England's Chemical Brothers have been pumping out block rockin' beats for more than a decade. University chums Ed Simons and Tom Rowlands emerged as the posterboys for the electronica revolution in 1995 with their mind-bending dance rock debut, Exit Planet Dust. Since then, the unassuming pair of Medieval History majors dragged underground club culture into the mainstream thanks to the arena-sized breakbeat anthems "Song to the Siren," "Setting Sun," "Block Rockin' Beats" and "Out of Control," which mixed hip-hop samples, rock, techno and psychedelia into tracks even rockers could twirl to.

While many of their techno brethren have fallen off the map, the Chems continue to stretch the limits of dance music. They've collaborated with folkie Beth Orton, Oasis' Noel Gallagher and former Verve singer Richard Ashcroft, and today they release their career-spanning compilation, Singles 93-03, which features a new tune with Flaming Lips singer Wayne Coyne. The Chemical Brothers, who are also working on their fifth studio album, still approach making music as if it's a gift they can't wait to unwrap.

What was your goal, if any, when you started making music?

Tom Rowlands: To entertain myself. I wanted to learn guitar after I heard "Windmills of Your Mind" from [the 1968 movie] The Thomas Crown Affair. I went to school the next day and asked the music teacher to teach me that tune . . . which took about a year. I was in bands in secondary school, and [eventually] I met Ed at university and we made a record because we had the summer ahead of us and didn't want to get jobs.

Ed Simons: My goal was fun. We never planned to go far or around the world. We used to love the idea of DJs playing our records in clubs, and that was enough.

When did you realize you'd made it?

Simons: When we were working on the Chemical Beats record. I thought there was something in it that felt like it needed to be made. I thought, "People will love that."

Rowlands: The moment when I realized this is what we do is when we made Exit Planet Dust. We were in a proper studio for three weeks, which seemed like a massive amount of time to us. Someone believed in us enough to let us make an album and put it out.

What's the strangest thing you've ever seen at one of your shows?

Rowlands: We had a gig in Madrid and were clearing our stuff off the stage when we saw that a unicycle had been thrown on stage, which is pretty cool. I like the idea that there was someone in the crowd who was on a unicycle and was so disgusted he had to throw it up on stage -- or was so elated that he threw it and had to walk home.

Can you imagine jumping around on stage when you're fifty or sixty?

Simons: Ten years ago, I couldn't imagine doing this when I was thirty, but then you get there and you don't feel any different. I'm hoping that when I get to fifty I will feel different.

Rowlands: I don't know. I can't imagine being on tour at that age, but I'll be making music, I hope. I get quite inspired by strange electronic records made by old avant garde composers like Morton Subotnick, which are as mad as those made by young guys like me, or as twisted as anything from Aphex Twin. You can still make funny noises when you're old.

What records never leave your DJ box?

Rowlands: Over the years we've always made our own cut-ups and acetates to play. Those never leave the box -- I have one copy and Ed has the only other copy. They're ten condensed minutes of edits and different people's beats we put together. The latest one is called "Go Back."

Simons: "Doin' It After Dark" by Carlos Berrios. That's been in there the whole time. Not a definite crowd pleaser, but a fantastic record.

What is a guaranteed crowd mover?

Simons: "Lobotomie" by Emmanuel Top. That's an acid groover that never fails.

What's the first record you remember hearing?

Rowlands: Abbey Road, in the car. I was really into "Maxwell's Silver Hammer," but it's not my favorite now.

Simons: Rubber Soul reminds me of being a child. My mum had all the Beatles records, and it had the most alluring cover.

Describe the feeling when you first played "Song to the Siren" in a club.

Simons: It was such a strange record at the time because it was 20 BPM slower than dance music was then, so people stopped in their tracks and were suddenly dancing to a slow record with a huge breakbeat.

Rowlands: We'd play in clubs where we were warming up and it was no big deal. I remember Andy Weatherall played it at a big club at the end of the night and it sounded totally different from all the other records. People were looking around like, "What is that record?" That was really exciting. I remember talking about songs like that when we'd be on the bus home from the Hacienda club.

Where is your favorite record shop?

Rowlands: If I'm shopping for records to get inspired by, I will look at interesting instruments or musicians or a good cover. I like a shop in New York called the Sound Library on Avenue A. The people who work there have a really good idea of what is good and there's lots of space to listen to the records.

Simons: Sounds of the Universe in Soho and Honest John's on Portobello Road near my home in West London. They've got amazing records from Jamaica, and I've never walked out without buying something great.

What's the strangest record you own?

Simons: One with a witch casting spells on her ex-lover. It's a quite demented, evil record.

How have you survived years after the techno revolution has faded?

Rowlands: We have never been too closely associated with one thing. Dig Your Own Hole moves all over, so you have "The Private Psychedelic Reel," but you also have "Block Rockin' Beats."

Simons: We never took a break. We love what we do and we're always working and looking to make better music.

Who have you had to turn down for remixes?

Rowlands: We got asked to remix "Temptation" by New Order and we said no. That's too good as it is -- it doesn't need us.

Name another song you would never dare remix.

Rowlands: "Sympathy for the Devil."

GIL KAUFMAN
(September 30, 2003)