Spitfire pt.2 • Single 20th Anniversary
On New Year’s Eve, we decided to take stock and recall the most significant events related to The Prodigy over the year. One of them was the 20th anniversary of the Spitfire single, originally released in spring 2005 via XL Recordings. Featuring remixes by Nightbreed and Future Funk Squad, ‘Spitfire’ became the final release to close the era of Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned. In this article, we take a detailed look at Spitfire (05 Version), break down the single’s remixes, revisit several lesser-known details surrounding them, and explore the history of the release artwork and the music video produced to accompany the single.
Previously, we covered the full story of Spitfire as a track — from the initial idea to production details (including an unexpected Jay-Z connection) and a detailed breakdown of all known versions. This time, the focus is strictly on the single itself, which was released on vinyl and digitally on 28 March 2005, followed by a CD release two weeks later, on 11 April.
Official Press Release: “The Prodigy release ‘Spitfire’, their new single via 12” and download on Monday the 28th of March 2005. The single, from their chart topping ‘Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned’ album, is backed with two unique, DJ friendly remixes. Lead track, the 05 version of ‘Spitfire’, is a punked-up, militant reworking of the album track and live favourite. Following the success of their ‘Pack Of Wolves’ track, Liam Howlett asked Ram Records’ Nightbreed to provide a drum’n’bass take on the single. In contrast to this, Future Funk Squad’s Dogfight mix is a nu skool breaks classic, already picking up plays on the nation’s airwaves.”
2005 VERSION
Although ‘Spitfire’ quickly became one of Liam’s live favourites, it appears he was never fully satisfied with how the track sounded on the album. Due to tight deadlines during the final stages of ‘Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned’, the track effectively slipped out in a slightly unfinished form. Almost immediately after the album’s release, at the very start of the 2004 tour, Liam began reworking ‘Spitfire’ for live performances, tightening its structure and sharpening its sound.
By the end of 2004, this updated version was complete and titled for the single as 05 Version. Actually it was the final version of the track, while the album version became a kind of early, unfinished beta-version. Although for some time the band performed an extended, almost five-minute version of the new ’05 mix, similar in structure to the album version, but the final version ended up being a minute and a half shorter.
For the first time in The Prodigy’s history, there was no separate shortened radio version (aka ‘Radio Edit’) for the single. The reason was simple: ‘Spitfire (05 Version)’ was originally conceived as a short track. Even before the release, Howlett wrote that the track sounded noticeably better in its short form:
Liam H in his blog (17/12/2004): “‘Spitfire’ is nxt single, it will be the faster version we play live. It will be edited coz it feels better shorter. I have new tracks like ‘Wake Up’ full vocal version, ‘Warning’ and ‘Ded Ken’, but they r all potential singles after ‘Spitfire’, so they wont be on b-side. ‘Way it is’ remixes and ‘Spitfire’ mixes will b!”
B-SIDE REMIXES
From same Liam’s message, it became clear that various tracks were planned as B-sides, including an unreleased remix of ‘The Way It Is’. As it later turned out, this was a remix by Darren Emerson, the English producer, DJ and musician best known as a co-founder of Underworld. This remains the only known guest remix of a non-single track from the ‘Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned’ era.
As guest remixes for the title track, two works were selected: one by the Essex drum’n’bass duo Nightbreed and another by the London breaks producer Future Funk Squad (real name Glen Nicholls). Liam was particularly impressed by Nightbreed’s remix, which he also wrote about in his blog, and which ultimately served as the basis for writing about 5 new tracks for the band: in 2005, it was combined with ‘Wake Up Call’ and released as ‘Wake The Fuck Up’; in 2012, the band introduced the ‘Spitfast’ (more details about this track further in the article), and three years later ‘Roadblox’ followed, incorporating ideas from all three tracks. In 2018, Liam returned to the same concept on the album ‘No Tourists’: perhaps there is no direct sampling there, but on close listening, familiar technique can clearly be recognised in ‘Champions Of London’.
Liam H in his blog (16/02/2004): “Hey peoples, NITEBREED hav just done a badass mix of ‘Spitfire’, if u heard that ‘Pack of Wolves’ track they did last year it will give u an idea of the sound – drum and bass punk rock. It’s of the wall. So 3 versions will be on the release: mine, FFS and this bomb.”
