Interview w/ Jesus Jones & 1993 LH Remixes

On September 18, 2026, British alt-rock veterans Jesus Jones are releasing Twilight — their first studio album in eight years. Ahead of the release, we caught up with the band not only to congratulate them on the highly anticipated record but also to look back at one of the most interesting crossovers in their discography. Iain Baker, musician and manager for Jesus Jones, shared exclusive details on how Liam Howlett’s 1993 remix of their track Zeroes & Ones came together.

Alongside this, we’ve slightly updated our older article on The Prodigy remixes from that era, packing it with a few new details. All these 1993 remixes for Jesus Jones, Front 242, and Magi & Emanation are united by a very distinct vibe: a steady shift away from the euphoria of happy rave towards a deeper, heavier, and sharper sound. You’ll also find out, for the first time, the details behind The Prodigy’s unreleased yet legendary remix of Automation’s ‘Speedway’.

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Liam Howlett’s fresh sound in 1993 was a radical departure from the ‘kiddie rave’ (as the press had dubbed their early releases). The Prodigy mastermind had definitely reached a new level, and the remix of Zeroes & Ones, alongside Religion for Front 242, was one of Liam’s first works as he decided to step away from the rave scene and try something new, darker, and heavier. The press noted this transition at the time, highlighting that Howlett was “closing the boundaries between techno and rave”, and that his remixes remained a “truly successful fusion of the genres”.

Liam Howlett for Mixmag (September 1993): Jesus Jones was a hard decision to do. [Jones’s singer] Mike Edwards phoned me up quite a few times and gave me quite a lot of respect and I like that. I think Jesus Jones are pop and they are commercial but they are similar to us because they’re really sort of just a bunch of guys. And they’re in the same position as I imagine we might be in a year’s time because they are a rock band but they’re using technology and they’re not being accepted by their rock fans so much anymore and maybe in a couple of years’ time we won’t be accepted by the rave scene anymore.

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Mike Edwards himself recalled these conversations and a rave-fatigued Liam in an interview with Classic Pop Magazine in 2025. “The Prodigy might not have had the same success had we not suggested one possible alternative direction”, Mike boldly states.

As Iain Baker, musician and manager for Jesus Jones, recalls in his conversation with All Souvenirs, the commissioning of Howlett’s remix was most likely initiated by the band’s record company. The label reached out to Howlett and asked him to work on ‘Zeroes & Ones’ — but this only happened because, musically, The Prodigy were absolutely at the top of the band’s personal wishlist at the time.

Iain Baker for All Souvenirs: I’d seen them play numerous times and loved them so much. We were always name-checking them in interviews, etc. They were a huge influence, at that stage, for us.

In addition to the stems from the original track, Howlett, in his usual fashion, chopped up a few samples from a couple of recent releases for the remix: the first was the 1992 ‘Ganja Man EP’ by DJ Red Alert & Mike Slammer, and the second was the 1991 album ‘Wanted: Dead or Alive’ by the legendary Kool G Rap alongside DJ Polo.

Iain Baker for All Souvenirs: I think we heard that Liam was pretty proud of the remix, and so he should have been – it’s great! We all loved it too – I can remember playing it for the first time, on a tour bus in the US, and just being blown away. For me, that remix is super special as it captures the essence of Liam’s tunes, right at the end of his proper Hardcore period. All the beats are just so hectic, and it’s still got those rave stabs and hoovers.

Baker astutely points out how accurately Howlett captured the mutation of dance hardcore in this track. Against the backdrop of rave’s commercialization, the happy, fast-paced sound of free 10,000-capacity parties gradually gave way to a heavier sound; breaks got more structured and headed into darkcore, then Jungle and Drum & Bass. The approach to sampling was changing too: as artists were moving away from AKAI S950 samplers with their limited memory, all of that sped-up, adrenaline-rush stuff tended to change to a more technical and polished outlook. “Which is cool, but nothing beats that power that 1992/3 had,” says Iain.

Ultimately, The Prodigy Versus Jesus Jones Mix was released on the single of the same name in the summer of 1993 via the Food and EMI labels. According to Iain, this was the only version of the remix that Howlett sent over, and no demo or alternate versions ever existed. “That’s what’s cool about it, I think – it has that ‘just off the ADAT’ vibe about it”, smiles Baker.

