I’ve honestly just about had enough of genre creation. Whatever happened to rock, pop and dance? The most common words that were used to describe rising UK band Hadouken! and their debut album Music For An Accelerated Culture were ‘grime’, indie’ or the purely frustrating ‘grindie’. I had barely learned to ignore nu rave and no wave…and don’t even get me started on anti-folk. What demented Pitchfork sponsored laboratory continues to churn out these vaguely-defined labels of musical characteristics? I listened to the album (which is amazing by the way, a noxious blend of vitriolic vocals and grinding rhythms that almost harkens back to classic 2-step dancehall tunes), but all I could think about was Oscar The Grouch clanging away on an 808 drum machine and a three note keyboard line.

Thankfully, Dan’s not one to get bogged down by labels, preferring to focus on the music he makes and the task at hand. The overarching task is to conquer the world, one tour bus at a time, as they travel from town to town, leaving a trail of pumped up teenagers in their wake. But Dan’s more immediate task is to rub the gunk out of his eyes, as it appears I’ve just wrestled him from a slumber.

“Uuhhh, I’m at home in North London. I’ve just woken up actually, but it’s all good. We’ve got a few days of rest before we hit back into another UK tour,” he explains groggily. “We’ve been doing the whole English festival circuit for a bit, so it’ll be nice to get out and play to our own crowd again”.

For music that sounds so refreshingly irate and wicked, you shouldn’t be surprised to know that the lyrics often deal with the darker, dirtier parts of life. Opening track Get Smashed Gate Crash’s chorus of Welcome to our world / we are the wasted youth / and we are the future too suggests a band not prepared to sing about unicorns riding rainbows. Further themes include drug abuse, binge drinking and the mainstream subjugation of underground music. But are Hadouken! championing these vices or joining K-Rudd’s War On Drinking?

“I think it was meant to be a bit more ambiguous than that,” Dan says with an elongated yawn. “We’re not straight edged, the tracks highlight the problems that come along with it. But at the same time we’re sorta saying that it’s become a part of life, really. We’re not celebrating the lifestyle, but at the same time we’re not being preachy about what not to do.”

While shying away from taking a definitive stance on these subjects, it is admirable that Hadouken! have actually made a statement, not just one about how much their ex-girlfriend is a bitch. When asked about the current political climate in the UK, Dan is quick to mourn the slow death of heavy subject matter in music.

“I’d say, disappointingly, that political music is quite unfashionable at the moment, which is a bit of a shame,” he concedes. “Obviously there are loads of bands doing it – I’m sure there’s loads of hardcore bands and young folk singers – but certainly what’s in the charts doesn’t really engage with that. Hopefully the return of Rage Against The Machine will get everyone thinking again!” he concludes with a giggle.

HADOUKEN! play Splendour In The Grass on Sunday Aug 3. MUSIC FOR AN ACCELERATED CULTURE is out now through Warner.

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