Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons are bringing their set — whatever genre you want to call it — to du Arena on Yas Island on November 25, as part of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix after-race concert series.
Ahead of their gig, Rowlands told Gulf News tabloid! what they really miss about the old days — before all this digital malarkey.
You guys are on the bill with Rihanna (Nov 27) and Lionel Richie (Nov 26) in Abu Dhabi. Are you fans of both or either?
You can’t mess with Lionel, can you? I saw him perform at Glastonbury and he’s got his thing. That man has really got some tunes. Rihanna, you know she’s amazing with her very own style. I mean it’s quite a good spread of music over the weekend, something for everybody.
Electronic music — and the market for it — has evolved massively since the 90s. What have been the worst and best changes you’ve witnessed?
There’s no best and no worst — there’s just different. You can really listen to anything nowadays. I still find that when I’m searching for records, I still buy lots of vinyl records that have never made it to being digitised. I still find myself in record shops buying records. It’s incredible to think of something and being able to hear it. It’s a dream. The downside is that before, when you made that physical journey to go to the record shop, buy the record, take it home and listen to it, you’[d] already invested in it. I remember when I was a kid; you save up and buy the record. Even if you bought it and listened to it and you kind of put some effort in to try to get into it before admitting defeat and thinking you’ve wasted £10.99 (Dh50) — that concept is gone now, I think. You used to buy a record for the one track you know and then you realise there’s a third track on the B side that’s good. There’s something about giving music a chance. I do it myself — you get excited about a record and listen to it a couple of times and then I’m not as excited about it. Whilst before you would listen to a record and you [would] make an effort to get into it.
Who are some current day performers or musicians out there that have caught your eye? You mentioned albums, any performers you would like to see?
I recently saw FKA Twigs perform at Glastonbury and that was amazing. She had a really different show going on.
On average, you guys release a studio album every 2-3 years, though Born in the Echoes [released last year] came five years after Further. Any plans now for an upcoming record? What makes you decide, ‘This is the right time to release an album’?
Generally, we feel like it’s a good time to release an album when we think it’s good enough to go out, really. That’s the main thing. It seems to work like that for us. We’re always trying to make an album but it doesn’t always happen at a regular time. Like this morning, I was in the studio writing and that’s what I do every day. The records come out only when I feel they’re good enough. At the moment, we’re just working away and seeing what happens.
Entry to F1 after-race concerts is for Grand Prix ticket holders only. Tickets, from Dh695 to Dh4,685, are on sale at yasmarinacircuit.com.
