In this celebratory atmosphere, new friendships were abundant, and it was at one of these outdoor parties that Liam first talked to Keith. The weather had been beautiful all day and held right through the night, so the whole crowd stayed on to watch the sunrise. Liam was DJ-ing inside the Transit van, when a scruffy, long-haired figure in a sheepskin Afghan body warmer and army regulation greens walked up to the side of his deck and said "I love the tunes you are playing man, you're rocking, drop us something really funky". Liam duly obliged and in the process made himself a new friend: "Everyone knew Leeroy and Keith just because they were these two punters who danced so well. The vibe was always wherever they were dancing. Keith was a real hippy, he had been travelling and I had heard all about him and what he got up to, because everyone's faces were familiar at these clubs. I played him these funky tunes and then watched him dancing next to the van in all this weird gear, with the camp fire in the background and all these people around having an amazing time. We got to know each other from then on, but only really as faces to acknowledge, not great mates or anything."

In fact, Keith was so impressed with Liam's DJ-ing that before the night was finally over he asked him if he would mix a tape for him to play at home. A few days later, Keith was on his way round to Leeroy's when Liam pulled his car up alongside the pavement and wound down the window. "Here's that tape I promised you." Liam made to drive off, but remembered something and said "Oh, by the way, I've put a few of my own tracks on the other side, see what you think." Keith put the tape into his sheepskin coat and promptly forgot about it. Leeroy was waiting for him when he arrived so they headed straight for Raindance, one of the country's best parties. It was a superb night, and they returned home in high spirits - it was only when Leeroy went to switch on the stereo that Keith remembered the tape in his pocket that Liam had given to him. Rather than play the established tracks he already knew, Keith flipped the tape over to listen to Liam's own work, noticing as he did the name of a keyboard model scribbled on the cassette, which appeared to be Liam's band moniker - The Prodigy.

The impact of that tape was, in short, unbelievable. Keith and Leeroy danced around the room to the immense tunes that were thumping out of the stereo - they couldn't believe that this was the work of the quiet DJ from down The Barn. Various dance moves instantly sprang to mind as the two played the tape over and over again, suggesting moves to each other and getting off on the music, as Leeroy adroitly remembers: "We were buzzing our tits off."

Such was the impression the tape made, that the two friends resolved to speak to Liam the next time they saw him, to ask if they could dance alongside him whilst he played those tunes - the opportunity to get that much buzz with such good music was one they could not resist. Sure enough, a week later, Liam was spotted at The Barn and Leeroy and Keith timidly approached him, a nervous facade that hid their usual energetic buoyancy. Despite Liam's obvious shyness, the three agreed that it would be great to get something going. Liam had wanted to do so for some time, but would never have gone onstage alone; Leeroy and Keith equally wanted to get up and buzz to this music, but they needed Liam's tunes. So it was loosely agreed that the trio would start an act, which was to also include Keith's friend Sharky. Liam however, was still uncomfortable with the idea of just him and dancers onstage, and was convinced that they needed more elements to make the act dynamic and viable.He settled on the idea of an MC, but at this stage he knew of no-one who could do the job.

Keith however, knew a friend called Ziggy, who had a black book of contacts as big as they come, and after suggesting this to Liam, The Prodigy agreed to take him on board as their manager. Ziggy's entrance into the fray was well-timed for two key reasons. Firstly, he knew dozens of promoters and within days had booked the band's first ever PA at a club called The Labyrinth in Dalston. Secondly, he put forward the name of an MC he knew who just might be able to do the job - Maxim Reality. Ziggy remembered how one night he and Maxim had been out watching a show by America's Mr. Lee, when they had both got up onstage with the band and Maxim had seemed to be more adept at MC-ing than the headline act himself. Maybe this could be the guy The Prodigy were looking for.

Maxim, aka Keith Palmer or Keeti, was based in Peterborough and was an active MC on the town's excellent reggae scene, a trade he had learnt from his brother and MC, Starkey Ban Tan. From his early days Maxim had written poetry and verse, and as a kid had taught himself to MC and thus found a rhythmical vehicle for his expression by chatting over the records of sound systems in the local area. Like the rest of The Prodigy, Maxim also went through the breakdancing and hip hop phase but reggae always held the strongest fascination for him, because of the highly articulate nature of reggae MC's, as well as the beats and basslines. As a teenager he watched his brother working the local sound systems, but it wasn't until he was 17 that he made his first appearance on stage himself at a local club in Basingstoke, which broke the daytime monotony of his YTS in electronic maintenance. Around this time he had his first taste of hip hop and immediately liked the high lyrical articulacy and heavy beats of the form. His musical aspirations progressed a step further shortly after when he teamed up with a musician from Nottingham called Ian Sherwood, under the moniker of Maxim Reality and Sheik Yan Groove. The music was experimentalist and extremely unorthodox, an unusual mix of reggae, hip hop and world percussion, and despite Maxim's continued preference for his reggae roots, this was a formative period for him - Sherwood was an accomplished musician and taught Maxim much about musical history, as well as introducing him to the records of a whole new spectrum of bands, such as George Clinton, Bootsy Collins, Gil Scott Heron and a plethora of blues and jazz players. Unfortunately, the pair's musical productions never attracted any serious interest from record companies, so after an enjoyable three years they went their separate ways. Maxim, like Keith, decided that he wanted to experience life outside of England, and set off around Europe and North Africa for a shorter period of three months. It was whilst he was away travelling that Maxim realised the importance of music in his life, and so on his return to Britain he moved to London and prepared himself to break into music. In the first week of being there, he was on a battered old red bus with his cousin travelling through Dalston, when a peculiar looking old lady approached him and started talking to him. She told him that she could read palms and would he mind if she tried his? Not wanting to appear rude, Maxim somewhat nervously offered his upturned hand and sat amazed as she told him her prediction of his future - one day she could see him talking to thousands of people who would all be listening to what he had to say. It may have been a total coincidence and a trivial event, but it gave Maxim the extra confidence to pursue his goal. He threw himself into the London reggae scene and became embroiled in the music of artists such as Ninja Man, Supercat and Professor Nuts, Papa San, as well as all the MC's around on the underground reggae scene. At the same time he picked up nuances from the hip hop realms of lyrical talents like Public Enemy and Eric B and Rakim, the result of which created in his style an unusual mix of many genres. Even so, his main experience up until this point had been in reggae, so when his friend Ziggy phoned him up and mentioned there was a 'rave' band in Essex who wanted him to MC for them, he was a little unsure of what to expect, as his minimal experience of the rave scene was mostly just bleeps, with little raw beats or heavy bass. Nevertheless, he accepted without hesitation. A week later he received a phonecall and a tape through the post from a quietly spoken guy named Liam. Suitably impressed he made his way to The Labyrinth in Dalston for the first PA. The night of their debut show was to be the first time he had met any of The Prodigy.

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