The Chemical Brothers are an English electronic music duo composed of Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons, originating in Manchester in 1989. Along with The Prodigy, Fatboy Slim, and other fellow acts, they were pioneers at bringing the big beat genre to the forefront of pop culture. They achieved widespread success when their second album Dig Your Own Hole topped the UK charts in 1997. In the United Kingdom they have had six number one albums and 13 top 20 singles, including two number ones.
The Chemical Brothers’ live shows comprise large screens displaying psychedelic images, strobe lights, and lasers that project over the crowd.
The Brothers have also played at many major festivals, including Glastonbury, Fuji Rock, Vive Latino, HFStival and the Reading and Leeds festivals. They currently hold the record for most gigs performed in a year at the Brixton Academy. The Brothers have, despite their high status in the mainstream, never appeared on Top of the Pops, with the use of music videos to replace the performance, sometimes accompanied by a video apologising for their absence. In 1999, a live US tour video of “Hey Boy, Hey Girl” was shown, even though the song was not in the top 40 at the time, and also released other singles before then at the time.
In addition to performing their own music, they also hold regular DJ nights where they mix other artists’ tracks (in the style of Brothers Gonna Work It Out).
The band normally use vocal samples in their live shows, however, they have occasionally incorporated guest vocalists into their live performances. Notable appearances have included Bernard Sumner of New Order, Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips, and Tim Burgess.
