Brothers promise psychedelic chemical experiments at BDO

The Chemical Brothers

Britain's Chemical Brothers have twirled a lot of knobs, gazed into computer monitors for countless hours and double-clicked millions of times in their eleven year pursuit of sonic ecstasy. Yet that hasn't quelled their appetite for electronic music.

"We still have that wonder of going into the studio and that feeling that anything is possible," Chemical Brother Tom Rowlands recently said from London.

He and the other brother, Ed Simons, play Auckland's Big Day Out (BDO) on January 21. The duo have clocked up more than 8 million album sales with a winning combination of visceral drum breaks, epiphonal synth programming and inspired collaborative rock anthemry.

While their music is some of the most futuristic pop to sell in such vast quantities, Rowlands, oddly enough, says he looks to the past for at least some of his inspiration.

"We really respect the pioneers who have gone before. I listen to a lot of sixties experimental music when the synthesiser was a new instrument and there was the feeling that anything could happen with these machines.

"We're still excited by the fact that when early synthesisers were built, people hadn't worked out what they were for - were they an experimental machine or were they something to make music with?

"We like that confusion, that's something that definitely feeds into our music."

But Rowlands also says the Chemical Brothers' desire to innovate is accompanied by the desire to connect with people.

Although he enjoys abstract experimental music Rowlands says the Chemical Brothers like to tread a more accesible path.

"We want to think about emotion as well - that's hopefully where our records exist."

"They are full of interesting sounds and different things happening but they still are aware that people are going to listen to them and that we want to get something that people instinctively react to."

He says the Chemical Brothers experience and background performing and dj-ing in clubs has given them a strong sense of the need to entertain.

"You're really aware that there's a purpose for music, it's not just music for the sake of music - it's music to change the way you feel."

The duo's fifth studio album Push the Button will be released in January and Rowlands believes they've been able to achieve a fine balance of innovation, tunefulness and energy.

"It's a harder, tighter and leaner album than the last one but it's probably more melodic."

A feature of the Chemical Brothers' work has been their collaborations with artists like Oasis' Liam Gallagher, Beth Orton, Mercury Rev's Jonathan Donoghue and The Flaming Lips' Wayne Coyne.

"For us the interesting thing about collaborations is to work with people who have a different way of working and a different way of looking at music. That's where interesting things happen. It's the surprise -- that moment of 'Oh I didn't think of doing it like that'."

That continues on Push the Button, with its first single Galvanize featuring A Tribe Called Quest rapper Q-Tip.

Push the Button also features Kele Okereke of new Brit art-rock outfit Bloc Party and hotly tipped London vocal group The Magic Numbers.

Rowlands says while he has come across an attitude that it's somehow not legitimate to play electronic music live, the Chemical Brothers view their shows as yet another opportunity to experiment.

He says the band's music is all sequenced, "but it's how you work those sequences".

"Our skill is writing the music, but also having a feel as to how to rearrange it and make different versions of it when we play live."

"We've worked out a way that we can keep it interesting and keep it exciting.

"For us electronic music is a brilliant place to experiment, it's not so rigid about song structure especially how we play live... for us we find some interesting combination of sounds that maybe we haven't found before, we can keep on it and make something different out of it."

Rowlands, who plans to spend a week with his family at a beach somewhere in New Zealand before the BDO had a "brilliant experience" last time the band played the festival.

"The crowd was so up for it and so excited and so enthusiastic."

He says the Chemical Brothers' BDO show will draw from their back catalogue as well as showcasing new material. He also promises "an amazing visual element".

The band will be accompanied by visual artist Adam Smith who has worked with them since their first live show and has developed his work in parallel with the band.

Combined with the music, Rowland promises the show will be an "an intense psychedelic experiment".

* The Chemical Brothers perform at the Big Day Out in Auckland on January 21.

- NZPA