 |
Outside inputElectronic icons Underworld stay tuned to
|
by ERIK LEIJON Despite originally forming in the late ’70s, seminal British electronic group Underworld’s Rick Smith and Karl Hyde have embraced new technology like a couple of youthful computer geeks fresh out of I.T. school. The group began updating their Web site on a daily basis in 2000, with pictures, links or whatever the free-flowing creative mind of singer Karl Hyde could produce at the end of each day. Believe it or not, they haven’t skipped a day since. “Over the last nine years, it has become inbred in me,” Hyde says, adding that his mind has become accustomed to thinking about that daily update. Without a new album to promote, the Mirror and Hyde conversed about Underworld’s future-minded artistic forays. Mirror: Do you think your online work will one day stand alongside your musical and visual output with the same artistic merit? Karl Hyde: I hope so. A few years ago, when we started the RiverRun series of online-only downloadable EPs, we took great pains to tell people that we felt the three editions were as important to us as any album we had ever put out. We have done Web radio shows in the past, which is the equivalent of a regular gig for us—it just happens to be a different location. There’s a lot about Underworld that exists as an Internet item, and without that outlet, Rick and I would feel very restricted. It’s an important part of what we do. M: Has a lot of Underworld’s creative direction in recent years concentrated on seeking out new forms of media? KH: It has, like the work we’re doing with Apple at the moment. We have our first iPhone application [the remixing tool iDrum] and the first-ever live gig stream to an iPhone [for their Aug. 7 show in Oakland]. We can’t always get our lorries and our crews around the world when we want to, but if we wake up in the morning and want to do something over the Internet, we can. If we’ve discovered some new records that we want to tell people about, we can do an online radio show, and do some live jamming. M: You guys have also lent your name to projects promoting other artists. Did you ever think you would use the Underworld name as a brand? KH: We were really inspired by the guy who gave us our biggest musical education, John Peel [the former BBC radio broadcaster who died in 2004]. We thought if we could use whatever popularity we had to bring attention to other artists who don’t enjoy that kind of popularity, then we should do what we could to give them exposure. We’re passionate about outsiders, because I think that’s what we are, and have been since the end of the ’80s. The Web radio and the links we use to steer people towards our favourite artists are just as important to us as records. M: Your upcoming show is going to be largely improvisational? KH: The members of our production team have been with us for so long, we tell them to do what they want. An hour before we go on stage, they’ll pretty much decide what we play, although Rick and I will still improvise and change the order. We don’t rehearse, so even Rick and I sometimes find ourselves looking back at all this cool stuff going on behind us, and we’re awestruck. WITH DAMIAN LAZARUS AT |
