The Prodigy Talk New Album + Why They’re As Important as the Clash and Sex Pistols

Electronica rockers the Prodigy will return this March with their sixth album, ‘The Day Is My Enemy,’ and the British trio have laid out a pretty clear mission statement.

“The dance scene has flatlined and we’re the spike,” vocalist Maxim told the Guardian in a recent interview.

However, the band’s founding member, Liam Howlett, says that doesn’t mean their upcoming album will rescue the genre. “We’re from the proper rave scene, and it needs life breathing into it,” Howlett said. “But we’re not here to save anything. F--k that! We’re here to wipe it out.”

They’ll do it with a sound that Howlett says is a departure from their previous album, 2009’s ‘Invaders Must Die.’

“Violent is the word that keeps coming up,” he explained. “The last album was more of a celebration. We’d come back together and were like, ‘Yeah! We’re here, we’re really buzzing!’ Now we’ve come through that stage.”

And despite helping shape the scene they say is now dying, they don’t believe they’re given the same kind of cultural cachet as fellow British acts.

“It’s a bit of a bold statement, but the Prodigy should be seen as an important cultural band, as important as Oasis or Blur or any of that s--t,” Howlett adds. “Britpop was not a culture, as such … It’s not like I’m after more respect, and I don’t wanna pop up on a few more TV programs, saying, ‘The Prodigy did this!’ I’m just telling people now that, yeah, I think we are important. When you trace the lines back to the Sex Pistols, the Clash, we are in that line.”

‘The Day Is My Enemy’ is out March 30. For a taste of what to expect, listen to the Prodigy's brand new tune, 'Nasty,' below: