Music has many faces. As an artist trying to find your sound, it’s hard to keep up with all the rhinoplasty. Over the years, facelifts to the industry have seen artists come and go, but a select few have been able to keep up with the nips and tucks. One such group is U.N.K.L.E. Led by front man James Lavelle, the alterna-tronic-trip-down band is unlike no other. Comprised of many faces themselves, U.N.K.L.E., emerged in ’98 with its debut release “Psyence Fiction.” Fast forward ten years, coming off their first-ever tour, front man Lavelle weighs in on how U.N.K.L.E. has survived and stayed fresh.

Who is U.N.K.L.E.?
James Lavelle: At the moment it’s myself, Pablo Clements, who I’ve worked with on War Stories and some stuff for Never, Never, Land, and also my brother. [On the name] It was a silly thing from when I was in school. It’s kinda from “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” TV show. Me and Tim Goldsworthy called ourselves “U.N.K.L.E.” as a sort of production agency; it doesn’t really mean anything now, it just hung with us for so long.

What elements can best describe U.N.K.L.E. to new listeners?
Cinematic. Kind of melancholic. There’s a sort of “collage” aspect to what we do. We’re constantly moving and trying to work with different eras of music and combine them into a sort of “musical hybrid.”

What was your involvement on the The X Files movie?
Chris Carter (“The X Files” creator) liked a song from our album War Stories, so he put it into the movie. From there we had a conversation, and he asked me if we’d be interested in remixing the theme. We remixed it, but came back and thought it would be better if we reinterpreted it and recorded our own version of it instead.

You guys have your own Nike Dunks. How did the call with Nike go?
I met with the head of Nike because they were interested in working with street culture out here. At the time I was very involved in that world. I’d been working on bringing Bape outside of Japan, and was also involved heavily with Supreme and James Jebbia. So they came, and U.N.K.L.E. obviously had an association with Futura at the time, and they wanted to work with him as well, so it was all tied in together. Myself, Ben Drury and Nike SB came up with the design.

How was your first tour?
It was a massive challenge, but a great experience. It’s definitely taken things to a new place for us. I wish I’d done it sooner; but it’s been brilliant. The main thing I’ve learned from touring is that we do different types of shows depending on where we’re playing. For us, it’s best when we’re putting on our own event or something that is more of a bigger statement, because I think people can really get to understand who U.N.K.L.E. is by seeing us live.