We were lucky enough to receive a phone call from Karl Hyde of Underworld right before the start of their US tour, we chatted about what inspires the band and a couple of creative passions he is proud of. We must say, he was quite the cool cat, British accent and all, it felt like we were talking to a wise teacher who would shower musical knowledge over us. You get the idea. Underworld is coming to The Fox Theatre in Oakland for a show on Friday, August 7th. To make sure you have a ticket to Underworld at The Fox before the show sells out, buy it here.

You’re taking a mobile leap for the fans with the iphone application and the video stream… what inspired the outreach?

This kind of stuff really appeals to us, to be able to be in one place but also a bunch of other places at one time. This is something we’ve been talking about and wanting to do for a long time, since the early 80s, any opportunity to do it - we were going to jump.

With the iphone app. Are you going to have access to the songs that are created using it?
It's something we talked about as a development for us to be able to hear what people have done with it, we talked about it for a few years. How we can jam with people who want to jam with us, not only musicians who you would normally imagine we would, but people who just do stuff that’s cool. You know we’ve been picking up stuff on the internet, on YouTube, and on other channels people have been taking stuff we’ve done. For many years even going back to 12 inches, white labels that would appear from no where, someone had done something. To be able interact and carry on the conversation is something we’ve wanted to do for many years. So for development for this we’ve already started to talk about how we can have that extended conversation. It doesn’t matter if it’s not a banging 12 inch, if it’s something that someone has made and just put on YouTube. Just put it out, it’s inspiring to hear it, that’s just amazing.

Anyone, new or old on the scene who you’d like to collaborate with?
Santigold opened for us the other day in Italy; we really dug what was happening on stage there...There are people already, and I don’t want to preempt anything that is already coming out, we have already been working with some other artists this year on our own material, and as we go out now in the states we are already previewing material and versions of new material that have been recorded for release next year.

You mentioned that there was a new album coming out do you have any specific dates for us?

We don’t. You know, we don’t… ahhh albums, I don’t like that word, I stopped liking that word around five years ago. I like releasing material, everything from 12 inches to download only to free giveaways via web radio shows, to EP’s to collection of tracks that people want to call albums, is a more interesting journey to us. Then one album comes out that people jump up and down about for a really short period of time, it seems somewhat uninspired. It’s not very creative you know, we’ve done that for a very long time. We like a longer journey. So what is happening between now and what someone will want to call an album, is that soon?… we will be releasing material, from the full catalog album on iTunes to the application to what is scheduled for next year with what someone will call an album.

We want to remain fluid, and we don’t want to just focus all our energy and make an album that can come out with a big hoo-ha, and then there is more hoo-ha after that. We want to do more than that. There is more fun to be had then that and the process can be more creative than that.

We checked out your website, Underworld Live, and found a lot of interesting stuff, including a lot of other kinds of artistic expression. Do you guys do any other kinds of creating other than music?
We’ve always been visually based; I’m an art school graduate way back. We set up tomato which is largely a visually based group. Rick and I and John Warwick, the three of us from tomato, have set up a group of artists called Art Jam. [Art Jam] create films and photography through out the world; we did one in Tokyo and one in New York. And then online publishing - we’ve always been very excited about that. We’re developing portals through the world of art jam so we can continue to do the jams in the virtual world and the physical world. I have a painting studio here in my home and Rick takes 1000's of photographs; John Warwick lives in Australia now and is working in visual arts everyday and we have an online arts studio where we jam. And it’s important to us that we see lots of stuff because not everything we see and hear can come out through music, some of it wants out come out visually.

What can we expect from the Tour, any fresh surprises?
New production that we’ve been working at over here in Europe, all the films, ideas, and concepts are new. Very little has been carried over, completely new kits and live equipment apart from 1 or 2 pieces, you know like my guitar. Completely reworking and rebuilding new equipment, allowing us to give the records far more flexibility than I can ever remember having on stage, so there are lots more curve balls being thrown now. So I say, new production: a much more flexible way of working, new material being performed on stage. But the passion is still there, which is kind of a shock I think. I mean, when we walk on stage I feel as passionate on stage as I ever did, and I know that’s the same for Rick. We just finished a European tour and we came off stage and said, “I think that’s the nicest tour we’ve ever had” and that’s really how we feel about working now.

Is there anything else you’d like to tell the people?
I’d like to say thanks I always want to say thanks. Check our website for daily updates. Check twitter, I’m on twitter everyday talking about thoughts and connections and utter gibberish. And check the website everyday because we’re always connecting people to other artists, painters, photographers, other stuff that we dig, go and check them out too because that’s an important part of what we do too. Pointing out people who we feel are cool and don’t get as much coverage as we do. We want to share good vibes, please come to the show.

Want to win tickets to see Underworld live? We're giving away tickets to see them at Oakland's Fox Theater - click here to sign up for your chance to win. To make sure you have a ticket to Underworld at The Fox before the show sells out, buy them here.