Ford on Klaxons

Simian Mobile Disco maestro James Ford talks new 'psychedelic' album

25 February 2009 - Super producer James Ford, who has worked with The Last Shadow Puppets, Test Icicles and Mystery Jets in the past, says the majority of Klaxons’ new album is done.

He took up production duties on London indie-rave quartet’s Mercury Prize-winning debut, Myths Of The Near Future.

“It’s kind of most of the way there,” he revealed about their 2009 release. “There’s still some things to do but it’s gonna be really good, I think.”

Ford described it as, “quite psychedelic”. Adding: “They’ve tried to push forward, as they like to do but also I think there’s quite a lot of stuff that people would recognise as Klaxons on there as well.”

Simian’s second

Meanwhile, Simian Mobile Disco are busy working on their next album, the follow-up to 2007’s Attack Sustain Decay Release.

They’ve recently previewed new material, including a new track called Cruel Intentions, which features vocals from Beth Ditto, at their live shows.

Speaking about his busy schedule, Ford said: “The main thing I’m working on at the minute is obviously the Simian thing, because we want to get the record done.

“So, that’s been the main focus but I’ve also done, recently, tracks with Klaxons and Florence And The Machine. What with that and touring, it’s been keeping me pretty busy.”

"The main thing I’m working on at the minute is obviously the Simian thing, because we want to get the record done."
James Ford

As for a working title to their second studio album, the much sought after producer admitted they don’t have one, only several which they probably won’t use: “We’ve got a list of them but none of them are any good.”

To which the other half of the dance duo, Jas Shaw, added: “We tend to write about 50 titles, usually when we’re really badly sleep deprived on a plane.”

It was reported back in September that they had worked on new songs with Jamie Lidelle and Super Furry Animals Gryff Rhys as well as Beth Ditto.

Orbital aspirations

Last year, the band stormed the festival season - including performances at Glastonbury, Rockness and Bestival - but Ford reckons it's time to be a bit more picky.

Speaking of their 2009 plans, he explained: “We’re doing a fair amount. We’re doing quite a lot of foreign festivals as well this year, but yeah - we don’t want to go overboard with the live show really, so we’re not gonna totally cane it like we did last year. We’re trying to just do choice gigs.”

He and Jas were agreed they would love to follow in the footsteps of Chemical Brothers and their Olympia show, or Orbital, the now reformed seminal 90s dance act.

“We sort of have always aspired to close an outdoor festival stage when the sun goes down,” said Ford, “Because that was a touch point for us, like seeing Orbital at Glastonbury and that sort of thing, so we’d love to get to that stage, definitely.”

Georgie Rogers