The Future Funk Squad remix, although released on the ‘Spitfire’ single, received active radio support, as noted in the press releases. According to Glen Nicholls himself, the initial version was made on his laptop on the sofa at home — no small task in 2004. The label later got in touch and suggested turning it into an official release, supplying all the stems. Around Christmas, Liam crossed paths with Glen and told him that his remix was “fucking cool”, something Nicholls would later recall as a defining moment for him.
A year later, in 2005, Future Funk Squad cooked an extended VIP version of his remix. Sonically, it was denser and more impactful than the version released on the single, but it never received an official release. Instead, the track was simply uploaded to MySpace — a fairly typical move at the time.
Several years later, in 2011, Future Funk Squad returned to the tune once again, reworking the remix in line with the then-current popularity of dubstep. The updated version leaned towards a harder “rock-inflected” breakbeat sound with dubstep elements and was not released commercially – it was distributed for free and made available to subscribers of the project’s official website mailing list.
OFFICIAL VIDEO
The version used in the video matches the length of the ’05 Version’ but is not an exact copy. It features additional sound effects absent from the single version, as well as vocals by Maxim. On the mono versions of the video released on ‘Their Law (The Singles 1990–2005)’ DVD, these differences are barely noticeable; however, the DVD promo featured the video with a stereo track, where Maxim’s backing vocals clearly double Juliette Lewis’s lines.
- MAXIM’S ‘SPITFIRE’ VOCAL (STUDIO)
On 11 and 12 December 2004, The Prodigy performed in Dublin, and footage from those shows was used for the ‘Spitfire’ video. It was directed by Tim Qualtrough: Liam Howlett was impressed by his work on Muse’s ‘Butterflies and Hurricanes’, and when Qualtrough approached him about a collaboration, Liam did not hesitate to agree. Production credits for the video also include Draw Pictures as the production company, with Vanessa Hudson serving as producer. Several additional scenes were later filmed in a London studio, and during editing the video was heavily treated with computer graphics and military imagery.
Liam Howlett for MTV Videography: “This is the guy that did the Muse video for ‘Butterflies and Hurricanes’, and I really like that video — I thought it was really creative. He felt like he could take that idea one stage further. Tim came to see the show and explained the idea. It was hard to get a grasp of what he was trying to do when he was telling us the idea at first, and when he showed us the first cut, I wasn’t convinced, because I’m not into computer graphics and stuff. I like it to be just really raw. But yeah, he definitely pulled it off with some of that stuff.”
The video was completed on 16 January, a fact Liam Howlett promptly shared on his blog.
Liam H in his blog (16/01/2004): “We hav finished the spitfire video now and its 1 of my favourite videos. It totally captures what happens on stage. It was filmed at the last 2 gigs in dublin in december. The director is the same dude that did Muse’s ‘Butterflys and Huricanes’. It is mad!”
During the shoot, Maxim badly strained his arm, and when he played his debut DJ set in Berlin on 21 January 2005, he did so with a bandage, finishing just 30 minutes after starting. In that setting, he played the single version of ‘Spitfire (05 Version)’ for the first time — more than two months before its official release.
In spring 2005, the video was aired on TV and issued across several promo releases. Around the same time, members of The Prodigy referred to ‘Spitfire’ as their favourite video to date — with Liam himself repeatedly expressing genuine enthusiasm for the video even before its premiere. It was particularly important for the band that, for the first time during the ‘Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned’ era, they appeared on screen together as a full lineup.
Maxim for MTV Videography: “I think one of the reasons why it’s come out so well is because the director actually came to two or three shows before he did the video, so he knew exactly what the band was about live. Whereas, you know, a lot of directors have never even seen the band before. They’ve just seen the previous videos and heard the music. So it’s definitely caught — caught the vibe.”
Beyond The Prodigy’s own releases, ‘Spitfire’ also appeared as part of the soundtrack for various films and series, including ‘The Sopranos’, as well as the series ‘Poker Face’, ‘Gotham’ and others. However, the most notable case was the 2005 remake of House of Wax. ‘Spitfire’ was chosen as the title track for the OST, after which an alternative video edit was assembled using scenes from the film. This version of the video remains available on The Prodigy’s YouTube channel to this day, while the original video was never uploaded to the band’s official online platforms.
