FROM MYSPACE TO MERCURY PRIZER WINNERS - KLAXONS TALK TO KORG

Given their meteoric, 12-month rise from MySpace to Nationwide Mercury Music Prize winners, it’s not surprising that KLAXONS have a lot to talk about...

Klaxons have turned a lot of heads since 2006, when they first loaded a couple of songs showcasing their idiosyncratic yet instantly accessible, raveinflected sound onto MySpace.

The London-based band’s gigs are largely populated by a fanatical, glow stick-waving teenage fanbase but, happily, they seem to take the insanity entirely in their stride.

Klaxons even kept their momentum going after Jamie Reynolds broke his leg jumping off the stage during a French festival gig in July. After reluctantly postponing some Australian dates, the trio recruited Joe Daniel as temporary bassist, and the unfortunate Mr Reynolds arrived in a wheelchair for a host of Japanese, US and European festival dates.

However, the undoubted high point of Klaxons’ riotous summer was their debut album, Myths Of The Near Future, beating off stiff competition from the likes of Amy Winehouse, Bat For Lashes and Arctic Monkeys to win the 2007 Nationwide Mercury Music Prize. After accepting the gong, James confessed he was in “shock beyond any kind of shock I’ve ever experienced.” Happily, he’d soon recovered enough to reason that Klaxons won because, “We made the most forward-thinking record.”

Raves to riches
Given their meteoric, 18-month rise and seemingly endless global tour schedule, Klaxons remain remarkably unfazed by success, and show a strong work ethic. “It’s a fast-moving world and we’re part of that,” Jamie Reynolds explains, “We had confidence – we didn’t tell anyone we thought we were good, just that we wanted to be successful. We were prepared to put the work in.”

Cut’n’paste approach
The UK music press has been keen to align Klaxons to the ‘MySpace revolution’. However, the band see their use of the phenomenally successful networking site as purely practical, with Simon referring to it as “an aid” and Jamie reasoning, “It’s a good first point of contact with people. It existed so people could contact us, and it worked. We wanted it to spread as far as possible, and that was the easiest way to do it, to give our songs away.”

Klaxons’ level-headed approach to furthering their career underpins a hugely creative streak, given full reign on their incredibly successful debut album. However, unlike a lot of artists who reference influences to make themselves look hipper-than-thou, Jamie modestly downplays the album’s signposting, reasoning, “They’re just points of reference. It’s a way of guiding people to enjoy things other than music.” Happily, the band are more voluble on the subject of their collaborative songwriting process. “I’d been working on things before I met them – they were just sketches.” explains Jamie. “It’s just been a process of patching it all together. For most people, it’s the most difficult thing about being in a band, but not for us.”

“That’s why Daft Punk have it easy – they’re just two robots…” James interjects.

“I went to art college and I always found it hard to finish things.” Simon confesses, “But that’s how we work now. It’s the ultimate dream of working in collage. I think it’s the most exciting way of working. It’s kind of a cut’n’paste technique. No one will ever come in with an acoustic guitar, with a song and the lyrics all finished. It’s not like ‘that doesn’t work’, it’s just like ‘yeah, let’s do it’.”

The trio are equally enthusiastic when asked about their acclaimed promo videos, directed by Saam, a 27-year-old Londoner who’s also worked on MTV Gonzo, and with Clor and the Rapture.

“The videos are all the work of our director.” Simon enthuses, “It’s hard with a new band to try and keep that aesthetic, so it’s great to have him.”

James’s modest claim that they’re “the least techie band” fails to hide the fact that, when it comes to choosing the right musical tools for the job, Klaxons know their onions, and obviously love Korg kit.

“We used the Korg MS20 a lot on the record,” says James. “We put the guitar and the vocals on it as well as all the subby stuff. Our live sound’s been stripped back a lot. I had a cheap, crappy keyboard and loads of pedals. We decided to cut out the pedals and go straight from the keyboard into the PA, so we had to find one with all the sounds we use on it.

And so the Korg X50 became their main live synth. “The Korg X50’s very versatile, it cuts out the need for lots of pedals ‘cos it’s got it all.” James explains, “You can programme and tweak it – it’s done the job for us, really.”

The technician responsible for accurately reproducing Klaxons’ distinctive sound on the road is Will Sanderson, who gave us a precise rundown of their setup. “Their main keyboard is a Korg X50 which we’ve programmed to achieve specific sounds. Running its piano sound through an overdrive pedal provides one of the main keyboard sounds. Pitch shifters are frequently used on guitars and keyboards and the bass runs through a distortion pedal. A Korg KP3 KAOSS Pad is also used to trigger samples. Klaxons have a Triton Extreme and a RADIAS in the studio but these aren’t taken on the road right now.”

So what’s next for Klaxons? “We’d like to record a standalone single before we do the next album.” Jamie reveals, “That’ll be an 18-month turnaround for two albums, which isn’t bad. We’re thinking about new songs, constantly – that’s the next step. We can go anywhere we want after here. It’s a big world out there, and we haven’t quite covered it yet!”

More at on Klaxons a www.klaxons.net

Photo: Andy Cotterill