There is definitely one moment that I will always hold higher than the rest, but ever since I can remember I loved their music ever since I heard "Three Little Birdies on a Down Beat" in 1999, when my friend had another friend's copy of Exit Planet Dust and was playing it in his car as we sped along the highway reaching speeds of 90 miles per hour. What can I say, life doesn't get much better for an 18 year old sometimes.



Before that, I had discounted all but a few electronica songs as "just sounding the same," or pretty "lame" by my standards back then, whatever they were. But as I sat there grooving my ass off in my friend's car, something hit me. This stream of energy flowed through me, and the next day I picked up Surrender and became entranced when The Sunshine Underground defined an entire summer for me. In fact, it was that song that caused my friend's dad to buy the album, and I'm sure he still plays it in his car to this day.



Then later that year after I got to college, I was in a used record store perusing some cds to buy. Sooner or later I paid attention to what was playing on the PA, and I said to the clerk, "Wow! What is this? This is fucking awesome." It was the title track off of Dig your Own Hole, and I realized that I needed this album. After listening to is from beginning to end, I sat amazed, being taken through one of the most exhastive and complete music experiences in my life.



It wasn't until a few weeks later that the album was truly unlocked for me, as a friend and I shared an eigth of mushrooms for the first time, and "The Private Psychadelic Reel" transformed forever while listening to it during my first trip ever. It took on an entirely new meaning, and it moved me in a way that nothing else had ever been able. Despite the walls "breathing" and colors swirling, I found myself in the grips of something larger, some feeling or some force that the electronic rips and bursts of TPPR captured so perfectly, and somehow I felt the forces of old agreeing with what reached my ears.



My final moment which cemented a love for The Chemical Brothers came in 2002 when they played the Cow Palace with John Digweed, Sasha, and Paul Oakenfold. My two friends and I weren't planning on doing E, so we loaded up on vodka and Red Bull. However, when we got there, my friend Brett, who was the same friend that introduced me to the Chemical Brothers back in 1999, took one look at the setup, the intro DJ spinning with lights swirling around the arena, and said, "Andy, we are GOING to get some E for this show." Nervously, I agreed, and we spent a good twenty minutes walking around saying, "Ex? Ex? Anyone? Ex?"



After a number of people approached us mistakenly thinking that we were selling, we found somebody who actually was carrying. We talked him into 3 rolls for $50, and luckily he agreed. After the three of us ingested our little chemical rolls, we sat relaxing, and I wasn't sure it was going to work. My friends were obviously enjoying themselves, and I felt a little tingly, but nothing much was happening.



Then I heard it--the slow, methodical bassline of the cover of "Tomorrow Never Knows," and my friend thought it was the opener for the Chemical Brothers, and immediately after hearing "Surrender to the void," I said, "No, Brett... this IS the Chemical Brothers."



After we got down there and they opened with Come with Us, I started to dance. I reeled and bounced as both their set began to open and the ecstasy started to kick in, my virgin ears and body wandering the unknown into an amazing voyage of sound and sensation. As their set moved, so did my soul, and I was amazed as I heard for the first time a seamlessly played set. Their sound was so impressive, so raw and intense that I found myself almost near tears. The entire show was one beautifully laid out symphony--an aural tapestry spanning an entire gallery--and I both lost and found myself on the dance floor amidst an entire throng of sweaty, pounding bodies connected on one spectacular level with each set of crashing beats.



For what seemed like both an eternity and the briefest moment in time, the set came to a lull, and slowly crept back up as two suns emerged on the huge, gigantic screen. As I heard the familiar pinging melody of "The Sunshine Underground," a smile so wide crept across my face, and soon I found myself being taken higher than I ever thought possible.



At some point I looked up and saw what I perceived to be an ancient face with blood running down it crossed with that of a little girl. Their visuals were, to say the least, blowing my mind with the force of two megatons. For a moment, I was fearful of these images, and I found my feelings were at odds with each other. On the one hand, I was having the time of my life--on the other hand, I was staring into what could be a conveyed image of almost blood and murder. What happened was that I realized yes, there is such a thing as violence, hatred and inexplicable acts of evil in this world. But that evil, that negative void from which no reason or logic stems, also has a counter force: it is the most pure, loving, lifting energy trying to make its way to each and every person on this planet. I swear that moment changed me forever, and I always am able to feel it whenever I allow it to reach me.



