Interview: Simon Taylor of Klaxons

British band Klaxons shot to fame after releasing a number of limited 7-inch singles that swept through the UK at a rate of knots. Their hugely successful debut album “Myths of The Near Future” and the 2010 follow-up “Surfing The Void” earned the band a Mercury Prize and a loyal fan base that spans the globe. I managed to grab a few minutes with guitar player Simon Taylor ahead of the band’s Rock For People performance to talk about the band’s recent reacquaintance with live performances.

 ST: I’m well, thank you. I planned a nice day in the London sunshine but it’s typically pouring with rain at the moment so I have decided to stay indoors. Band-wise, things are great. We decided to take a break from the live shows but recently got back into the swing of things. We have just done our first 3 or 4 live shows in the UK since the break and are putting the finishing touches to the record. It’s a good time for us, we’re really really busy but it’s really, really good. With summer just around the corner we’re tweaking the album tracks and our live show in preparation for the busy summer ahead!

ST: [Laughs] It’s like riding a bike after a few whiskies. You can remember how to do it, you know you can do it, you’re just a little bit shaky. Also, I think the first 5 or 10 ten times you play new tracks half of your brain is focusing on not screwing up and the other half is trying to gauge the reaction of the audience. It’s always quite a strange and yet exciting process, being burrowed away working on the tracks and then we go out to performing in front of crowds of people. It’s a good test to see weather we’ve just lost the plot or if we’re on to something good here. But the new tracks are going down really well. There are one or two tracks in particularly that have been received really well.

ST: I find the thought process far more interesting, it’s like trying to double guess people’s thoughts. I’m totally fascinated by this as an idea. For us there are always two or three tracks that we’d present as our first piece of music to play to people from our forthcoming record. From those two or three we’ll usually find one that people responded to more excitedly when compared to the others. So usually the audience reaction simply confirms our initial feelings. If one song gets a better reaction we’d say, OK perhaps that should be the one we release first as the energy levels seem to be high for that track.