Liam's Dirtchamber (2/3)

Howlett is very private about his personal life. Mixmag had to agree not to describe his house in any way in this interview. He may have earned more than most people dream of, but he doesn't get off on rubbing people's noses in it. "I hate it when people go on about the cars they've got and that shit," he says. "People know I've always been into my cars. Me and Keith have always been open about that shit, but it's not really important is it? I'm not the kind of person that likes to go on about my car or my other possessions. It's not because I feel in any way guilty of what I've achieved, it's just that I don't see the point." So success hasn't changed him? "I'm lucky because I'm the only member of the band that gets to hide behind equipment on stage, so I don't get recognised too much. Keith has to wear his hat and stuff when he goes anywhere, but I can still go down to Tesco's. I do get kids asking for my autograph, but it's not been overnight success, so it hasn't seemed too strange. I don't sit there counting my money or anything." What has he been doing then, to fill his time since the endless touring finished last August?

"Normal shit, you know, I had a holiday, went out a bit. I wanted to get straight into the studio, but I had a few things to get out of my system. "I spent some time designing my garden, which was really cool. A lot of thought goes into a Japanese garden, it's not something you can just randomly put together. It's all about balance - different rocks have different meanings. I really wanted to get that kind of vibe at this house."

Then he changes tack, as if interrupting himself. "The main thing I've been doing, to be honest, is working on the mix album. It's taken a lot of work. From putting the thing together to trying to get the songs cleared. But all of this," he shrugs, looking round his living room, "just isn't important. The most important thing is the music. That's all that needs to be discussed." The mix was originally recorded for Mary-Ann Hobbs' Breezeblock show on Radio 1. For Liam, the show offered a perfect space for his own eclectic tastes. The resulting session was a high-speed meltdown of breaks and snippets which fused The Beatles with The Chemical Brothers, Hendrix with Bones Breaks and Grandmaster Flash with The Sex Pistols. It was a cut-and-drop showpiece which employed all the eclecticism and roughness of the old skool - listeners could almost imagine the sticky tape holding it all together. The radio show drew unprecedented attention, prompting Liam to rework the mix into a tighter, more beat-bound version for general release.

"Recording it was one of the most inspirational times I've had in ages," continues Liam, as we walk into the studio to listen to an early mix of the album. "Just sitting listening to all your favourite records over a few weeks is such a fucking brilliant thing. I'm not a regular DJ, so I never sit down and listen to records that much.

"One of the best things about DJing with breaks is that you can find a break anywhere," he says, as the mix cheekily moves between the Prodge's 'Smack My Bitch Up' and The Beastie Boys' 'It's the New Style'. "I'd listen to these rock records and hear a fucking awesome break and use it in my mix. Then I'd listen to the whole track and realise it was a fucking dope tune. Breaks aren't just from 70s funk, they come from country and western, rock, everywhere really. I've used country and western breaks that are tuff." Howlett's experience of working on the mix album has had the effect of making the new Prodigy stuff "more funky and much deeper", he says. "I reckon the next album will put a lot of people off, but I know it's time to take the music in a different direction. This doesn't mean I'm going to start doing Massive Attack-type stuff just because they're my favourite band. I still want to keep the energy there. What I don't want to do is to start making music people would expect from me. There were a couple of times on that last album when I fell into that trap which, in the end, I wasn't happy about."