That moment combined with a stellar performance of "The Private Psychadelic Reel" pushed me over the threshold of a Chemical Brothers enthusiast to a Chemical Brothers fanatic. In my entire life I could never have believed such a moment could exist, nor did I believe that I could ever experience such a moment. The way The Chemical Brothers were able to move me combined with those around me being moved in exactly the same way, all of us moving together as one along a beautiful, perfectly rhythmed beat, shifted my perception forever.



And ever since then, I have been trying my best to do two things: spread as much love as I can and try to get myself to wherever the Chemical Brothers should create these moments again.



Thanks for reading.



love

andy

i like chemochal good brothers music like

in 2004 when galvanize was a big hit, a dutch dj on 3fm played hey boy hey girl i got hooked on this track. After schooltime i decided to buy a cd of them at freerecordshop. Singles 93-03 was my first chemical brothers cd still love it!! That was the first time i heard The Private Psychedelic Reel, this was a really strange feeling when i heard this track the first time so energetic and powerfull. Then i borrowed Dig your Own Hole at my local library, this was the first time i heard setting sun (great powerfull track). I was totally hooked on this album 8O .



A few months later i borrowed Brothers Gonna work it out, that old skool style... i love it! this was also the first time i heard morning lemon. Few months later i got surrender a friend gave it to me he didn't like it... :( maaaaannn orange wedge so sweeeeeet. And out of control great song with great vocals! and got glint did it for me such a great song amazing!



a few days later i saw this LOVELY forum with al those sweet chemical people. first i was reading alot on this forum but 6 months ago i decided to register... but i don't have much time to visit it :'(



in january i bought come with us and exit planet dust aaaaand push the button such a great albums! come with us is still my favorite.. its like a journey through the world. and then i decided to buy al their singles now i have al their singles but not the special edits... i also have the dj sets at rex club (1&2). And i bought song to the siren, my mercury mouth and the fourteenth century sky. Now i have a great collection but it isn't complete..



Surface to air and the private psychedlic reel mean alot to me, in a difficult period of my life they gave me power.



LOVE IS ALL

Hey Den B its nice to read about your travels in the Chemical Brothers world.



I love what you had to say about The Private Psychedelic Reel and Surface To Air. They are 2 beautiful tracks that have the power to change the world in yourself - almost to the point where you believe it is possible for them to change the world. Sometimes the power of music is so strong it can carry you through the tough times if you allow it. That is one of the reasons why the Chems will always be dear to me.



Take care and I hope you can post here more often.

We all live in a state of profound isolation. No other human being can ever know what it's like to be you from the inside. No amount of reaching out to another can ever make them feel exactly what you feel.



Unless you're at a chemical brothers show.



in which case you know exactly what the majority of the people around you are feeling. Not all. There will always be someone who got a bunk pill.

toomuch'stash Escribi�:

We all live in a state of profound isolation. No other human being can ever know what it's like to be you from the inside. No amount of reaching out to another can ever make them feel exactly what you feel.



Unless you're at a chemical brothers show.



in which case you know exactly what the majority of the people around you are feeling. Not all. There will always be someone who got a bunk pill.

*snicker, snicker*



heheheh



Especially your first show.... and your first pill.... thousands of miles from home... with total strangers....



Man, I gots ta get out to a Chems show in the next 12 months. Step 1: Steal underpants. Step 2: We don't know. Step 3: See Chems gig.

I can say with authority that the pills are really inconsequential to the whole thing, because I, unlike some people I'm married to, have experienced a chemical brothers show dead sober. The feeling of a group gestalt type experience is still there, when you're really into the music.



But the pills angle really plays into it, and in this way. You could say that any concert is a likewise group mind experience, and you'd be sort of right. But most other musicians, their songs have some sort of inherent meaning. They're songs about something. The songs might describe something, and they might be meaningful in some way because you can relate them in some way to something in your own life. But the person next to you hearing the same song, doesn't get the exact same meaning. The song you lost your virginity to could be the song that the other guy heard right after his wife left him.



