Yellow Advertiser

Essex Pistols

• 20th June 1997
• Lisa Mundy

From the Yellow Advertiser, on the 20th June 1997 p.23 [By Lisa Mundy], exclusively talking to frontman Keith Flint.

On 30th June, sixty minutes of mayhem will be unleashed into the world. So far The Prodigy have remained tight-lipped about there forthcoming, no doubt confrontational offering, 'Fat of The Land', despite desperate pleas from major magazines and journals across the country to spill the beans.

Somehow, I managed to collar Keith Flint, Mr Chaos Incarnate himself, for an indepth chat, not just about the new album and future projects, but also there hair products, piercings and life in Braintree.

"We're not from the trendiest part of town, this rasw, hard, big sound comes from a little place," enthused Keith. "That's pretty much what Fat of The Land is about. "

It's surprising to many that the world's hardest-hitting dance band comes from Essex and wants to keep it that way.

"I'm staying here where I am. I'm happy where I live. Most people still accept you for what you are here," explained Keith. "I'm still old Flinty, you know?

"You get some dorks who tell strangers where you live, which is a bit silly. I respect people's privacy and I still get the same respect from most people.

"I know some people think I look a bit weird, like this aggressive, scary thing but at the end of the day, so what?

"I go out and about as I am, my hair stays like it is. "

Those trademark horns must take a bit of work? "Nah, I get this great hair wax in Southend and what with not washing it too much, up it stays!

"I thought I looked more frightening when my hair was all over my face. There's a lot of scary things happening in the world but I'm not one of them. " Tell that to the people who claim Keith's appearance on Top of The Pops scared their kids. "Yeah, I heard about that. Weird. "

But it's not just the hair. Keith's tongue and nose piercings add to the deranged spectacle. Keith said: "I've been into body piercingfor about seven or eight years now. "

There's more piercing to come in less visible, but much more more painful, places. "The thought of having that bouncing around in  my box, still sore, while I'm on stage isn't too appealing at the moment but I will give it a go. I don't mind a bit of pain, it's quite funreally. "

All the band members share similar musical tastes: "It seems to be the harder edge, more aggressive sound that we all go for. Ilove Rage Against The Machine. They're great on stage. The audiences love it, you see loads of moshing and stage diving. "

Getting to work on a track with Tom Morello (Rage's guitarist), for the new superhero film "Spawn" must be pretty impressive then? "Oh, yeah, Tom is a really cool guy. They only gave us a matter of days to get it all together but it's great. "

Fat of the Land features even more collaborations - with the likes of Kula Shaker's Crispian Mills, Republica's Saffron and Kool  Keith aka Doctor Octagon - but didn't the band turn down the chance to work with other major stars like David Bowie?

"It wasn't quite like that really," Keith tells me. "David Bowie's okay, you know? Last time I saw him in Germany, he popped his head round the door to say hello. He's like a best mate down town. We just wanted to concentrate on putting our full effort into The Prodigy. "

And that's exactly what they've been doing. After our conversation Keith was preparing to head off to Sweden. After that theyface another 28 dates as part of their current gruelling 40 date tour, stopping off at Chelmsford's V97 along the way.

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