Pendulum have returned with their huge new single ‘Napalm’, featuring Joey Valance and Brae. Check out below, along with our interview with frontman Rob Swire.
The rave-rock pioneers are back with the follow-up to their comeback EPs [2021’s ‘Elemental’ and 2023’s ‘Anima’] with another genre-smashing track that layers hard rock and punk on top of their founding dance sound.
“The label pretty much came to us saying, ‘Make some more drum’n’bass,” Swire told NME. “As you know, I’ve got a weird relationship with that! We decided to go in and make it as heavy as possible, rather than make something that would fit into DnB sets. We wanted to make it our own way.”
Check out our full interview with Swire below, as he also tells us about dream collabs, more new material, returning to Reading & Leeds this weekend, and forming a “circle of inspiration” with Bring Me The Horizon.
NME: Hello Rob. What led you to team with Joey Valance and Brae on ‘Napalm’?
Rob Swire: “I was in Cape Town at my dad’s place for Christmas and my phone woke me up playing their song ‘Punk Tactics’. I was half-asleep when I heard it and just suddenly woke up thinking, ‘What the fuck is this? Some vintage Beastie Boys thing I’ve never heard before?’ It fucking blew my mind.
“When I found out it was a recent thing I was like, ‘This is fucking sick. We have to use these guys before someone else steals them’. We’ve got a thing going on where as soon as we find an artist we like we’re like, ‘We’ve got to collaborate with these guys before at least one other artist we watch closely steals the idea beforehand and ruins it’.”
You’ve worked with the likes of Bullet For My Valentine‘s Matt Tuck and Scarlxrd in recent years. What do you look for in a collaborator?
“Just someone fun to have in the studio. We’ve done so many sessions by now that it’s nice to have people that are friends rather than straight-up collaborators. Scar is probably one of my favourite people we’ve working with – I wish he was in Pendulum permanently almost. The energy was so natural.”
Do you have any dream collabs left?
“Yes, loads – but I don’t know if any of them would be good ideas or say yes. We’ve approached a few who have shut us down, and there are a few left who will probably shut us down!”
Is ‘Napalm’ a sign of things to come?
“I want to take it much heavier. I know drum ‘n’ bass is having a moment again and we keep getting every Tom, Dick and Harry across our entire work team being like, ‘You guys have to get in on this and start making some DnB that fits in Headache’s set’, but it’s just the last thing I want to fucking do. I feel most comfortable when we’re in between worlds. As soon as it goes too metal or too DnB, then I start to feel weird about it. The middle of that ground is the perfect zone for us. I want to take it much heavier if we can.”
Will it be some more singles next or are you guys working on the follow-up to 2010 album ‘Immersion’?
“We’ll see; at the moment we’re just doing singles. We’d like to come out with something more substantial in the next year or so.”
When you guys came back with ‘Elemental’ and ‘Anima’, how did it feel that there was still such a hunger for Pendulum in that form? Why do you think that is?
“We chose a path and we stuck to it. We departed from DnB pretty heavily in 2006 and forged our own weird path that I don’t think anyone has done in the same way. I think that’s what attracts people. It’s a source of paranoia after that long to think, ‘We’re putting all this work into this, is anyone going to give a shit?’ To find out that they do and so many people are still into it is amazing.”
Do you hear your influence on other artists? For instance, bands like Bring Me The Horizon and that cyberpunk wave of bands that throw everything at it?
“I didn’t initially, but then I started talking to some of these bands who were like, ‘Oh man, we were so inspired by you guys when we started out’. I was like, ‘Really? I can’t fucking hear it, but that’s amazing if so’. After listening for a while, I can now hear those influences. It’s come full circle now. Some of those bands are influencing us. I saw Bring Me’s live show and was like, ‘Holy shit, that’s entertaining on a level I didn’t even know was possible! We have to step it up!’ It’s good that there’s a circle of inspiration going on. I like that.”
This weekend will be your sixth time performing at Reading & Leeds. How would you describe your relationship with that festival?
“It’s probably historically my favourite one to play, out of any festival in the world. I think we did the BBC Introducing stage the first time and it was televised on the main channel back then. We saw security running across the festival to stop the amount of people that were flooding across the barriers and causing mayhem. It was a fucking scene, that I wasn’t expecting. It was the first festival where I thought, ‘Fuck me, there’s something happening here that is beyond the levels that I had in mind for this.”
Is there anyone else on the line-up you really want to see this year?
“I really like Crawlers; they’re cool. I’d also love to see Ashnikko and Japanese House. I’d probably go see Fred Again.. just to see what all the noise is about. My theory is that no one else gets it yet either and they’re just checking it out. That’s what’s attractive!”
Beyond this, what’s the plan for Pendulum?
“I feel like we’ve been trying to go for a certain sound since 2006 that we’ve never quite perfected. Even the guy who signed us said as much, initially. He said, ‘You’re going for a sound you’ve never quite attained’. At first I was like, ‘Fuck you’, but the more I think about it the more I agree. That’s cool, as you need something to aim for.”
Reading & Leeds will return for the August Bank Holiday weekend. Tickets are on sale now here for Reading and here for Leeds.
Check out the full line-up with stage times here and the latest weather forecast here.
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