The battle with the bottle that became a club anthem for a million students

Apr 11 2008 by Emma Johnson, Liverpool Daily Post

THEIR biggest hit became the anthem of a generation, with its refrain of “lager, lager, lager” the soundtrack of a boozy night out on the town.

So it’s a rich irony that Underworld’s 90s club classic, Born Slippy, actually came from the songwriter’s battle with the bottle.

“All our music is autobiographical and that was literally me asking for help with my drink problem,” laughs Karl Hyde, one half of the duo and the source of the unforgettable lyrics which burst from the Trainspotting soundtrack to be forever imprinted on moviegoers’ memories.

“It took a while to sort that one out; nobody got it, but that is what it was. It was the soundtrack of a very dark night trawling the streets of the West End, as happened many nights.”

Along with partner Rick Smith, Midlands-born Karl has been the driving force of Underworld for some 28 years. Other musicians have come and gone including DJ/producer Darren Emerson who spent a decade on board before quitting to pursue a solo career in 2000, but only Karl and Rick have tasted success in three decades.

“If someone had said to us we would be together for 28 years, we would have said never. But that’s the way it is – we’re kind of obstinate – we just stick at it,” Karl laughs.

Now regarded as godfathers of electronic music, the pair met in the early 80s while Rick was working in a bank and Karl was studying at Cardiff Art College. They first tasted success in 1982 as new wave act Freur, when their single Doot Doot, which made a slight splash in the UK, topped the charts in Europe.

But the band split after just two albums with Rick and Karl deciding to take a more electro-pop approach to music-making. They took the name Underworld from a film the pair had scored (written, incidentally, by Liverpool-born author Clive Barker), released a couple of albums and briefly split again before being joined by Emerson, who helped them tackle the dance market head on.

But it was the decision by rookie director Danny Boyle to have their Born Slippy track (originally a B-side) accompany the closing credits of Trainspot- ting, his groundbreaking com- edic chronicle of heroin addic- tion, in 1996, that would make Underworld a household name.

Although, had Karl and Rick had their way, things could have been very different. Not only were they not sure about it being in the film, they were dead against it being released as a single afterwards.

“It was a very successful 12- inch for us,” Karl explains. “Danny already wanted to put one of our tracks on the soundtrack – Dark Train – and then asked about Born Slippy.

“After a bit of umming and ahhing, we said yes. Then, after the film came out, our label wanted to re-release it but they really had to twist our arms to get us to do it. We weren’t in the habit of re-releasing anything, we just wanted to move on.

“In the end, they literally canvassed 100 DJs up and down the country, and 99 of them said it was the biggest floorfiller they had and we had to put it out.

“There was one bloke – a DJ in Cardiff – who said it stunk. We thought he was fantastic so we wrote him a letter telling him so.”

The Cardiff DJ’s loss was a million students' gain, the track made it to number two and remains Underworld's most commercially successful single to date, regularly remixed and re-released. It could have become something of an albatross for a less philosophical outfit, but Karl refutes the suggestion.

“It opened so many doors for us. It moved our career on very quickly and got us to places that would have taken longer to get to so no not at all,” he says.

Currently in the middle of an endless world tour, which kicked off last summer just before the release of their latest album, Oblivion With Bells, Underworld are the latest addition to this year’s Creamfields bill, joining Ian Brown, Fatboy Slim, Chic and Kasabian on the main stage at Daresbury.

Their live show, which Karl describes as “improvised, different every night”, is, however, just one element in the vast world of Underworld.

“As well as music, we do a lot of art,” says Karl. “Last year, we did a big exhibition in Tokyo, we do the band, we do live music, we do our radio show and we have also been doing web TV shows for a long time. All these things keep us from being bored and very, very busy.

“There is also more than one Underworld. There is the banging techno party Underworld and then there’s the very ambient Underworld. We have time for family now and then,” adds Karl, who describes himself as “ancient” (he turned 50 last year). “I think we would be doing even more if we didn’t have to give over some time to the human race.”

As to which Underworld the adoring fans at Creamfields can expect, Karl is unswerving on that one: “Oh, you are going to get the full-on party, 120% energy Underworld.”

* UNDERWORLD play Creamfields 2008, Saturday, August 23, and Sunday, August 24, at Daresbury, Cheshire. Weekend tickets priced from £105, plus booking fee. Call 0844 888 4401 for tickets or see www.creamfields.com