Tom Rowlands

Tom Rowlands is a British producer and DJ best known as one-half of pioneering big beat duo the Chemical Brothers. First known as part of the indie dance group Ariel, he formed the Dust Brothers with Ed Simons in 1992, changing their name to the Chemical Brothers with the release of their debut album, 1995's Exit Planet Dust. The duo's sample-heavy, breakbeat-filled tracks caught on with rock audiences, and 1997's Dig Your Own Hole was a global breakthrough which heralded electronica's arrival as a major part of popular culture. The Chemical Brothers remained popular, regularly touring arenas and topping the U.K. album charts six times. Concurrently, Rowlands issued a solo single (2013's "Through Me"), worked on film and theatrical scores, and produced or remixed artists including New Order and Tinie Tempah. He issued the documentary series soundtrack M: Son of the Century in 2025, as well as the single "We Are Nothing"/"All Night."Tom Rowlands formed the group Ariel (initially known for a brief period of time as ATOM) in London with high school friends Brendan Melck and Mathew Berry. The group put out several Balearic house singles in the early '90s, signing to Deconstruction in 1991 and issuing "Rollercoaster," their most successful track. Rowlands met Ed Simons at the University of Manchester, and they bonded over clubbing and the city's music scene. In 1992, the duo started to DJ at a club called Naked Under Leather, briefly calling themselves 237 Turbo Nutters, followed by the Dust Brothers, after the American production duo. The final Ariel single, 1993's "T-Baby," included a remix by the duo, as the Dust Brothers. They released a few EPs under this moniker before the original Dust Brothers asked them to change their name, so they became the Chemical Brothers, after their song "Chemical Beats," with the release of Exit Planet Dust, their Virgin-issued 1995 debut full-length. The album's blend of acid house, breakbeat, and indie rock elements helped establish big beat as a genre, and it earned an enormous amount of positive press, hitting the Top Ten in the U.K. Subsequent singles "Setting Sun" (with Noel Gallagher of Oasis) and "Block Rockin' Beats" both topped the U.K. charts, and parent full-length Dig Your Own Hole (1997) was an international smash. The duo continued blending psychedelia and progressive house on subsequent albums like Surrender (1999) and Come with Us (2002).The Chemical Brothers scored their first film, Hanna, in 2011. Rowlands became more active outside of the duo, remixing or producing songs by I Break Horses, Tinie Tempah, New Order, and Klaxons. "Through Me," his first solo single, appeared on Erol Alkan's Phantasy Sound imprint in 2013. Rowlands scored the 2016 film Trespass Against Us and a theatrical production of Life of Galileo. In 2024, he worked on songs by AURORA and Kelly Lee Owens. He wrote the score for M: Son of the Century, an eight-part biographical drama series about fascist dictator Benito Mussolini. The series premiered at the 81st Venice International Film Festival in 2024, and the score was released in early 2025. Rowlands co-produced Saint Etienne's single "Glad," and he released his second solo single, "We Are Nothing," backed with the drum'n'bass-leaning "All Night."
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