‘The Day Is My Enemy’ single turns 10!

Exactly 10 years ago, on 26th January 2015, the track The Day Is My Enemy was released through Cooking Vinyl. To mark this milestone, our team has delved into some fascinating facts about the tune. We’ve uncovered some rare insider details and are excited to share them with you. Plus, we’ve reconstructed one of the demo versions of The Day and did the brand new re-chamber of Night Is My Friend for you to enjoy. Without further ado, let’s dive in!

Mixmag Review: Militaristic, teeth-baring and ball-grabbing, ‘The Day Is My Enemy’ is more industrial than a couple of Transformers having it out in a Soviet weapons factory. If there was any lingering suspicions that the Liam Howlett and co might have mellowed over the years, this track spectacularly pulverizes that notion. This is tune is as violent as any you’ve heard from them in the past.

Premiere

The single’s release was announced on 22nd January 2015 via the band’s social media accounts and Zane Lowe’s Instagram, where he was then a host on BBC Radio 1. The worldwide premiere took place a few days later.

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Zane Lowe posting(@zanelowe)

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On 26th January Lowe premiered the track on BBC Radio 1 at 7 PM (London time). After the premiere, the band uploaded the official audio to their YouTube channel, accompanied by visuals styled similarly to the album cover featuring the fox. While this video isn’t available in all countries, reuploads are easy to find. On the same day, the track appeared on major music platforms like iTunes, although Discogs lists the release date as 28th January.

Early demo

2012 demo & final release

For the first time since 2008, Liam revisited Martina’s vocals in 2012: the fresh The Day demo was premiered at Brixton gigs in December.

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Our team has recreated this 2012 demo version!

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However, this version wasn’t final either. By 2014, the instrumental was handed to Liam’s mate Same Old Sean for his solo track Laydown (more on Sean in our future article).

LH Remix w/ Dope D.O.D.

It’s fascinating that even after the album’s release, ‘The Day Is My Enemy’ didn’t become just another track for Liam. Sometime later, Liam produced a powerful remix of the song, turning it into a notable collaboration with Dutch rap crew Dope D.O.D.

However, for reasons unknown, despite Dope D.O.D. sharing the stage with The Prodigy multiple times and supporting them on tour, this remix was never performed live together. Instead, Dope D.O.D. incorporated the remix into their own sets without Liam or The Prodigy’s participation.

Liam, on the other hand, created his own edit of the remix, along with an instrumental version for live performances. This version appeared in setlists as Night’s My Friend, likely in reference to the EP of the same name released a few months earlier.

Years ago, our mate Rapraiz recreated this live edit pretty good, but to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the single, we decided to completely remake it from scratch on our own. Check it out!

By the way, after the occasional mention from Rapraiz, Liam reintroduced this edit into the December 2024 tour setlist. While it seems the British audience didn’t fully embrace the heavy hip-hop vibe, we’re confident fans in the US and Russia are eagerly awaiting this remix on a big sound system! 🙂

Other Versions

In addition to the versions already mentioned, the track had a couple of notable edits. The first is a classic single edit (3:40), a shortened promo version that was never officially released and can only be found on promo sampler. This edit was also used in a promotional video on YouTube. The second edit, known as the LH Edit, was created by Liam specifically for live performances and can be found on the remix album.

Several official remixes by other artists were also released, including one by Chris Avantgarde, another by Caspa, and an exclusive drum & bass remix by Bad Company. The latter was released exclusively on limited single-sided etched vinyl.

Interestingly, Liam reworked Bad Company’s remix slightly for live performances about a year after its original release.

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A quick recap:

 

A more detailed analysis and additional information can be found in the second part of the article on our Patreon!

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Headmasters: ALL SOUVENIRS

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