During Weekend 2 of this year's Coachella festival in Indio, CA, Audacy's Kevan Kenney got a chance to talk with Tom Rowlands of The Chemical Brothers backstage in the KROQ trailer about the duo's 2023 return and more.
LISTEN NOW: The Chemical Brothers backstage at Coachella 2023
While we found out earlier this year that The Chemical Brothers would be making their return with a new album and tour this year, preceded by their newest single, "No Reason," Tom tells us although the new record, still in its final stages of completion, was partly created during the pandemic lockdowns, that is certainly not an overall theme for the album. "There probably are sound choices or decisions that you make along the way that are influenced by that," he says, "but they're not as obvious or as upfront as a lyrical thing, I suppose."
As the record is due out this fall, Tom admits, percentage-wise, it's about 91% ready -- "it's close," he says -- and there are some interesting collaborators involved, but he's keeping those close to his chest for the moment.
This year's festival is certainly not The Chemical Brothers' first time in the California desert; they were here as part of the inaugural event back in 1999. "I remember coming from, we're used to European festivals, and just being like, 'well they do it quite differently here,'" Tom explains of his first Coachella experience. "It's on a polo field and it's palm trees, and it's 100 degrees. We're used to like mud, and you know, just human... well I don't want to get into that... just a more messy affair. This was kind of civilized but nice. The people who put the festival on have good taste in music. Their lineups have been incredible throughout the years, so it's a pleasure for us to come back. We haven't been here for a while."
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Looking ahead to their upcoming performances, keeping in mind some fans will see them multiple times during a tour -- or even both Coachella weekends -- Tom says, "for us, just to keep doing it all this time, and to keep playing live, we like to have a built-in place for mucking around. We love those bits where it goes a bit wrong or we find a new way of doing things. We play generally the same songs, but we can play around with it so much in the way we've got it going kind of thing."
"That's the exciting thing about playing live," Tom adds. "The chance to deconstruct and reconstruct your music."
Listen to Kevan Kenney's full conversation with Tom Rowlands of The Chemical Brothers above, and follow more of Audacy's coverage of Coachella 2023.