3 Kilos • Interview w/ Phil Bent

3 Kilos opens The Narcotic Suite, the three-track triptych that brings The Prodigy’s 1994 album Music for the Jilted Generation to its epic conclusion. Sounding like the onset of a hazy trip in a smoke-filled room, it is a loose, atmospheric, yet tightly locked-down seven-minute funk groove.

Until recently, ‘3 Kilos’ remained an elusive studio entity, having never been performed live. That changed on August 20, 2026 — 32 years after the album’s release — when the track made its surprise live debut at The Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin, kicking off the ‘Warriors Dance’ show series. To mark the unexpected live premiere, we decided to piece together the definitive origin story behind this hypnotic track, featuring rare insights into the studio session from Phillip Bent, the flautist who recorded his parts specifically for ‘3 Kilos’.

---

---

The bubbling sound of water, a deep inhale, a snapping drum break — and off we go. That is how ‘The Narcotic Suite’ opens, immediately plunging the listener into a space steeped in a mind-altering experience. Liam Howlett’s vision for the album’s closing chapter was to “re-create particular drug experiences”.

Liam for Martin Roach: “There’s a track on Jilted Generation called ‘3 Kilos’ for which I pictured this smoky room with a whole load of people in there, very laid-back, a whole smoky vibe. That was the picture and I could hear the music that went with it. Quite a lot of the tracks I write are like that. In that sense I write somewhat like an ambient artist, I see pictures in my head and then put music to those pictures.”

---

Liam was always resolute when responding to journalists’ questions regarding his personal use of illicit substances. Back in 1991, as The Prodigy truly began to take off, he made the firm decision to step away from any heavy stimulants. Ultimately, ‘The Narcotic Suite’ was never intended as a glorification of drugs, but rather as a purely artistic device. However, in a July interview with Mixmag, marking the ‘Jilted Generation’ release in 1994, Howlett casually remarked that smoking is a big part of their lives.

Mixmag (Issue No 38, July 1994): “Liam’s not letting on which drug inspired what tune. You’re left to work that out for yourself: “That’s corny,” he insists. “You can listen to the tune, the feelings will be from the music and you’ll be able to appreciate what I’m getting at.”

But he doesn’t do hard drugs anymore, he says. “For me, personally, I smoke quite a bit. I find that it fits in nicely with what I’m writing. I wouldn’t ever do acid again. Probably wouldn’t ever do any E’s again. I’ve seen too many people fucked up. Especially in our town. When ‘Charly’ came out, that was the time when I was really into going out and doing lots of E and stuff. It definitely inspired me.”

The main sample underpinning ‘3 Kilos’ is lifted from Good Livin’ (Good Lovin’) by Pretty Purdie — one of many projects led by the legendary funk drummer Bernard Purdie. Incidentally, Liam also sampled another Purdie drum break for ‘Poison’, which featured on the very same ‘Music for the Jilted Generation’ album. Notably, Leo Crabtree, who has been performing as The Prodigy’s live drummer since late 2007, has also listed Purdie among his primary influences.

---

---

Another underlying drum break was sampled from Funky Mule by Ike Turner & The Kings Of Rhythm. That very sound of bubbling water heard in the intro was sampled from the E-mu Proteus /3 sound module library, while the cosmic radio static right at the tail end was sourced from the Roland SR-JV80-04 expansion board.

---

---

---

Perhaps the most striking fact about ‘3 Kilos’ is that its hypnotic flute line was not sampled off some obscure vintage record. Liam Howlett recorded it live right in his home studio. For this, he specifically brought in flautist Phillip Bent, who by 1994 was already an established artist in his own right, boasting a solo album, ‘The Pressure’, several singles, and numerous high-profile session collaborations under his belt.

---

In 2024, the All Souvenirs crew managed to get in touch with Phil, and he recounted in vivid detail everything he remembered about meeting Liam and their studio session together.

Phil Bent for All Souvenirs: “Around 1993, I received a phone call from my friend Ajit. He told me that there was an up-and-coming band called The Prodigy, looking for a flute player for one of their tracks. Ajit set up everything for me to meet Liam.”

Bent still fondly recalls that trip out to a railway station tucked away on the outskirts of London. Waiting for Howlett and not entirely sure where his ride was parked, Phil eventually spotted his new acquaintance — who pulled up in a shiny, brand-new sports car.

---

Liam’s house left a real impression on Bent with its sheer scale. Offerings of juice out of the way, the host ushered him into a spacious studio setup where an engineer was already waiting. Phil was caught off guard to find that instead of the usual massive huge keyboards and big hardware drum machines, the room was filled with very small electronic musical equipment and gadgets. Only a couple of units stood out by their size, but it was those tiny devices that were truly driving the ship.

Phil Bent for All Souvenirs: “Liam played the track for me and said something I had never heard before from anyone: ‘Play what you want, and I’ll check back in about an hour or so.'”

Left alone in the room, Phil began to improvise, laying down whatever came into his head — with every single note being captured on tape. Speaking to All Souvenirs, he admitted that he found this approach incredibly amusing; usually, producers breathe down your neck and meticulously dictate every single move, but Liam granted Bent absolute creative freedom. “Liam was intelligent enough to recognize that I’m great at spontaneous improvisation, so he trusted me to do my thing,” Phil smiles.

---

When Howlett returned, he played the track back and was absolutely blown away by the record. Wrapping up the session, he casually asked if his guest needed a lift back to the railway station. This profoundly laid-back atmosphere and the sheer level of trust from Liam completely blew Phil away.

