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'Night' fever with the Chemical Brothers

Sunday, May 20, 2007

By KERRI MASON

BILLBOARD

If you had told the Chemical Brothers after their first release in 1995 that they would one day cut a weird little track with Q-Tip that would top the United Kingdom's year-end radio charts, back an American beer commercial and win a Grammy Award, they might have toasted you clear out of the room.

But last year's "Galvanize" -- a genre-agnostic, electro-Indian-hip-hop ditty -- did all three, transforming the duo from fan favorite festival band into one of electronic music's only multiplatform international forces. Follow-up full-length "We Are the Night" (Astralwerks), out June 19, might repeat history, but only because it's not trying to.

"For us there's that excitement of making things that aren't supposed to be in that environment," says Tom Rowlands, who with Ed Simons comprise the duo. "There are armies of people trying to make the most-played record on our national radio station -- lots of men in small rooms signing young girls or boys to make a thing that is that. And we sort of just hit upon this strange combination that appealed to us."

That formula -- or lack thereof -- has been key to the Chems' endurance, kicked off by 1997's "Block Rockin' Beats," an anthem of the big beat era, and bolstered since by gems like beautiful fuzz-blast "Setting Sun" and dance floor history lesson "It Began in Afrika."

Their unpredictable, melting pot style is also behind their recent love affair with marketers, especially Budweiser Select. The brand merged "Galvanize" with its urban-cool TV spots, and offered a free ringtone of the track on budselect.com.

"After we saw the spots and the creative for ޴he campaign嬠it just made sense," says Joe Belliotti, managing director of Creative License, which introduced Anheuser-Busch and its advertising agencies, led by St. Louis-based Cannonball, to "Galvanize."

"It had the right energy. Q-Tip's vocals fit the creative, the brand and the message. It blended the electronica with offbeat sounds and an urban element."

Once the spot hit the air, Belliotti reports consumers actually called Bud headquarters to inquire about the track. "That's a pretty good barometer, when the public picks up the phone," he says. Bud responded by creating more "Galvanize" spots, in addition to the original two.

And on the Astralwerks Web site, streams of the video in the "As Heard on TV" section, which identifies synched tracks by the label's artists, logged an exponential growth of unique visitors and 100,000 hits, according to Astralwerks GM Glenn Mendlinger.

"The distinctive, original and unique is what gets people excited now," says Errol Kolosine, U.S. consultant to the band and former Astralwerks head. "The consumer is telling us this. With 'Galvanize,' it was about having an agency and a client that had the open mind to not go with the safe and the obvious."

Tricky tour

Kolosine, who left Astralwerks three months ago after 13 years with the label, is handling the Chems' licensing outreach, and helping get their tricky American tour (with its thick gear rider and video demands), scheduled to start in September.

The act and its team call "We Are the Night" their best work yet. "They threw the rule book out," Mendlinger says. First single "Do It Again" is making an impact now in clubs. Rowlands and Simons pressed 12-inch vinyl copies and hand-distributed them to DJs early this year, and commissioned a remix from electro wunderkind Matthew Dear (under his Audion moniker).

Kolosine says that he's already fielding licensing inquiries. "It's great for a commercial, or a party scene in a show or movie," he says. A video directed by Michael Haussman (Timbaland, Madonna) is in the can.

A quirky collaboration with rapper Fatlip, "The Salmon Dance," will probably serve as the second U.S. single, and tracks with buzz band Klaxons ("All Rights Reversed") and singer/songwriter Willy Mason ("Battle Scars") further play with genre. Glistening album closer "The Pills Won't Help You Now," with Texas indie band Midlake, is "the ultimate crescendo," Kolosine says. "We've long transcended the idea that they're just a dance band."

But Rowlands and Simons are quite happy to be whatever they are. "Electronic artists always say that in interviews: 'This is a steppingstone, what I really want to do is soundtracks,' " Rowlands says. "But what we're doing, this is the thing we wanted to do."

Was a nice reading too. Enjoyed it much!

Is this it trendy nowadays to use German words? Wunderkind and I once noticed whirly using schadenfreude? I believe to remember sometime ago they said in a show German terms getting more 'n more fancied as trendy words in the US.

Yep, I just recently used the word schadenfreude when talking about some Bjork fans I encountered at Coachella.

I find myself using the word more and more these days, but didn't much use it til I had an anonymous letter published in a local rag a couple of years ago and the editors took the liberty of using schadenfreude to sort of sum things up. :)

Anyway - I enjoyed reading that article, souphead! Thanks so much for posting it. People can and will rag on music used for ads but advertising is an incredibly powerful tool whether anyone wants to admit it or not - and the results have always been effective and if it means more sales and piquing interest for the Chems so they'll come back to tour here, then more power to them. Unless it's overkill like what happened with Moby's Play. When I worked at Tower we'd have people in the store asking all the time "what was the song used in the (insert brand here) commercial?" You'd be surprised at how many people would buy an album just for one song they heard off a commercial that they enjoyed...

i think it is great the brothers are gaining attention from US because of the ads.

but didn't interviews with bands used to be more about music and ideas about an album rather than how a cd is advertised? it started off ok, but the whole middle section was about how great it was that Galvanise appears in a beer ad.

why is this article about something currently irrelevant when compared to a new album which is about to be released?

that was a wierd read.

for my two cents i think it ws more of an "industry" type interview-usually is when theyt speak to label,ad men.its not really about the music at all.bit of a waste of time

Yah very much an industry article. It felt like I was reading another billboard mag.

At least they mention an 'american' tour in planing stages set to start for september. So us North Americans are starting to see a little more light for a North american tour on this album. Come on Western Canadian Date!!!

Pretty much what I got from that article was that it sucks that the only way the general population in the U.S. will pay attention to electronic music is if it's on a fucking beer commercial.

/renewal of frustration with U.S. music market and general taste in music

On the more positive side, I can't wait to see the Chems stateside again!!!

Whirly, I know you're with me. :)