PWEI Single • Their Law (Ain’t Our Law)

On 19 August 2025, Pop Will Eat Itself unveiled the third single from their upcoming album Delete Everything — a brand new take on the iconic Their Law. Approved by The Prodigy’s Liam Howlett himself, the track captures the essence of PWEI’s 2025 sound. We caught up with the band’s Adam Mole, co-founder of PWEI and a member of the original line-up, to talk about what inspired them to completely reimagine the song 31 years later, what it means to them today, and what to expect from their new record.

‘Their Law’, first released in 1994 on The Prodigy’s album ‘Music for the Jilted Generation’, was a true rebellious anthem of its time. Written against the backdrop of growing tensions between the UK government and youth culture, the track was a furious critique of the Criminal Justice Bill, which sought to clamp down on raves and free parties. And while Howlett and his crew were never destined to become Britain’s answer to Rage Against The Machine (Liam has repeatedly said that The Prodigy were never a political band), the song still resonates with the chaos we live in. A timeless classic in every sense.

In 2024, we spoke with Adam Mole to mark the 30th anniversary of the ‘Jilted’ and told the full story of how ‘Their Law’ was made: theprodi.gy/theirlaw

What many don’t know is that ‘Their Law’ was originally a collaboration and co-written by Pop Will Eat Itself. Liam reached out to them while searching for inspiration for the new record and suggested they work together. The Criminal Justice Bill was everywhere in the headlines at the time, and for young people it was a real issue — one that affected Howlett directly too. Already beginning to experiment with a heavier rock sound, Liam was drawn to the idea of making a protest track with big guitars and vocals.

PWEI came up with and recorded the guitars, synths and vocals, then sent the material to Liam Howlett on a DAT. Adam Mole points out that they didn’t really send him a finished song as such, so it ended up being very much a joint effort.

Liam reworked the beat, edited down the parts they had sent, rejected all the synth and electronic elements, scrapped all the verses apart from a few lines, and re-recorded the ‘Smokey And The Bandit’ spoken-word intro — that very ‘What we’re dealing with here is a total lack of respect for the law’. The puzzle came together: for more than 30 years since, barely The Prodigy gig has gone by without ‘Their Law’, and many fans regard it as one of the band’s most powerful live moments.

In turn, Pop Will Eat Itself also made the track a highlight of their own shows. For years their version stayed close to the album cut, albeit always with their own voice. Mole notes that the live parts only really came together after ‘Their Law’ had been released, serving as an extra bit to boost their version — and to give Clint more freedom on stage. Back in the 90s, however, PWEI only performed ‘Their Law’ a handful of times, just prior to splitting up.

For a few reunion shows in 2005 they slightly altered the lyrics, and in 2011, following another line-up change, the vocals were reworked again.

Adam Mole for All Souvenirs: ‘In 2005 after an initial split in 1996 the original members of Pop Will Eat Itself plus drummer Fuzz Townshend (from 1992) reformed for 5 gigs, the set included “Their Law” with some new vocal lines by Clint Mansell. In 2011 when Graham Crabb reformed PWEI utilising musicians from other bands he replaced Clint’s vocals in “Their Law” (with the exceptions of the “fuck ’em and their law” and “crackdown at sundown” shouts) with his own new vocal lines.

 

Essentially apart from these additional vocals the track we’d been playing live in recent years was pretty much the track that appeared on “Music for the Jilted Generation”, bar a few edits or slight arrangement, and of course with added live drums, bass and guitar.’

From 2011 the group continued to perform and write new music, and when recording their 2025 album ‘Delete Everything’, the subject of ‘Their Law’ came up unexpectedly, and this time the tune was totally reinvented by PWEI to be played under their own law. ‘It was one of the last to be submitted, pretty late in the day,’ recalls Adam Mole. ‘We decided to totally re-arrange and re-record it… try and make it a bit more PWEI 2025.’

