You didn’t like Klaxons?
“Bunch of f*****g wankers, they were. Having it both ways, like – taking all the hardcore music we were playing, then just treating as this f*****g joke. Indie guitar riffs, synthpop vocal lines – it’s guaranteed to sell, isn’t it? Then on top of that they sing some daft s**t from their little Philip K. d**k books, ‘cause they know that’ll give NME writers a hard-on. And it works. Mercury Music Prize? Wouldn’t use that to wipe my arse with, mate.”
It is not until this point that it hits me that I’m sitting here sharing a smoke with Tony Benson. It takes some teasing out, but the original danger man is still there beneath the cycling enthusiast (“I’ve met Ralf Hütter loads of times”, he boasts), and it’s utterly thrilling to hear him slamming Klaxons. I ask him ab
