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Ladytron: Destroy Everything You Touch

By Francois Duchateau for Synthesizer Magazine on August 20, 2007

Note: This is a partial translation of the entire interview. Only the NIN-relevent sections have been transcribed below. Click here for the full interview (in its original German language).

Q: How did you react when TR asked you to support NIN on the tour?
A: It was a bit of a shock, but it was perfect. We had heard rumors about Trent being a fan of ours, but we were never sure. We had already booked a few dates, but this opportunity was brilliant. Trent even asked us to come along to Japan and Australia, but we had already scheduled recording our new album.

Q: How did things go with Trent?
A: Everybody was very nice, Trent is a cool guy. When we joined them in London, he came over to our room and gave us a copy of his new album. In addition to that, he asked us if we wanted to make a remix and that we could pick any song we wanted. We chose "TBOTE".

Q: How do you like NIN?
A: I've always liked them. Back in the PHM era I was a huge fan, and when I heard of this opportunity I kind of freaked out. It was similar to remixing Dave Gahan. Though it felt more intense, because we were at the shows this time [...]

[... talk about their forthcoming album etc.]


Q: Did you learn anything while on tour with NIN?
A: I think we did, since NIN are one of the most energetic live bands I ever saw on stage and just that was quite an experience. But we also learned a lot about audience behaviour. Many people had told us before that the combination [with NIN] would not work out. I thought to myself: What could be the worst thing to happen? That people won't care about us and throw papercups at us? We talked about it and we agreed that the NIN audience would be open to electronic music. Many people thought that they be more of a metal crowd, but we knew it'd be different -- and we were right. Of course, there always were a few who didn't care about us at all, but the tour had already sold out before we were added to the line-up. Our fans didn't have a chance to buy tickets. So, we were facing a pure NIN crowd, but there are a lot of things we have in common with them. We probably won a few new fans. That was the first time we opened for another band since our debut album, six years ago. It's weird, like being the new kid in school.

Q: NIN use this huge modular synths on stage. Did you get a bit envious at times?
A: Oh, yes! It's really difficult not to touch them. Alessandro performed with us once, on one of the London nights. He joined us for one song, "Destroy Everything You Touch". He brought another portable synth, modular without any keys. We just plugged it in and he played some way-out noise effects. That was awesome.

[The rest is a lot of technical talk about Ladytron's equipment]

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