I was just googling and found this little interview that I don't recall reading before. It's from 2005 but I thought I'd post it here now because it might be a nice way to pass the time as you're passing through (the forum). I like how so many interviews I've read talks about their friendship...
http://findarticles...._n13620074/pg_1
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Tom Rowlands (left) was born in 1971 and grew up in Henley-on- Thames. He studied history at Manchester University and, after graduation, recorded his first single with Ed Simons as The Dust Brothers. In 1995, they renamed the band The Chemical Brothers. Rowlands lives near Lewes with his wife and two children.
Ed Simons was born in south London in 1970 and also studied history at Manchester University. Working with Rowlands, he has released five albums and had two number-one singles. Simons lives in west London.
TOM ROWLANDS
I can't remember exactly where I first met Ed. It was probably in the bar or a medieval-history tutorial at Manchester. If I'd known that this was going to be the bloke I'd be spending the next 15 years of my life with, I might have made more of a mental note of the details.
One of the reasons that I wanted to go to Manchester was because the Hacienda was there. You'd think the students would have been excited that the best club in the world with the most exciting DJs was a mile up the road, but most of them weren't into it at all. Only a small hardcore crowd were ever up for standing in a queue trying to get into the place at 6.30 in the morning and Ed was part of that crowd, so we were naturally drawn towards each other.
Ed had taken a gap year and wore T-shirts from strange bars in Thailand, and that air of being a world traveller made him mysterious to me. I'd gone up there straight from school. But it was the music that bonded us. It turned out that we'd been to many of the same dos around the M25 the year before university, had the same tunes on mix tapes and went record- hunting at the same shop in Manchester, Eastern Bloc. But music wasn't the only way we were on the same level. We were also both really into our course. We'd study in the library a lot together. We got the same degree in the end, which is lucky because we're seriously competitive.
Then we started playing records together and, when we finished uni, the summer was stretching out so we needed something to do. We decided to make a record together in my bedroom. And the way we make music still works much the same way today.
I've moved out of London now, though, so we don't see each other as much as when we lived two streets apart. I wanted a house and garden for my kids. It was getting harder to be creative sitting eight hours a day in a tiny studio in Elephant and Castle. So now I have a studio at home and I can come up with stuff there and Ed comes down to play Uncle Eddie to my two kids.
It's friendship that gets you through those boring promotional trips to Belgium. It really helps that we can both laugh at the absurdity of those situations. We recently did this TV show in Japan and there was this game where they played a bit of music, and we had to hit the cover of the corresponding CD on a table in front of us. It got to four-all and I just won it. We had to play a gig that night and every time there was a pause in the show, I'd look at Ed and slam my hands down to remind him.
That's the worst thing for us these days " any form of competitive game. We can't even go near a ping-pong table anymore. There's just too much at stake.
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ED SIMONS
We met through a mutual friend who wore no shoes and we started talking after a medieval-history lecture. The first time I went round to Tom's place, he had this Tackhead album and I thought that was a pretty strange piece of music " it wasn't what everyone else was listening to. He also had a good pair of green trousers.
He used to play me stuff that Ariel [a band which Rowlands had formed while at school], had done but I wasn't that excited by it. I could always hear what Tom's bits were. No disrespect to anyone else in his old band, but Tom always did what I thought were the interesting little bits of electronics. I didn't feel in awe of him but it was quite exciting to get on a train back to London to go and see your mate play. I was, though, in awe of the Roland 909 [a rhythm sequencer] he had in his room. I'd been listening to this music for the previous three years in clubs and suddenly here was one of the basic tools behind it. That was quite mindblowing.
A lot of things in Manchester were eye-opening to me: especially that these records I'd been listening to weren't made by pop stars; you could just make this music in your bedroom.
When we started DJing we put on this club and there was something magic about it. People went wild and for some reason a large number of people came. Maybe that was to do with Tom being in a band people knew about. Anyway, we've just carried on from there, really.
We argue in the studio but I think it's important to maintain that creative tension and spark, it's always about getting the best music. We are so entwined in each other's lives. We annoy each other the whole time but we're always best friends. It's not unusual to try and maintain a male friendship for all of your life and it's something I feel really blessed that I've got.
When Tom moved to Lewes, I thought it was the beginning of the end for The Chemical Brothers. But now I love going down there. He's got two beautiful children and his wife is one of my oldest friends. It's a really good, safe place for me. Tom's a great family man.
I think the last record we made together really benefited from us not being in the same studio together every day. For five years we lived on parallel streets, we'd go out every night together, go on holiday every summer together, and maybe that was a bit unrealistic. Now, every time I see Tom it feels a little bit special again. n
The single 'Believe' is released on 2 May. The album 'Push the Button' is out now
Copyright 2005 Independent Newspapers UK Limited
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