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Pendulum Swing Between Metal and Drum'n'Bass, Refuse to Pander to Purists

Pendulum Warner Music

Pendulum wants the world to know that they aren't making drum'n'bass so much anymore. "The more we meld it with rock and metal influences, the more interesting it gets for us," Rob Swire, lead producer and frontman of the Australian group, tells Spinner.

In fact, they even hired Swedish death metal band In Flames to appear on their recent album, 'Immersion.' "We didn't think they'd be into it but luckily they had heard some of our stuff from the last album and really liked it. They got on board straight away. We had three death metal guys sitting in the back of our trailer before we knew it."

After spending his youth in metal bands, Swire eventually discovered drum'n'bass and spent his subsequent years behind the decks as a DJ until, that is, he grew restless. "I became quite bored," he says. "It was becoming tiring, really, so I decided that I wanted to do something live again. And suddenly, in 2005, the technology was available to do it."

Watch Pendulum Perform 'Witchcraft' at Rock am Ring Fest

Pendulum's first album, 2005's 'Hold Your Colour,' was a massive breakthrough, one of the first albums to merge vocals and electro synths with drum'n'bass kick drums. 'Hold Your Colour' eventually helped bring electronic music back into the North American mainstream, but some d'n'b purists scorned the sound, labeling it "clownstep."

Swire considers the alienation factor, which, even now, still plagues the band, claiming, "we just want to make music that we'd like to hear ourselves. If we lose fans, it's terrible, but I think we gain as many as we lose."

Pendulum is currently touring their new album, opening for Linkin Park. Not an obvious fit, as audience reaction in major cities like New York was fairly weak, but Swire admits that they were sort of prepared for that.

"North America still doesn't really get the electronic rock thing, but we've booked all the major UK metal festivals and even opened for Iron Maiden."

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