As expected, no official music video for Howlett’s remix was ever released. However, over a decade ago, a member of the All Souvenirs team put together a video edit of this remix for his video set. For those who prefer the remix over the original, we invite you to check out our version of the video.

Jesus Jones have always spoken of The Prodigy with great respect: they loved them back then, and they still do today. Iain recalls: “I can recall seeing them onstage at the Camden Palace, when they did a show with SL2 – just a bunch of kids going nuts on a small stage, raving and having a laugh. So, seeing where they are now, what they managed to achieve, is just amazing. And it’s inspirational, too”.

Front 242 – Religion

Just a couple of months prior to ‘Zeroes & Ones’, on April 22, 1993, Front 242 released the Religion single, which featured two tunes by Alex Paterson (who remixed ‘Crapage’) and two magnificent bangers by Howlett (who refreshed the title track). In an attempt to distance himself from the tiresome kiddie rave, Liam reached a truly new level.

Liam Howlett: We just felt it was time for a change. I think the first thing I wrote which was slightly different…I did a remix for Front 242. And this was the start of the second level. It was like changing the formula of how I always wrote music and not using so many samples, basically just bringing a real darker side to the music.

As previously mentioned, the single ‘Religion’ by Front 242 was released on April 22, 1993, on the Red Rhino Europe and Epic labels and contains two different mixes by The Prodigy: Bass Under Siege Mix and Trance U Down Mix. In 1997, Liam spoke with great warmth about the track, which gave his creativity a new lease of life.

Addicted To Noise: What was the Front 242 song you did the remix on?
 
Liam Howlett: It was called ‘Burn You Down’. And I basically did two mixes, both really dark. One was like a real heavy sort of techno remix and the other one was like a dark break beat vibe. They were both sort of quite demonic in a way. And basically what happened after that is I started work on Music For The Jilted Generation, the second album. That was like, no rules. It was like, right, I’m gonna make an album I wanna make and hear now. Because when we first came out, we didn’t get slagged off but we didn’t get the respect we deserved from doing that type of music, the rave style of music. To be honest with you, it was good when we were doing it. But looking back on it now, it became really monotonous. I much prefer what we do now by a long shot. It didn’t really have a lot of substance to it but it was important because it was the foundation of what we were doing. All Prodigy music has always been about the beats and the groove of the tune. That’s the foundation of all the songs.

It’s clear that Liam’s love for his own tune didn’t disappear over time, and 20 years later, a piece of ‘Trance U Down Mix’ was used as live filler during the band’s live performances.

It’s interesting to note that there is actually a third version of The Prodigy’s ‘Religion’ remix that few people know about. Glenn Cattanach made it unofficially, but it was eventually released officially on the Roadkill! 1.06 compilation back in 1993. The remix, called Glenn Cattanach’s ‘Prodigy’ Mix, is a lesser-known gem for fans of both Front 242 and The Prodigy. Glenn Cattanach is known for his work with various DJs throughout the United States, creating mixes and medleys. Despite his success in editing and mixing, he has never been a working club DJ. He always preferred to be behind the tape recorder or computer, not behind the turntables.

Magi & Emanation – Everybody Say Love

In addition to remixes for Jesus Jones and Front 242, Liam worked on one more other artist’s side project in 1993. In addition to working on the new Prodge single One Love, Liam also remixed a one-hit wonder The Magi & Emanation with their then-widely-known rave anthem Everybody Say Love. As Emanation herself wrote on YouTube, she did not want to fit into the music industry: she just “gave it a try and then slipped off to better things”. The remix was released on debut single in July 1993 on several British labels.

Few know that this remix was not the first for this track. According to Emanation, the initial version of the remix was the track that everyone now knows as Rhythm Of Life. Apparently, the producers did not like it because it was too heavy, and Liam made a second version, which eventually came out on the single. Liam later added the first version as a B-side to the first Jilted-Era single One Love, which is why it is not on the Earthbound whitelabel. Emanation laughed that despite not performing at Glastonbury, her voice was massively blasting through the crowd there!