All Souvenirs: “Do you remember the first time you heard the final tune?”
Phil Bent: “Yeah, a few times later I realised the album had been released, and Liam was kind enough to credit me as the flute player. But, honestly, I was in complete shock. I think I even laughed. I thought, ‘What the fuck is this? Where is my fantastic, beautiful flute tone I’ve spent years perfecting?…'”

Phil had spent years honing his craft, dedicating four to eight hours a day to the classical flute and studying under the legendary Kate Lukas at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama. He was highly regarded for his fantastic tone; however, on the recording, Liam completely warped that sound beyond recognition.

But after playing the track back on loop, Phil finally grasped the producer’s grand idea: “He kept my technique and vibe, but he had to make me sound like I was part of the track!”. Howlett could have easily left the pristine academic sound intact, but it is highly unlikely that it would have captured the distinct mood of ‘3 Kilos’.

Bent concedes: “Liam is an amazing producer, so I know he experimented and chose what was best for the track. So, in a way, he “screwed up” my tone in a good way — he made me sound like an alien playing the flute, and it worked fantastically for the track.”

Phil has not been in touch with Liam since 1994, but he warmly remembers The Prodigy’s mastermind as a calm and genuinely pleasant guy. “It would be good to meet up with him again one day!” Bent adds.

---

---

If you, much like us, are intrigued by the idea of what a joint performance between Phil and The Prodigy might have looked like, Bent happens to have one more story up his sleeve! According to him, following the recording of ‘3 Kilos’, he had the sheer luck of sharing the stage with the band for a one-off live gig at the Hammersmith Palais in London on March 14, 1994.

That said, absolutely no documentary evidence of this collaboration has survived. Our sources, who were close to Liam and the crew back in those days, were also unable to verify the authenticity of this claim. If any of you were actually at that show, let us know!

Phil Bent for All Souvenirs: “In Hammersmith Odeon me and The Prodigy performed a flute solo improvisation. I performed the solo in the middle of one of the songs during the show. They put me on a huge structure resembling a mountain, which was slightly to the back of the stage but centre stage. Unfortunately, I don’t have any photos from that show. The ‘3 Kilos’ recording may have been made before the live performance.”

A persistent myth often circulates within fan circles suggesting that alongside ‘3 Kilos’, Phil Bent’s flute playing allegedly features on ‘Voodoo People’ as well. It is highly likely that this rumour stems directly from the album’s liner notes. The booklet vaguely lists “Live flute by: Phil Bent” without specifying a track. This ambiguity was presumably a deliberate legal smokescreen designed to dodge copyright issues, drawing attention away from the uncleared sample driving ‘Voodoo People’. In reality, as is well documented, the core of ‘Voodoo People’ is built around a sample from ‘You’re Starting Too Fast’ by Johnny Pate, which actually features jazz musician Jerome Richardson on the flute. Misled by the blanket album credit, however, fans back in the day naturally assumed Bent was responsible for all the flute lines across the entire record.

---

An interesting piece of trivia: according to chatter across various fan communities, Liam initially wanted to collaborate on ‘3 Kilos’ with Ian Anderson — the Scottish flautist and songwriter best known as the frontman of Jethro Tull. As the story goes, supposedly according to Anderson himself, Howlett’s letter got lost in his paperwork, and Ian only stumbled upon it when ‘Music for the Jilted Generation’ had already hit the shelves.

---

That being said, our team was unable to track down the primary source of this claim, and during his conversation with All Souvenirs, Phil Bent himself also noted that he was completely unaware of any plans involving another flautist. Our attempts to contact Jethro Tull and Ian directly had also been unsuccessful as of the time of this article’s out.

It is worth noting that Phil was the first, but certainly not the only flautist The Prodigy have collaborated with over their decades-long existence. For instance, in 2004, Liam brought in flautist Jim Hunt to lay down parts for ‘Wake Up Call’, and in September 2005, during a Maida Vale live session, the band performed ‘Poison’ alongside beatboxing flautist Nathan Lee — a performance we recently covered in a separate feature. By a stroke of pure coincidence, it turns out that Nathan and Phil Bent actually know each other!

Nathan Lee for All Souvenirs: “Yes, his name was Phillip Bent, I think. I had a studio right next to his in Acton, in London; this was just a coincidence!”

In turn, speaking to All Souvenirs, Bent mentioned that he crossed paths with Nathan a couple of times in 2003, and “tried to encourage him to focus on honing a more classical sound”. Phillip said he “was trying to get Nathan’s flute technique and tone better”.

---

Unsurprisingly, ‘3 Kilos’ is far from the most popular track in The Prodigy’s discography, which is why no official remixes of it were ever commissioned. The sole exception was the track’s inclusion on the official soundtrack for the American crime thriller 15 Minutes, starring Robert De Niro. Released in 2001, the compilation featured the track in its original seven-minute 1994 version.

Outside of this compilation, the track was never officially issued on any third-party releases and essentially vanished from the radar — right up until its completely unexpected live premiere in Dublin on August 20, 2026.

So concludes the story of ‘3 Kilos’, a track that spent decades lurking in the shadows of the heavier, more explosive anthems on ‘Music for the Jilted Generation’. And while Liam Howlett continues, albeit rarely, to surprise old-school fans at new gigs, we know one thing for absolute certain: The Prodigy’s musical archives still hold plenty of untold stories just waiting for their moment.

---

Headmasters: SPLIT
Additional thanks to: Sixshot, Phillip Bent, Erroll Jones, Nathan Lee, Collecthor

---