When asked whether the band had used any of the old 1994 demos or unused takes for the new version, Adam Mole was quick to clarify that they had been careful not to. ‘We were careful not to use any of the actual recording of the original, mainly for copyright issues,’ he explains. ‘That sort of thing is usually down to the publishers and often something band members have no control over. We wanted to avoid any last-minute complications.’

This decision, he notes, is why the new take ended up drifting away from the live version PWEI were still playing as recently as their show at Caldicot Castle on 2 August 2025. Instead, the band leaned into something completely different. ‘We’ve made our version a bit more punky, chaotic and cut-up, less dance/rave — but that’s our thing I guess,’ Mole says.

Some elements were untouchable, however. ‘Liam’s fantastic main synth riff is so synonymous with the track we didn’t even try to improve it… why would you, it’s perfection,’ Adam admits. To capture it faithfully, Graham Crabb replayed the riff using a similar synth sound.

On the guitar side, bassist Davey Bennett — who has been with PWEI since 2011 — took on the job of replaying all the guitar parts, tweaking the riffs slightly, including the notes in the big drop section after Clint’s infamous shout of ‘Fuck ’em and their law’. With original guitarist Richard March having left before this album, the absence of a dedicated guitarist led to some light-hearted disputes. ‘There were a few comedy arguments as to what notes these should be,’ Mole laughs.

What the band came to jokingly call ‘Riffgate’ dragged on for weeks until the album deadline loomed. ‘I’m not sure it will ever be concluded, but everyone’s got used to the new/old/wrong/right/nearly right/not quite right/totally wrong riff now… and I wouldn’t have it any other way,’ Adam says.

It was already late in the day to be working on a new version of ‘Their Law’, and immediate concerns centred on publishing and copyright — whether there would be enough time to clear (delete?) everything, including any use of material from the original ‘Music for the Jilted Generation’ record. That extended to the PWEI vocals and guitars too, as Mole points out, since those elements technically belonged to the band’s publishers back in 1994.

In the end, Graham’s current publisher reached out and sent the track over to Liam and his manager. The response was everything the band could have hoped for. Liam gave his approval, and, as Mole recalls, they were ‘really chuffed’ to have his nod. ‘But I don’t truly know if Liam actually listened to it and liked it — possibly not!’ Adam laughs.

Check out ‘Their Law (Ain’t Our Law)’ on all platforms:
republicofmusic.lnk.to/PWEI-TheirLaw

The digital release of ‘Their Law (Ain’t Our Law)’, out on 19 August 2025, comes with the familiar ‘Edit’ tag often seen on singles. At just three minutes, it’s a typical move for this kind of release — suggesting that the album may contain either an extended version or a reworked mix of the same length. According to Adam Mole, the shorter running time this time around was a deliberate creative constraint.

Adam Mole for All Souvenirs: ‘One of the things we wanted to do was to make every track relatively short, some did creep up in seconds as time went by but the 3 minute mark was something we did look at but not to an extent it became conceptual.’

Pop Will Eat Itself still have massive love for their collaboration on ‘Their Law’. For the band, the fact that The Prodigy continue to play the track live more than three decades on is seen as a huge compliment. As Mole reflects, The Prodigy remain vital and legendary across many genres of music on an International scale and the fact they still play the track live is a massive endorsement on PWEI too.

On a personal level, he describes seeing them absolutely blitz massive crowds like Glastonbury in 2025 as an utter delight. Regardless of the track itself, The Prodigy remain one of Adam’s favourite bands of all time — alongside The Clash, Public Enemy and Orbital — and he hopes they will long continue to wow people across the globe.

Pop Will Eat Itself’s UK tour for ‘Delete Everything’ kicks off on 17 October 2025 in Manchester — don’t miss the chance to hear ‘Their Law (Ain’t Our Law)’ live near you! Grab your tickets: formpresents.seetickets.com/tour/pop-will-eat-itself

Headmaster: SPLIT
Additional thanks to: Adam Mole, Pop Will Eat Itself

YOOMONEY (RUS): 7928З82272З

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