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The Prodigy’s Leeroy Thornhill on fame, raves and his late best mate Keith Flint: ‘I love him and I always will’

He and Flint joined the band as teenagers, leaving Essex to travel the world and mix with royalty. As Thornhill publishes a book of photographs from that era, he talks about the fun, friendship, chaos – and sorrow

A third member, Maxim, was a vocalist who didn’t seem to appear on half the songs, which left only Liam Howlett to make all the music, a furious collision of breakbeats, helium vocals and space-age synthesisers. “We had mates who’d say they were going to go and do some car stereos, but we’d just be like: ‘We’re off.’” Thornhill remembers going to local clubs where he’d sit and watch groups of people he knew throwing chairs at each other’s heads, “like it was a western!” But the places he preferred to frequent were only about good vibes and dancing. And although there are some tales in the book of Flint sulking or – on one occasion – losing his temper so badly he ripped the phones from several hotel room walls, Thornhill is adamant there were no outward signs that he was ever struggling with his mental health.

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