Those pitfalls exist to a much smaller extent at a Chems show. If they were traditional musicians, this would not be the case.



The fact is, what Tom & Ed 'play' are not synths, keyboards, eldritch and obscure bits of electronic gear, no, NO! What they play is the audience. All the gizmos and stacks of speakers, the light projectors, that weird keyboard thing that Tom likes to have sex with, those things are merely the tool with which they play the audience, like the giant electronic bow that they pull over the strings that are our central nervous systems.



The pill is really just to help you forget that anything exists outside of the moment, right there, at the show. It is not necessary, but, if you're legs are dead tired from walking around in the sun all day, and a 2 hour wait to get out of the parking lot is staring at you, the pill helps you forget that and realize that the only thing that matters is right there on the dance floor.

toomuch'stash Escribi�:

The pill is really just to help you forget that anything exists outside of the moment, right there, at the show. It is not necessary, but, if you're legs are dead tired from walking around in the sun all day, and a 2 hour wait to get out of the parking lot is staring at you, the pill helps you forget that and realize that the only thing that matters is right there on the dance floor.

Well spoken and spot on, stasheroo. I know I'd love a Chems show or DJ set completely sober. I have no doubts. I just know I'd enjoy it more and let all worries and distractions go away with a couple.



As for the pill, I agree, its ability to erase the ego and all sense of nuisance and regular reality is what makes it powerful. Perhaps the main reason I prefer E to booze or weed (which I also enjoy, of course), is the total removal of self-consciousness and worry, without getting totally mentally obliterated. Okay, yeah, I might talk a bit of codshit, but not as bad and regretful as were I to get colossally stoned or ridiculously drunk. And it's more effective at making me let go of all my hangups (weed does this too, but also makes me an incoherently jabbering mess before it makes me go sleepytime).



Now that we've hijacked the thread.......

The line between 'why i like the chemical brothers' and 'why i like the chemicals' is so fine as to be nearly invisible.

I have never seen a Chems gig while being on drugs or whatever. Ive always seen them 100% sober and i must say......AFTER the gig i felt fucking high. The feeling you get when youre on E is the same feeling you get from a Chems gig. I tried them both and ive seen them live 6 times so believe me , i know. There is no need to use anything at a Chems gig cause the music and the people and the visuals get you so high that taking anything would be too much for me! But i have to say , hearing those amazing tunes while being on mud this past NYE is something i will NEVER forget. SO my conclusion is : You dont need Chemicals to enjoy the Chemicals - but the Chemicals won't exactly hurt either ;)



AND NOW BACK ON TOPIC !

Why i like the Chems.



This might end up in a monster post....i apologize in advance.

I could just say their music is the best music ever made and their gigs are fucking amazing - but it's SO much more than that.



First a short story of my first introduction to the Chems :

Ive always known the tunes HBHG and BRB and i liked them - but that was when i was quite young and i was more into crappy pop music back then. I also knew the tune "This beats are made for breaking" and i LOVED this tune- my friends had a Tony Montana remix of it and i knew it was from the same artists as BRB and HBHG but that was all i knew , and cared about.



One day , about 4 years ago , on holidays with friends in the south of France , a friend had a mix cd with My Elastic Eye on it.

When i heard this track...Wait i'm gonna get my cd's i need to listen to them when i type this. Okay i'm back.



When i heard this track it was unlike every other track ive ever liked or lets say , unlike every other track ive ever heard. I was well into rock and metal music back than but when i heard this tune its like a whole different world opened for me. My Elastic Eye was a door that opened to a world where i am now. What i remember most about hearing it for the first time is the hi-hat. My ex bf would ALWAYS 'sing along' with the hi-hat because it comes in quite a strange way. I don't know how to explain it really. I remember so well that i thought " What the fuck IS THIS ?! " and i am asking my friends " What is this track please play it again its fucking amazing! " But the funny part was - Nobody had any idea who this track was from.



ANyway , i was living in Paris at the time. I had no money and i was fucking lonely and unhappy and one day i decided to go to Virgin Megastore on the Champs Elysees to hopefully buy some happiness.

