With five studio albums, a hefty number of globetrotting tours and their own Liverpool based venue to their names you would think the world would walk, talk, think and eat Ladytron. Alas it seems that the band are still hovering under the commercial radar albeit with a cult following in tow. With the recent release of their quirky, haunting yet addictive album Velocifero under their belts, we felt after nearly over-consuming this masterpiece in the Fused office it was time to show Ladytron some love. We managed to snatch a brief chat with Danny from the band during a rare break in their never-ending touring schedule.
What are you guys currently up too?
We have just kind of finished the North American Tour, and we have done lots of festivals over the summer.
We really like the new album, how have you changed as a band on this album?
When we started it felt like a work in progress, we were just experiencing things as we went along. We are just really more aware of things now. I mean it was 8 years ago the first album came out!
On the first album obviously you feel a certain pressure as it's your first, but I think we have avoided the 'dreaded second album syndrome' that most bands encounter. I think we have been lucky to have been, allowed to develop gradually over four albums. Commercial pressure can often be quite pressing so we are lucky in that respect. Most new bands get shelved for another act or even dropped after their first album due to the commercial pressure on them to obtain a certain chart position. This is mainly down to the attention spans of an audience as Myspace and the instant accessibility of music and this has increased their exposure to a constant flow of new music and therefore shortens attention spans.
So how was it working with Vicarious Bliss (Ed Banger Records) and Alessandro Cortini (Nine Inch Nails, Modwheelmood) on the album?We produced this album ourselves and just drafted in several people for collaborations. It was great, it was just like adding an extra band member to the equation each time we worked with someone new.
Our first album was totally self-produced and our second album was co-produced by Jim Abbiss so we have experienced both variations. We now understand the band completely after working together for so long so we felt that we could self produce this album and just bring in a few collaborators. Sometimes bands don't actually want to make decisions but they need reassurance occasionally.
You seem to be touring constantly the tour schedule looks huge? How do you cope touring for so long?
Sometimes it's quite deceptive it's often looks a lot more than it actually is. We tend to draw the line at any sections of a long tour spanning over 8 weeks from home! It really depends where we are touring, now we have a nice bus and the facilities are great – we don't even have to share DVDs, we all have our own little quiet time and Internet access too! There is no need for forced activities to take place anymore – ha-ha. Oh and American facilities are great.
So what are your favourite places to play?
North America is obviously a winner, however Russia is a special place too – St. Petersburg was amazing. We actually played a great gig in Bogota [Columbia]. People often have a perception that South America is quite dangerous in comparison to other places, but we played four cities there and they all went smoothly except one.
So what happened at that 'one' gig?
Well we ended up getting shut down by the army! There were lots of soldiers and we were playing and all of a sudden the music stopped suddenly and we were just standing there! I think it may have been a scheduling issue though...
Words: Kimberley Owen
Illustration: Stevie Copter
Posted: 18 November 2008