brothersbeyond

As Paul Hartnoll gazed at the television screen, his eyes tightened in determination. Top Of The Pops was blaring. The audience screamed, the presenters screamed louder, and the bands rocked like the end of the world was nigh. The thirteen-year-old from Sevenoaks in Kent made his decision. He would buy a guitar, learn how to play, and one day, he too would be on TOTP.

Fast forward twenty-odd years. Alongside his older sibling Phil, Paul Hartnoll now fronts Britain s second most famous brother band.
The brothers eclectic musical background, ranging from The Clash to the Ben Hur soundtrack, has stood them in good stead, while their newly completed long-player, to be released in the new year, features a sample from Ian Dury, an artist of whom the band are long-time fans.
It s something I ve been wanting to do for years, Paul relates enthusiastically, We ve made our own tune but we ve used a saxophone and drum-break in the middle of Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick as the backbone to the rhythm section.
Eerily, Paul began work on the track the same day Dury died after a long battle with cancer. The brothers see this coincidence in a positive light. Trying to create a new piece of music from his influence is certainly symbolic of him carrying on, Phil says.
Dury isn t the band s only unlikely influence. Paul s record purchases this morning include the Dancer in the Dark soundtrack, PJ Harvey s Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea and Chris Morris Blue Jam.
Live, they are as likely to throw Belinda Carlisle into the mix as Kraftwerk, while tracks such as The Box on their fourth album In Sides stem from the younger Hartnoll s love of John Barry s orchestral scores. In the past Orbital have contributed to soundtracks such as The Saint, and both, especially Paul, are eager to undertake work in the future on full-length film scores.
Given their ability to mix and melt down musical genres, what do the band think of Radiohead s new direction?
It s like the bloke discovered the whole back catalogue of Warp Records and just went, wow, I absolutely love it , Paul laughs.
Phil is a little more sceptical. One s got to ask how contrived it is, he says. Forget the method and how you make it; I could smash that window and make a great track out of it, maybe, but the process is not the important thing. He shrugs his shoulders. It s just a bit too full-on for me, he offers. He [Thom Yorke] has gone from one thing to the other. He s disregarded everything else.
Phil knows the importance of the distinction between mixing genres and abandoning them. The elder Hartnoll is related by marriage to David Gray (his wife is the sister of Gray s wife) and Orbital played a small but significant role in the singer-songwriter s incorporation of beats n pieces into the album White Ladder.
His first album A Century Ends was wicked but he was really uncomfortable with the recording process, Phil explains. He was much, much better live than he sounded on record, which frustrated Paul and me. He laughs, it s like, Dave, Dave, what s going on?
But then because he didn t have any money and couldn t get a record deal, Phil continues, he resorted back to our school of thought about bedroom recording. We sold him an old desk of ours and he gradually got his head around it, understood it more and became more confident. Recording is all about capturing the vibe. White Ladder proved that.
Orbital are en route to their Point gig tonight, where, alongside old favourites such as Chime , they will showcase three new tracks from their as-yet-untitled album. The sheer size of the venue is some indication of the steadiness of the band s fanbase.
The Hartnolls believe the consistency of their appeal is due to their pursuit of a very individual electronic sound.
We ve never followed the trends of dance music, Paul explains. Everybody was doing drum machines when we were doing The Brown Album and had loads of breakbeats. Then, three years later, the breakbeats were fashionable and we were using drum machines.
We ve been very lucky that we have had longevity, Phil offers. But I think the reason for that really is because we ve never been up on the top level. The problem with reaching the dizzy heights is, where do you go?
Paul nods his head in agreement. That s how you get longevity you avoid fashion.