I see that there is a sale and i see that there is a Chemical Brothers cd on sale. Remembering HBHG , BRB and These Beats Are....i thought " Lets buy it ". I went back to my hotel with my roommate of the time and i put this cd on my discman. I remember this so well - i was sitting on my bed and i'm going trough the cd and suddenly i hear the AMAZING SONG OF THE HOLIDAYS! My elastic eye! I was so excited that i shouted to my roommate "OH THIS CD IS FUCKING AMAZING!" From that day on COme with us was the one cd that got me trough those horrible days in Paris. I remember being in the subway and being sad , listening to Denmark or The Test or any song on Come with us , and not being so sad and lonely anymore , ebcause i had this CD that kept me company. At this point i also picked up Surrender and Dig Youre Own Hole - and those cd's kept me going.



I was WELL into the Chems but the real , i mean REAL DEEPGOING EMOTIONAL connection with the music came in Jan-Feb-March 2005.

Me and my Ex-bf broke up december 10 2004 - and i was quite okay with everything , we were togheter for 3 years and he was the love of my life , but when we broke up i didnt really realise we actually BROKE UP.



I didnt realize this until i was all alone in New York in February. He went on wintersports with school and i called him when he got back. I asked him if anything had happened while he was away with school - and the answer i got than litteraly felt like a knife in my heart. Never in my life did i thought a person could be so hurt inside that i was physically painfull until the moment where he answered that he was seeing a girl and she might be his new girlfriend. I was so depressed , so alone in a city of millions of people , i looked and felt horrible and i didnt see any joy left in life.



Surface to air was the song that saved me. Ive listened to that song SO many times in New York. I remember walking trough the snowblizzards crying - sitting in the subway crying - being at a shoot for Schwartzkopf where i had to look fucking happy and it took me so much effort to hide the tears i had in my eyes. Surface to ir had answers somewhere between the layers of sound - that song was like a warm blanket that surrounded me. As if it was saying " Youre not alone you'll always have the music " And that is what got me trough. Oh i will never forget walking in those snow blizzards crying my eyes out while listening to Surface to Air and knowing it was all gonna be okay one day.



Februari 24 , i was in New York , Depressed , and the Chems were gigging in Holland. I wanted to be there so bad but i was stuck in NY because of my modelling career ( That went very well than - i was so depressed that i couldnt eat - i looked like a fucking junkie so u know everybody wanted me !! Haha ) and i could not go to Amsterdam for this gig that u really NEEDED to go to. I remember this moment so well ; i called my brother while sitting in a coffeeshop eating a coockie, because he just went to see the Chems. I will never forget my brothers enthousiastic voice " THAT WAS THE BEST THING IVE EVER SEEN!" and all i could do there in that coffeeshop with my coockie was cry.



Anyway , beginning of March i could finally go home , i needed to be with my family and i needed support. I had to go to London for work soon , and as i am chatting on MSN Messenger with Chem'd Up he goes " Jeanie.....Are you in London March 18 and 19 ?! " And i say " Eh Yes i am " and Brian freaks out '' Girl....! U know what there is on March 18 and 19 right ?! " Oh fuck fuck i remember so well how i felt! I felt as if some higher power gave this to me as a present. I manage to get tickets for both nights and from that moment on i was already starting to feel better. I was still fucking depressed but i had something to look forward too.



So , March 18 arrives. At this day i made a picture of myself that i still have on my computer. I have the glint back in my eye , the sun was shining and all the trees had blossoms. Everything made sense that day.



So , i am at the concert - i am fucking excited and nervous because ive been waiting for this gig for ages - and it was my first ever Chems gig - and well , i'm sure some of you remember my review of that gig.

It changed my life. Even as i type this 2 years later i can still feel what i felt there. And than there was Surface to Air...



I remember standing there not being able to move one muscle , but just stand there and cry. Suddenly everything made sense. Suddenly i could breath again , i could feel again , and i thought "It doesnt matter what happends to me i'll always have the music " I really had tears rolling down my face - all the emotions from weeks and weeks where wrapped up in this piece of music that those two guys on that stage there made - and the music had answers to me - and when i heard that there , live , with all those beautifull people around me , i realised that at that moment that was all that mattered.



