#AONO20: Straigth Across The Spitfire
April 2024 marks the 19th anniversary of the legendary Spitfire single, which was released digitally and on vinyl on 28th March 2005 and on CD on 11th April. It’s also worth noting that Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned will celebrate its 20th anniversary in 2024, and to mark the occasion we’ve decided to share some rare details behind each of the album’s tunes and shed some light on the era as a whole. We kick off the #AONO20 series with this entry, starting with an in-depth look at the opening track.
The first track on the album was one of the last to be recorded in early 2004: it was finished at the last minute before release and did not even appear on the promo CDs sent to music journalists at the end of April 2004. New Music Express reported the case in detail.
NME: We can confirm it exists, and we’ve also got Liam Howlett talking all about the band’s first LP in seven years. […] NME.COM were invited to an exclusive showcase of a sample of the album last week in London. Clips of six songs were played, ’Girlz’, ’Get Up Get Off’, ’Wake Up’, ’Ice’, ’1.9.6.5’ and ’Hotride’.
Photographer: Dave Hogan / Getty Images
Like much of the album, ‘Spitfire’ was sketched in Howlett’s own bedroom, in an environment of complete tranquillity – it’s been quite a long time since Liam has felt so comfortable and focused at the same time.
Liam for SoundOnSound: I’d get into bed, put Moonraker on my DVD and create this idyllic cocoon of happiness that allowed me to think really clearly. I’d know exactly what I wanted to do. Reason really helped because it’s so quick to get ideas down and that was when I really started writing. I wrote ‘Spitfire’ […] in bed. I’d get the demos and ideas down on Reason — the beats, the programming, the basic layouts and the initial vibe — then I’d go into the studio the next day and play the boys the results.
Photo: korg.com
After January 2004, the writing and recording process came to an end and it was time for the final phase: Liam and Neil McLellan (The Prodigy’s sound bloke, responsible for the band’s sound from 1993 to 2015) moved to Whitfield Street Studios for the mixing. Liam seemed to have almost everything done, but after mixing ‘Spitfire’ in the new studio, Howlett decided to mix the whole album from scratch again.
Liam for SoundOnSound: I assumed we’d use Whitfield Street to just balance the mixes on the big speakers. I’d mixed the tracks at The Mews on the Mackie using Yamaha NS10s and I knew we needed to hear them through big speakers to check everything was OK. I thought we’d just push the stems up through Whitfield Street’s big Neve console and it would all sound great. But when we got there I asked Neil to humour me and let me spend another day mixing one track, ‘Spitfire’ — and bang! It sounded so good I just had to mix the whole album again.
Photo: instagram.com/theprodigyofficial
The track didn’t leave the live setlist until 2009, after which it disappeared from the shows for a while. In 2012, ‘Spitfire’ returned in another updated form: this time as a drum ‘n’ bass remix called Spitfast.
Notably, this version evolved from Nightbreed’s remix from the 2005 single. And the 2015 track ‘Roadblox’ from the album ‘The Day Is My Enemy’ was in turn the final iteration of the track that evolved from ‘Spitfast’!
All Souvenirs found all the key elements and recreated ‘Spitfast’ in its studio sound:
Read also the second part of the article, which covers the release of the single, the official remixes and the filming of the music video.
Headmasters: SIXSHOT, SPLIT
Additional thanks to: Canyon Hill
Donate
Tether (USDT)
Donate Tether(USDT) to this address
YOOMONEY (RUS): 7928З82272З
