Underworld Are Proud to Be Deadheads

Posted on Aug 5th 2009 4:00PM by Steve Baltin
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As one of dance music's most iconic acts, a fixture on the festival circuit for almost two decades and a group whose pulsating 'Born Slippy' might be the genre's greatest anthem, Underworld practically define the cutting edge. But to them, the true pioneers are one band that's been blazing trails since the '60s. "The Grateful Dead are still the cutting edge," Underworld's Karl Hyde says. "They're outsiders, they made their own path. It was about the music, it was about a totally immersive experience. They were the cutting edge of a lot of technology and they were the blueprint for a lot of things we see in terms of being self-sufficient. They kind of were the blueprint really."

While Hyde admits, "Musically they tread a different path," he draws a lot of parallels between the jam scene and rave culture. "I heard this stuff on the pirate stations in London and then was reading about these parties for 10,000 people in a warehouse on an airfield with light shows and oil wheels and stuff," he says. "It kind of threw right back to the late '60s and it just to me sounded so exciting. There was a real connection there."

Hyde says the two bands have never crossed paths, but he is hoping they will. "I've always thought they're a group of people that we should make contact with because there'd be a lot of information and support that we could exchange," he says. "I just think they're a really interesting group of people. Philosophically and the space they occupy, I think there could be some really interesting conversations."

One value Underworld took from the Dead is a pro-bootlegging stance, which American fans can put into use as the band hits L.A.'s legendary Forum to headline the Hard Summer festival this Saturday. If they needed any more incentive to attend, Hyde promises fans that the band will debut some new material. "Now is the chance people have to make a decent recording if they want to," he says. "We always thought as long as people didn't sell them, make money from them, we were never having a problem with people making their own recordings."