Words: Michael Spadoni

Photo: Stephane Gallois

REAX: What was the local electronic music scene like in Liverpool when you started? Do you think it helped your band in any way to have local support, or was your popularity more international from the beginning?
DH: In Liverpool, we stuck out like a sore thumb, we were the antithesis of what was going on there. In not just Liverpool, but Britain as a whole, we spent our first two years trying to justify why we existed at all. I read back through old interviews and I can’t imagine anyone asking anyone the same questions now, it was so retarded. We were questioned constantly about why we used old analog synthesizers. Those things are common currency now. In a way, I feel that we were the sacrificial lamb of analog synthesizers.

In the beginning of our career, “Britain’s Official History of Rock” had none of the bands we actually liked in it. Maybe now they are. Nowadays if you open up Q Magazine or whatever, you’ll find bands like My Bloody Valentine, Kraftwerk, Stereolab, and others like that, but when we started these were all bands that were not recognized. There was a disconnect that happened after bands like The Stone Roses, the Manchester scene, Acid House, and ecstasy culture came around. Things have since changed there.

REAX: How were you received in the U.S.?
DH: In America, you had a post-Depeche Mode period, whereas in Britain, it didn’t really exist. At the get go, we were received very warmly, especially in places like New York.

REAX: Do you feel that being signed to a larger label helps Ladytron or are you looking forward to the freedom that other bands have now with releasing music on their own?
DH: We started independently, so we were never reliant on anybody. With all of our experiences, we have seen every permutation of why the music industry of the past does not work anymore. A major used to be where bands developed an audience over a period of four or five albums and it became a channel of communication. When you partner with a label that understands you, that likes the band and is logical about things, like Nettwerk is and Emperor Norton was, you find symbiosis. It’s not about the death of record labels; it’s just that the major labels are fucked because they’re run by bullshitters. There are so many people who work for those labels that don’t care about music or the bands they work with.  That’s why they don’t work and that’s why so many people are losing their jobs. The smaller, driven labels that care about the music that they put out are the ones that are going to survive. It’s really very simple.

There are certain things that you have to delegate in order to be creative, and there are people who work for our label who are really good at doing those things. But it’s also important to have a channel of communication with your audience and it’s important that the actual voice of the band is the band, rather than someone just pretending.

REAX: Most electronic bands don’t last longer than one good album. What would you attribute your longstanding popularity to?
DH: When we started, we had a really awkward attitude and we were a difficult band to work with. We didn’t have a manager and everything we did was completely independent. We were just basically doing our own thing. We had an imprint in the States and they got our shit together for us. A lot of things that bands did were a waste of energy and we weren’t prepared to do them. I think people appreciate the fact that we haven’t played the game in the normal way. We have an audience, but we’ve never had the hype. The shows are sold out, but it’s not like we’re mainstream. When we started, we didn’t want to be a normal band, that was the worst thing we could possibly be. We were right all along.

Ladytron.com