Ahead of the release of their ninth studio album, I sat down with Ed to reflect on the long legacy and discography of the Chemical Brothers. I think it would go straight into your top five best?! Ed Simons: Yeah, I was pleased with it. I think for me it harks back to the original burst of albums. I think the guest vocalists have been a great part of our music but perhaps it kind of diluted the sense of the two of us.
And so for us to make an album I felt like it had to have that sense of taking you from one place to another, lots of different emotional tones but with an overarching aesthetic.
Was that intentional? Looking back to the time when you first met in Manchester 30 years ago? You try and reach a juxtaposition between too many days in the studio and one day less. That would be a terrible album, our Brexit album! That smiling face and a thumping bass ideology. There was a little split in your audience when you posted that Brexit Planet Dust meme with Trump and Brexit on Facebook. The entitlement culture is incredible, like how people think they have the right to tell you how things are all the time.
You DJed half a dozen shows in to test tracks out, is that still a crucial part of the process? So when it came to the decision β should we do some shows before the album? It made it more exciting for us working out these new tracks to play live, and feeling how they fit in with the older numbers.
Having that time off from Tom β he even played Glastonbury on his own with the visuals director next to him in your usual place β did that strengthen your relationship, do you think? Having a bit of time apart? I mean Adam Smith [who did the visuals] joined and it was fun and it was fun for me to go and actually watch The Chemical Brothers, which I did in Paris.