It is also worth noting that a separate CD single version of ‘Spitfire’ was released by Maverick Records. Its artwork directly referenced the ‘House of Wax’ and was effectively based on the movie’s cover, despite the release formally remaining a The Prodigy single.
The original video was available on director Tim Qualtrough’s Vimeo a while back, and it was stated as HD 720p, but actually it was standard DVD quality upscaled to HD. The All Souvenirs team, in turn, is publishing a 4K remaster of the original video specially for this article — the restoration was carried out by EPICHOT.
SINGLE DESIGN
Unlike the design for Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned’ or the promo campaign for ‘Girls’, the covers for ‘Hotride’ and ‘Spitfire’ are absent from Intro’s portfolio (the company that designed the album), and in the liner notes of ‘Hotride’ and ‘Spitfire’, designers are not credited at all. In fact, after the release of the album and the first single, Intro stopped working with The Prodigy. In 2024, All Souvenirs spoke with Anna Bergfors from Intro, and she clarified the details: “They certainly were not ours. After two versions of the ‘Girls’ video I think the record company did them in-house. Something like that, it was indeed a while ago.”
We also managed to find out that ‘Hotride’ was designed by Alison Fielding, the Beggars Group’s Global Head of Creative — however, it is still unknown who exactly created the ‘Spitfire’ sleeve! Let us know in the comments if it was you 🙂
The single artwork is built around a photograph of the crown of Louisa Ulrika of Prussia, who became Queen of Sweden in 1751. A Second World War fighter aircraft propeller adds a distinctly militaristic tone, directly referencing the title ‘Spitfire’. The wings and yellow ‘eyes’, seemingly assembled from imagery resembling honeycomb cells, evoke the image of a bee or wasp — an aggressive insect ready to strike instantly. The trap placed at the bottom reinforces the sense of an imminent attack. Locust wings serve as a background.
Designed in-house at XL Recordings.
As with ‘Hotride’, ‘Spitfire’ has two artwork variants. The paler version was used for physical formats (vinyl and CD), while a more high-contrast version accompanied the digital release, including online stores, label downloads and, later, streaming platforms. At the same time, the paler one can also occasionally be found on certain digital platforms.
SPITFAST
‘Spitfire (05 Version)’ remained in the band’s concert setlist until the end of 2012, after which Spitfast was added — the very same drum’n’bass rework based on the Nightbreed’s remix, which premiered on 25th May 2012 in Lithuania.
It is worth noting that at the premiere they played a very raw version of this rework, more reminiscent of the classic “live-edit” of the Nightbreed remix, as was the case with ‘The Day Is My Enemy (Bad Company Remix)’ and ‘Rebel Radio (Rene LaVice’s Start A Fucking Riot Remix)’, which also played live.
A couple of gigs later, this edit was finally refined into the signature D&B sound that later became the basis for ‘Roadbox’. In this form, the Spitfire/Spitfast duo performed until the end of the year, after which the original ‘Spitfire (05 Version)’ was completely removed from the setlist.
A couple of years ago, we recreated Spitfast, and this year we decided to slightly update the sound of our re-chamber, bringing it even closer to that signature 2012 sound!
The original track’s full return did not take place until 2024, and even then it proved short-lived. As part of the 20th anniversary of ‘Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned’, just a couple of months after our article on the track went live, Liam refreshed ‘Spitfire’ and added it to the tour setlist. In this updated form, the track remained in the live programme throughout the summer of 2024.
Spitfire stands as a rare example of a track whose final version was effectively released after the album itself, quickly displacing the original mix. The single was not the most obvious release of the ‘Always Outnumbered’ era, but it became a telling one, going on to live a long life beyond its original album context.
Headmasters: SPLIT, SIXSHOT,
Additional thanks to: Faust, Epicshot
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Do you guys have any interest on remaking the Osaka Version of gun reprise?
It’s already done, will be in article about ‘Trigger/Gun/ShootDown’
When is this article expected to be released?
next year, but no exact date
Honestly, as a home listen, Spitfire works better as the album version. I suspect Liam wanted to distance from the Jay Z sample by pushing the tempo and rearranging the drums even more, since the guitar sample dominated the track so much, and 99 problems became one of the most iconic tracks of 2000s. The 05 drums are the ones that sound beta and rushed to me.