After those gigs i felt re-born. I still had shit , but i had a fresh approach on life again , i had fighting spirit. This is also when i started to post shitloads on this board. See , for me this isn't just a forum of a band. Ive met people who had similar experiences as mine. Ive met people who shared the same love for the same music. I made 3 VERY good friends ; Mia , Jim and Mips - I met them trough this board but our friendship goes so much deeper than this. I wish i could see them all a bit more often , but when i am ob the phone to Mia , we dont even talk so much about the Chems anymore - we talk like old friends that know eachother for ages. Same with Mips. I would have never met those amazing people if it was for My Elastic Eye that a friend put on a mix cd 4 summers ago.



For me the Chems music is the soundtrack of a very important period in my life ; NOW. Esp in the 4 years that ive been modelling the Chems have always been there with me. Wherever i was - Tokyo , Sydney , New York , Paris , London , Milano , Africa , Canada , Amsterdam , the Chems ALWAYS seemed to have just the track track for just the right moment. They represent a phase in my life - growing up , discovering sex , drugs and rock and roll , being 21 , finding out what to do with life , being in love , being drunk , being high , being sad and down and low , being on top of the world - traveling , seeing the sun rise over Bondi , flying over mount Fuji , Being in the Grand Canyon , the first time i ever took E , feeling lonely - the Chems music have always been there for me. Its so much more than just the music - i can say that i truly , deeply have a connection with this music that i feel so powerfull. Even when i make this monsterpost i feel i'm getting emotional because there are no words that can describe how much i love the Chems music. And therefor the creater of this Music , Tom and Ed. Without them i would NEVER be on this board , met so many amazing people , had all the amazing moments i described above , i would never be the person i am now really because i believe the music you listen to day and night will infect you.



So this , my friends , is why i love The Chemical Brothers.

DELETED

anyone else get the chills then a rush of euphoria and a big grin while reading that?

Oh .... thanks AnT and Glakho.... :-//

I just suddenly felt a buzz off " I need to write that down! " So i did.

I have big emotions , i know :p

So much life in that post!

Csar Escribi�:

So much life in that post!

jup i can only agree with that!!! 8O 8O very nice jeanie!!

Awwwwwwwww Jeanie!! Love back at ya, girl. That was a great post filled with so much emotion, revelation, sorrow and joy. It's great to have the music be the one constant force that carries you through life and sees you through the good and bad!

Jeanie Escribi�:

Oh .... thanks AnT and Glakho.... :-//

I just suddenly felt a buzz off " I need to write that down! " So i did.

I have big emotions , i know :p

It frees ya soul, that's healthy. Readings this and the beatles song With a little help from my friends came to my mind . . . Emotions are there to be let out!

Loved you post, Jeanie! It's really amazing the power a song has to mess with our emotions.

I think that's one of things I must love in the music this two chaps make, you can hear one song in different places, and it will always fit the moment and provoke different feelings.

I don't know how Tom and Ed manage to make their music so accessible naturally, I mean, they don't sell out. It's really amazing! I will share a funny thing that happened today illustrating:

My mom sleeps way early, so since I was about 13, before she goes to sleep, we sit to talk about what happened in the day, things from her work, and from my college and whatnot, anyway... For about 3 years, I take the Chem's records for her to listen after we talk. It's like a tradition. She always said she liked it and all, but I always thought that she liked as "ah, cool, new generation music", you know? Not something she would pick to hear by herself, you know?

But, in the last 6 months I've been taking different music to show her, stuff like Coldplay, The Smiths, Joy Division and such... One of the times, while I was playing X&Y, she looked to me and said: "Son, could you bring Galvanize to me?" I was struck when I heard that, especially because she pretty much hates hip-hop. Since then, I always take one of the Chem's albums to play, and she always enjoys so much. I think she can't sleep without hearing the Chem's anymore! X-D

Sorry for the big post, but I thought I had to tell you all how i got my mom addicted to my favourite musicians.

Nice! A real soundwarrior keeps trying ;-) . . . Someone on here has a phrase beneath his sig, something like this "Have you anyone converted to chemicalism today?"

Yeah, just played The Private Psychedelic Reel to her today. She was amazed! I still remember when I heard it the first time... All those little effects and blips and stuff playing at the same time, the song getting more intense, more and more, then a little calm down, and the buildup all again! And to deliver the final blow, the amazing closing moments! Fucking brilliant! 8)