Re post @thefacemagazine “Going on stage for me is therapy. All that anger, potential violence, the potential… the edginess was always there, it wasn’t constructed. The last thing I wanted to do was become a haircut. There’s a lot more substance to that person.”⠀ ⠀ Keith Flint – who committed suicide year ago today – told me that in his lovely cottage in the Essex countryside in spring 2002, the smell of gun-dogs and roll-ups thick in the air. It was for a Face cover feature, which would be the second time the Prodigy’s de facto frontman had appeared on the front of the magazine. ⠀ ⠀ The first time was the July 1996 issue – the issue posted here – as Firestarter mania was sweeping Britain. Six years after that story, I followed the Prodigy (Flint, Liam Howlett, Maxim Reality) from Essex to Las Vegas to Coachella. It was the year of The Queen’s Golden Jubilee, and Britain was awash with pride, pomp and patriotism.⠀ ⠀ Then came The Prodigy’s new single. Baby’s Got A Temper bristled with Royals-baiting lyrics and a chorus that spoke of the singer’s enthusiasm for taking Rohypnol.⠀ ⠀ Ultimately the brutalist track wouldn’t go down as one of their finest moments. But that spring the techno-punks were flying, with Flint leading ostentatiously from the front. The rumours were of an imminent solo career, and onstage in Las Vegas and Indio, the Brit was loudly, proudly playing the role of public enemy number one. ⠀ ⠀ Ahead of The Prodigy was a run of big UK festival appearances, at Reading, Leeds and Glasgow Green. I asked Flint if he was up for the role of troublemaker-in-chief, here to disrupt the coming jubilee summer.⠀ ⠀ “Love it,” came his emphatic reply. “Bring it on. And to be honest, the more people tell me not to – good! I’d rather people talked about that than, ooh, my one-off Gucci jacket and trouser combo at the latest premiere… where I spilled a drink over Björk. That’s not me. There’s nothing at the end of that. Means absolutely fuck all.”⠀ ⠀ RIP, Keith Flint, you once and forever ledge.⠀ ⠀ Words: @craigmclean00⠀ ⠀ Photography: #KeithFlint shot by #PeterRobathan, #TheFaceArchive Volume 2 no. 94 July 1996 https://www.instagram.com/p/B9UdchYnX7-somNs9c_nSlyTO9_wkra_wFah0s0/?igshid=b5cl39nidi2d