Electro alert. British electronic dance band, Orbital, tells OnTheWight, “We’ve got nothing to prove any more.”
We caught up with brothers, Phil and Paul Hartnoll, at the Isle of Wight Festival in 2010.
“I’m not worried”
Since they reformed in 2009, the brothers have been creating pulsating music to delight ravers everywhere, but they say that age has made them realise they need to live in the present.
The brothers told us, “We’re not worried about the next album or about trying to keep the kettle boiling. It’s been lovely.
“The pressure is to keep this job that you’ve got going, because you really love it.”
The best advice
The guys have learned a lot since they started out in 1989 recording on their father’s cassette deck.
They talk about having to please themselves, rather than others, when it comes to making music, “You’ve got to balance expectation with art. As soon as you start worrying about the expectation it all crumbles.
“We’re going to do what we want to do and enjoy it.”
Orbital finds the work they consider their best comes from being natural and just going for it.
“I wouldn’t want to be starting out now”
The guys don’t envy artists and bands trying to make a name for themselves in the music business today.
“We’re lucky because we built a band up and we can make a bit of money out of band life. At the moment we’re getting good slots at festivals and we can do quite big gigs,” the brothers tell us, “I wouldn’t want to be starting out now.
“Records don’t sell like they use to.”
Don’t get lumbered with the dregs
The influence of the Internet on the music business has highs and lows, the band explain that people need to keep buying music.
“Otherwise they’ll end up with a whole load of homogeneous crap to listen to. If you don’t pay that middle strata, bands that were big enough to earn a living will be missing.
“You’ve got the pub-rockers still and you’ve got the super Lady Gaga’s and that sort of thing, but the interesting, arty stuff in the middle is going to disappear,” the band warns us.
“Everyone can pick up a guitar, but not everyone can play it.”
If you’ve got the talent, never hold back
The Hartnoll brothers have learned to give music everything they’ve got.
“There’s nothing I’ve held back on,” Phil tells us, “You’ve really got to go for what you want to do. You’ve got to be determined. Get your arse in gear, because if you don’t, somebody else is going to.
“The one thing I always noticed doing music when I was younger, and you see it in people now, the people with the appetite for it and the determination, they’re the ones that make it.
“It’s not necessarily the skilful people or the best people or the most creative people, it’s the ones who want it.”
Sit back and listen to our chat with Phil and Paul Hartnoll (NWS: watch out for snippet of fruity language)
