You might not know Simian Mobile Disco, but they are your friends. You'll never be alone again. Socome on. Ring any bells, ravers? Yes, 'Never Be Alone' AKA 'We Are Your Friends' AKA the song that'sruled your summer for the last three years is the tune that invented Simian Mobile Disco. They didn'twrite it exactly. More like it wrote them. Let us explain. Back in the late '90s, James Ford and Jas Shawwere studying at Manchester University, while crafting strange electronic music in the spare room oftheir shared house. Fellow student Simon Lord, a folk-infl uenced singer-songwriter, caught wind of theduo's sonic experiments, and along with bass player Alex MacNaughten they formed the band Simian.It was around the time when a lot of bands were starting to combine traditional songwriting withelectronic sounds in the spirit of Broadcast and The Beta Band. Simian did quite well. But not quitewell enough to justify the major label deal they'd signed. James and Jas found themselves playing asa conventional rhythm section in a touring band, which isn't what they set out to do. Even though theyrealised it would a terrible clich for Simian to split in the middle of a long, hot US tour, Simian splitin the middle of a long, hot US tour. In order to sate their love of electronic party music, James andJas booked themselves DJ dates while touring with Simian. They'd fi nish a gig and then run off to playelectro records to small, sweaty rooms full of people who often seemed to be having lots more funthan the audiences at their gigs. As a pisstake, they called themselves Simian Mobile Disco.At around the same time, their record company decided to launch a competition for bedroom acts toremix the Simian track 'Never Be Alone'. A then unknown French production duo called Justice enteredand, famously, didn't win (James blames this on the dodgy stereo they had to listen to the entries on).Nevertheless, the remix was picked up by DJs like Erol Alkan and became something of a party anthem.You still hear it played regularly in clubs now, four years after its initial release. It gave James and Jasthe boost to strike out on their own as DJs, remixers and producers of thumping electronic party tunes.Simian Mobile Disco became a going concern.They knocked up a few tunes of their own, and released them on labels such as Kitsun and Click ClickBang, run by their friends. Thanks to having a foot in both indie and dance camps - with their productionscombining the dynamics of rock with the propulsive groove and acid fury of techno - they becameDJs of choice for all the emerging club nights that were putting on live bands as well as the usualgurn-fodder. James produced albums for Mystery Jets, Klaxons and Arctic Monkeys."He makes the magic happen," said Jamie Reynolds from Klaxons. "I think he receives outer-planetarysignals through his hair and they come out through his eyes." Meanwhile, Jas began to build the largestmodular synth in the South East of England.They kept making tunes as Simian Mobile Disco but were careful not to take it too seriously, aware thatover-thinking their music would be the death of its jubilant, instant appeal. They went to New York torecord the vocals of an aspiring singer/rapper called Char Johnson. She freestyled for 45 minutes and SMD edited the best bits into 'Hustler', an incendiary dancefl oor destroyer that owned 2006, and evengot mashed-up with Rick Ross's coke-rap hit 'Hustlin'.They got booked to play everywhere from the Club NME Tour to superclubs like Fabric. They introducedghetto-tech to the indie kids, played acid to the housed-up hordes, and dropped the theme from 'WillyWonka' at Bugged Out. Everyone smiled. Then danced their arses off. Up stepped Wichita, home toBloc Party and Blood Brothers and one of the last truly independently minded labels out there, to offerSimian Mobile Disco an album deal. Their side-project had become full-time - but James and Jascontinued to treat it like a side-project because they wanted