Aphex Twin on performing live
“I try to be as normal as possible and continue whatever I am feeling because inevitably it goes wrong and I lose control and get nervous but I love that - it’s a rush. I don’t like unnecessary performances - it’s just so embarrassing - but most ‘sheople’ need to be told what to do and how to react. What I do with my current tools takes concentration and I’m not going to pretend it doesn’t; jumping around like a prick trying to make people think what you’re doing is better than it actually is, is dumb. My concentration would suffer. If you get into it and jump around, great - the thing is most people pretend they’re into it or convince themselves into thinking it’s good. I love the fact that if you are very still, which I usually am, it’s much, much harder to get everyone dancing and going mental, because they look to you for how they should react. If people do go mental I know it’s because of the music. If I suddenly got on the mic and jumped around, people would get into it immediately but that’s just too easy and false. This is because many people find the music in its own way too abstract, they need something else visual and need to be told what to feel. It reminds me of when people listen to music and say, ‘Oh, this would be great as a soundtrack or great with pictures.’ Ahhhh! - that is really funny and annoying; deprived frozen souls. A lot of acts are just too insecure to just play their music and shut the fuck up, they feel the need to tell people what they should be doing, like, ‘Make some noise,’ ‘Put your hands in the air.’ Why? If I want to put my hands in the fucking air I will, I don’t need some fuckstick telling me what to do - I get enough of that outside a gig. When I hear people on stage saying things like, ‘Do you want some more?’ I would pay good money for the whole crowd to shout back, ‘Maybe, we’ll let you know a bit later on, let’s see how the show progresses first.’ I also don’t want to give people the satisfaction of seeing me move, why should I? They’re lucky I’m even visible.”
- Richard D. James