Emanation on YouTube: The “One Love” single by The Prodigy has a B-side called “Rhythm of Life” — that track is actually the first remix they submitted for my song, and my label asked for another version, and chose the second. I actually liked the ‘Rhythm of Life’ one a little more, probably cause it has my vocals all through it. If you put in ‘Rhythm of Life’ and watch it live at Glastonbury via YouTube, in this live clip I can even pretend I played at Glastonbury festival as my voice is booming out from the main stage!

You can only imagine how shocked the producers were upon hearing this remix, especially considering that just a year earlier, the band had released such good-natured hits as ‘Charly’, ‘Fire’, ‘Out Of Space’, and ‘Wind It Up’.

The Prodigy were already very popular at the time, so the producers of the ‘Everybody Say Love’ single were extremely happy to receive a remix from Liam. In addition to the official video for the original track, an official video was made for the remix as well, which was also regularly played on MTV. It is worth noting that the video with the remix is shorter than the remix itself, coming in at exactly 5 minutes long. To create the video, the intro and outro were simply cut out. However, a few years ago, a fan-made video edit of the full 5:39 mix surfaced online, which was simply a compilation of an old MTV rip.

Despite this, an official clip with the full remix does exist. The label created a completely new video cut, including some alternative scenes, during the COVID times.

We also stumbled across some rare photos and video from the music video shoot recently – we hasten to share them with you.

Incidentally, much to the dismay of our team, ‘Rhythm Of Life’ is represented with a misspelled title (as ‘Rhythm Of Live’) on all available streamings! It’s quite frustrating that this mistake hasn’t been corrected for several years.

Automation – Speedway

The above mentioned Mixmag article also mentions two other remixes: Made In 2 Minutes (originally by Bug Kann The Plastic Jam), which was released only in 1994 (we’ll talk about it later) and the remix of the well-known Speedway by the Automation band.

The original track, incidentally, fits perfectly into that aggressive dance sound Howlett was so drawn to in 1993. Rumours about The Prodigy vs. Automation remix had circulated in fan communities for over thirty years, and only very recently did rare details emerge regarding the collaboration that never came to pass…

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In 2026, one of The Prodigy fans got in touch with Automation and finally cleared up this complicated story. As it turned out, Howlett was actually a huge fan of Automation back in the early 1990s, and their track ‘Speedway’ was among his favorites. Shortly after the success of the ‘Charly’ single, the artists were invited to Liam’s home studio.

Automation for jonyintheplace (2026): We were lucky enough to be invited to go meet Liam at his Home studio, where we were greeted by his mum offering us Tea & Biscuits (Can the day get any better lol). We spoke about lots of things and loosely discussed a remix but nothing happened and when he put out his Speedway track we just thought it was cool and maybe it was a homage to our track, that was it.

It is likely that after this meeting in 1993, Howlett casually mentioned the potential collaboration to Mixmag journalists, which sparked the years-long rumors (and the release of The Prodigy’s own track ‘Speedway’ a year later only confused everyone even more).

However, things later took an unpleasant turn. Rumors reached Automation that Howlett believed the band was accusing him of ripping them off. The musicians were completely baffled. Digging into the matter to find out where this conflict stemmed from, they quickly found the culprit. It turned out to be Paul Castle — someone the band was working with at the time, and, in their words, “a bit of an opportunist when it comes to PR”.

Automation for jonyintheplace (2026): He took it upon himself to tell a journalist friend of his, that we thought the Prodigy had remixed our track without permission, as I say complete bullshit and so we parted ways with Paul and it still bugs us to this day that Liam probably still thinks this is the case.

Thus, over a quarter of a century later, yet another long-running myth from The Prodigy universe was dispelled.

That was 1993 — a time of a radical turning point for Liam Howlett and the dance scene as a whole. The monumental remixes for Jesus Jones, Front 242, and Magi & Emanation captured the departure from the euphoria of the early raves toward heavy, aggressive dance music. And although the potential collaboration with Automation remained just a myth, it was exactly these studio experiments that laid the foundation upon which the new, uncompromising sound of The Prodigy was soon definitively shaped.

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Headmasters: SIXSHOT, SPLIT
Additional thanks to: Iain Baker (Jesus Jones), jonyintheplace

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