INGREDIENTS FOR SUCCESS

How did the band come together originally and evolve into it’s current setup today?

Rob Swire: I met Gareth in high school and we had worked in and out of different bands while growing up - the main one being Xygen, with Karl from ShockOne as the drummer. After we left the band thing behind, we started showing local DJ's our tracks and along the way met up with probably the biggest drum'n'bass DJ in
Perth at that time - Elhornet. His input and contacts within the scene proved invaluable at that time, and a year later we were packing our bags to leave for England!

What/who were the musical influences that shaped the Pendulum sound?

R.S: Our tastes are pretty broad so it's hard to nail down any particular influence, but I'd say some important influences would be: Konflict, Bad Company / Fresh, Ed Rush & Optical, The Shadows, Led Zeppelin, Strapping Young Lad, Queens of the Stone Age, VAST, The Prodigy, Chemical Brothers... More recently Wolfgang Gartner, Fenech-Soler, Deadmau5, Reso, Flux Pavilion and others.

The new album “Immersion” crosses many contemporary genres. Tell us a little about the production aesthetic and approach.

R.S: We try to ignore anything scene-specific and just make the music we'd like to hear if we were randomly at a club, or listening to new s**t on iTunes. Our tastes are so varied and random that we're always getting pulled in different directions, we might hear a new dubstep track or something by Them Crooked Vultures and start thinking, "well imagine if there was a track that did this and that, then went into another bit" and getting overexcited. I might think of some random riff when I wake up and the track begins its life that way...there really is no time-tested approach that we use every time, we just make what we want to hear.

How did the studio band transform itself into a full blown live act?

R.S: I stopped DJ'ing during the making of 'Hold Your Colour', but I really missed playing in front of a crowd. Taking it live seemed like the logical thing for us to do, especially when so many people were claiming, "it sounds like a band!" - although we didn't hear it ourselves at the time. All we needed was to be able to use plugins live, so when Muse's Receptor came along and let us load things like KONTAKT and ABSYNTH and use them reliably on stage, we knew we could begin doing some exciting stuff that no one had done before.

When did Native Instruments come into the picture and what KOMPLETE instruments are featured in the productions?

R.S: Native Instruments made the first digital synth I ever used in a track - the PRO-53. When that first came out I remember thinking, "Wow - someone has actually made a software synth that doesn't sound like s**t. Things are going to get interesting." Every Pendulum track in existence uses FM7 / FM8 and KONTAKT for something or other. We've also used REAKTOR, MASSIVE, PRO-53, GUITAR RIG, ABSYNTH and BATTERY in lots of different tracks.

What piece of gear are you still waiting for to be invented?

R.S: I still feel that no one has really nailed a platform for electronic music to be played live. I'd love to see software developers and hardware manufacturers focus more on taking their ideas to the stage - companies like Muse Research and Ableton have moved this on to some degree, pieces of hardware like MASCHINE help, but I still feel that no one has nailed it. Why are rock bands the only one's playing individual instruments - why are electronic musicians confined to using loops, tweaking knobs and DJ-style equipment?

What are your views on Analogue vs. Digital and how do you marry the two worlds together?

R.S: I think the two should be transparent and can compliment each other perfectly if you know how to do so. Anyone that focuses purely on using one or the other these days is kinda shooting themselves in the foot. You need both.

Coming from the D&B scene in Australia, how would you compare the vibe to London where the genre has its roots?

R.S: London has always been the heart of drum'n'bass and I think it always will be. It's always been quite healthy in Australia, but never to such an insane degree as over here in the UK... plus dubstep is currently giving it quite a run for its money in the clubs down under.

What NI instruments, if any, are you using in the live set up?

R.S: On stage we use KONTAKT, MASSIVE, ABSYNTH, PRO-53, and GUITAR RIG.