Urban Planet editor Dale Lovell chatted to vocalist and one half of Underworld Karl Hyde about making music, performing and the Grateful Dead.

Underworld, alongside the likes of the Prodigy, Orbital and Leftfield, are among the leading pioneers of electronic music in the UK. The original line-up of Karl Hyde and Rick Smith have made music together under various names since 1982, but settled on Underworld around 1987, just as dance music was beginning to take hold. The duo was joined in 1991 by DJ and Producer Darren Emerson.

As a trio the group created energetic techno, achieving commercial success with the hit single Born Slippy NUXX, largely as a result of it featuring in the hit movie Trainspotting. Emerson left the group in 2002, but the original duo of Hyde and Smith continued to make music. Their last studio album release was 2002’s A Hundred Days Off, which was well received by critics and fans. In the years since they have concentrated on remixes, mixes and making music for film, which includes Anthony Mingellas’ ‘Breaking and Entering’ and Danny Boyles’ ‘Sunshine.’ Their new studio album Oblivion with Bells is out October, 2007 and coincides with a UK wide tour.

How did you and Rick meet?

We met at University in Cardiff. We spent many years living in Wales; it’s the spiritual homeland for us I think. We have to live somewhere else to do the things we do, but otherwise I think we’d be living in some village in Wales.

Do you have a favourite Underworld track?

I don’t have one. It’s a conscious thing. I’ve never singled out any particular track. I’ve got one of these dumb brains where if I single something out I’ll turn it into crap right away.

Do you still like performing Born Slippy live?

It’s funny. I get asked that question a lot and it was in my head last night when we played in Dublin (4th October, 2007). When Rick dropped the chords and I just saw this sea of euphoria in front of me I thought, “yep, still do.”

Do you get nervous before playing?

No. I’ve been playing live since I was 13 and I’ve never got nervous, never have done. When I was a teenager I used to play in covers bands across the West Midlands: there’d always be a beery fight at the end of the night and we’d have to sneak out the back to get away from it. You learn a lot when your 13.

Where’s your favourite place to play?

We are really lucky. Since we started this group we’ve always played to people who come to have a good time. It’s the best job in the world. Every place we play has its own energy and style. You know, there are some places where we have gigs and beforehand you aren’t sure about it because we know next to nothing about the place and then we get there and think ‘wow that was amazing. I’m glad we came. We’ll have to come here again.’ Places like Russia, the Baltic States and the Czech Republic are just great. It’s an adventure when you turn up and then have a great time.

Do you work alone or together on your music?

It depends. Since our last album One Hundred Days Off we’ve compiled about two hundred pieces for the various download albums, mixes and film scores we’ve put together. For the album Oblivion with Bells we instigated what Rick calls ‘Hotel Room Mode’ where we work off our laptops for a while, then we swap laptops and write over each others stuff. We then progressed from that to file sharing and hard drives. We do absolutely everything really; from working on laptops alone to meeting up at one of our studios and performing it all live. The great thing about new technology is that we can go on working when we are on the road, wherever we are.

It sounds like quite a long process?

Yes, the process for making our music can be a long one. Sometimes we overwrite one another’s stuff, but it’s not a personal thing. We call it the dumb button. You don’t have to talk about it. You’ll write something and send it off to whoever and then it might come back with your voice missing or something has changed. It’s not a personal thing. In 17 years we have had a fairly ego-free way of working together. Working together allows us to create something extraordinary rather than if it was just the work of one mind.

What software do you use to make your music?

We use logic and lots of software plug-ins to create our music.

Do you do DJ sets at all?

The core of what we do is our website Underworldlive.com, on which we do a radio show, as taught to us by the late John Peel. It’s very eclectic. We normally do a three hour show online, where we’ll play live, give away some unreleased material and play a lot of stuff from independent labels. We don’t do DJ shows in the clubs as such but we have just launched a video show with Quicktime where we are playing live and jamming online, as well as dropping in other tracks from other artists. So that was the first DJ hybrid set we did at the Coccoon Club in Frankfurt, Germany.

Sounds like your website plays a big part in the Underworld set-up?

The web radio is really important to us. We get a real kick out of playing independent music. We’ve been hugely influenced by listening to lots of independent music from younger artists, people like Esther Clang and Milk Banana in Japan. The Shit Catapult label and Run Racket. There is a lot of great music being made from all over the world. We get it all on the iPod and do a mix for our radio shows. Its not all electronica either, we play a load of different things. We might play a classic dub track, or some African music, or something from the 1930s. We do links to artists and labels on the website too so people can go and find out more. It’s great.

Where do you see yourselves in 10 years time?

We like to see our thing is an art factory. It’s an industrious place where we’re financing people to come in and create stuff. Younger people are coming in and helping us do the things we want to do: art, music, music for films, web and radio. We are now at the point where Rick and I can sit down with the fantastic group of people we have working with us and regurgitate the ideas we came up with in 1982 when everyone thought we were mad. It’s becoming a reality. The next ten years? More of the same. In the next 12 months we would like to curate our own festival with the Cocoon Organisation in Germany. It will more than likely start in Germany but then hopefully move over to the UK.

What tips would you give to any aspiring bands?

Stick to what you believe in and don’t be swayed by the dollar. Stand by what you believe in and you’ll be okay. Keep your ears open too though and listen to what’s going on. If you’ve got imagination and the courage of your convictions to stick to your beliefs it’s going to be okay. There’s always something new coming along. They’ve been saying that everything’s been done since I was three years old, but it hasn’t all been done and there’s always something new around the corner.

Lastly, if you could join any other band, which would it be?

God, I don’t know. Maybe, The Grateful Dead.

Visit: myspace.com/underworld