Natasha Chowdhury caught up with Rob Swire from Pendulum

Pendulum - DnB Rock around the clock!

Pendulum have brought drum and bass to the forefront of pop music and educated the ears of a new rave generation. Their sounds of rock drum and bass and have definitely built up quite a following worldwide and led to numerous appearances in Notts, including a DJ set for MNSTR at Gatecrasher on 7 November. I had a chat with Pendulum lead singer and producer Rob Swire last time they were in Nottingham...

So who do you reckon is the daddy of the band?
There isn’t one. We all get equal credit but I guess it depends on what you are talking about. I mean if you are talking about production that’s mainly me and Gaz.

You seem to have quite a varied fan base which ranges from people who have been into drum and bass for a while aswell as the younger crowd with their glow sticks. Is it fun playing to all of them?
Well so far on the tour the underage shows have been much better. You tend to find with crowds that are 18 or over, people tend to stand back a bit to help prop up the walls and are a bit more conscious of themselves.

How do you think that the UK drum and bass scene differs from that of other countries?
It’s a lot more energetic abroad and there’s a lot more going on. Although it all tends to be a lot more localised….. like in Australia, there’s nothing going on in Sydney but Perth is definitely the capital of drum and bass.

Do you think that the mainstream success that you are having is benefiting drum and bass as a whole?
Do I care? Not really. That question had me stumped a few years back but I’ve come round to the thinking that I am just making music for me and not for the genre. We haven’t ever really gone out there to sell records and make lots of money but there are a lot of people in the industry who think that we must have put lots of effort into marketing our music but we haven’t. We didn’t even have a poster or advert for our first album.

Do you like hearing your tracks being played intermingled with other cheesier chart hits in clubs?
Yeah, well it proves that it can stand alone as a good track alongside songs that have had a lot more money thrown at them from mainstream marketing.

How did you actually get into drum and bass in the first place?
It wasn’t really a career choice. I’ve been producing stuff since I was about thirteen, kind of weird big beat inspired tunes. I only got into drum and bass a while later but I think that I missed out on a lot of real drum and bass history.

What is your all time favourite album of all time?
If we are talking about general popular stuff, then Led Zeppelin’s III.

Do you actually listen to much drum and bass? What have you and the other guys in the band got on your iPods at the moment?
I’ll listen to big tracks if someone recommends them but I’ve mainly got stuff by Soundgarden, Tool and Led Zeppelin on my Ipod, although it’s broken at the moment. Paul ‘El Hornet’ likes listening to a lot of punk stuff, so does Gaz. He prefers the heavier side of rock.

You’ve worked with a few big names in the last few years, is there anyone that you would like to work with in the future?
People like Dick Dale or Hank Marvin from The Shadows. Someone old-school like that.

If you weren’t making drum and bass tracks what do you think you’d be doing?
Probably something depressing or just working as an engineer in a local studio.

Are you actually DJing much at the moment?
No, I gave up. Mainly because I don’t like the way you can get up in a club and blow the crowd away with a track and then go along to a drum and bass rave and the same track will fall flat on its face. But you then play something mindless that you’ve spent no time over and that the same crowd will just love it.

What device would you like to invent to make your life easier?
Probably everything out of Back To The Future 2, like the hover boards and stuff.

Which word would you say sums you up?
Erm, pedantic is probably quite a good one.