Best known for “Born Slippy NUXX,” the soundtrack for Scottish smack junkie Mark Renton Choosing Life in the seminal Danny Boyle flick Trainspotting, Karl Hyde and Rick Smith have been making sound systems and crowds pulse for over 20 years as the dance group Underworld. Last month saw the release of the group’s eight studio album, Barking, which will be followed by a short U.S. tour that begins Monday at the 9:30 Club. Earlier this week, we spoke to Hyde about scaling Underworld’s show to smaller venues, using set lists for the first time and a possible Radiohead collaboration.
Hi Karl, how are you?
Good yeah, and yourself?
Very well. I assume that this is the tail end of a long press day for you?
No, it’s okay. I’m just doing some press at the end of a day filled with lots of things, really. I’ve been in the studio a lot today, so this is a nice wind down really. Just having a chat.
Are you back in the U.K. now?
Yeah, we are back now. We were out in Japan for a while, but we’ve been back for about a week. I think. Maybe a little less than a week. I don’t know anymore. My body just goes “What the hell are you doing now?”
How was the tour of Japan? Your new album went to #1 over there, right?
Yeah, it was fantastic. All the shows sold out. It was a very young audience, a new audience. Faces I’ve never seen before. It’s kind of great and kind of weird and exciting. At the same time you’re thinking “alright, where has everybody else gone?” [laughs] They’re probably outside thinking “who are all that lot in there?” But yes, a very successful tour over there. It’s a country I spend a lot of time in, so I kind of know it pretty well. But I’m looking forward to coming out to the US.
I am super excited about the tour, because generally you guys do larger shows in select cities like New York, Chicago and San Francisco. I was literally jumping up and down when I saw the announcement for the show at the 9:30 Club here in D.C.
We’ll be able to see all the faces, yeah. It’s been a long time since we’ve played D.C.
