Humble isn’t a word usually associated with genuine, bona fide, proper rock stars. And let’s not get proper rock stars confused with X-Factor one-hit wonders, Little Mix-style manufactured old tud and Michael Buble.

Lemmy. Freddie Mercury. Keith Moon. Keith Richards. Proper rock stars. And there’s another Keith too…

Keith Flint is a multi-platinum selling, grandma-scaring, full-on rock star. Frontman of The Prodigy, he exploded into the nation’s consciousness in 1997 with Firestarter (see below), a song and video that propelled the band to global stardom where they have remained with massive, sell-out world tours.

On stage, Flint is a blitzkreig, a ball of energy, barely-contained. But when you talk to the man, he is almost shy and reserved about what his race team have achieved and what they are moving into next season. From humble beginnings Flint, with Grant Bunting and Steve Rodgers, are now the factory Yamaha team in the MCE British Superbike Championship, and he is more than a little excited.

“It’s the premier class and I’m buzzing. I’m kind of overwhelmed about where we have from to get ourselves up and into the blue riband class. It was always the dream and now it has been realised. It’s mindblowing to think that we will be on that grid next year,” Flint tells BSN from his home.

“It’s a credit to the team, Grant and Steve that we were able to cut our teeth in British Supersport, shown we are a good team, chip away at results to get there. I believe we have good credibility in the paddock, with the riders and for the job we have done. Everything from Hutchy on the roads through to Supersport, the time now feels right to move up and I am just chuffed for everyone involved.”

Bunting and Rodgers are responsible for the day to day operations with Flint working around his commitments with The Prodigy. He makes it more than clear that none of it would have been possible without the other two and as the team become McAMS Yamaha in 2017, his role will not change. But he believes his experience with the band has brought useful elements to making a selection of individuals into a cohesive unit.

“My involvement will remain the same, I think. Grant and I talk on a daily basis about the team, I fall very short of the technical details but I’ve done a bit of racing myself and I think you get a lot of respect if you have been there and had a go.

“From my point of view, I feel very comfortable with how it’s going. Grant and Steve have a much more technical view and without them I couldn’t do it. I’ve always worked in a team, the band is a team and the way we conduct ourselves correctly is something I’ve brought from being in another gang, as it were, my day job in The Prodigy. There are aspects of that I bring which help to gel it all together.

“The only thing I can’t control is having gigs on race weekends. It’s frustrating but I can’t tell the band we can’t do Glastonbury because there is a race at Oulton Park, it wouldn’t go down well.

“Even with my own racing, it seemed to work but the good thing is that I have a lot of downtime off the road which allows me to do bits and pieces for our sponsors and attend shows.

“The Prodigy and the race team are similar in some respects. I like being in the paddock, around very committed people, people who care and are passionate about what they do.

“It’s so much more than a hobby, it’s a passion to go racing, be competitive and put ourselves out there. That is what we enjoy and that drive is really valuable when you end a tour, and it helps keep me driven.”

McAMS Yamaha, with two BSB riders in James Ellison and Michael Laverty, and Tarran Mackenzie on Supersport duty, will have the same if not more support Milwaukee Yamaha did in their title-winning year. And Flint is aware of the task at hand.

“I think there is a lot of work to do in BSB. It is a world class series and to be in amongst that is a big job. To get ourselves established I think is a three-year commitment at least. It is a huge achievement.

“One of my dreams was to get to the TT and to walk around that paddock as a winner having other team principals come up and say things like ‘We’ve been coming here 25 years to try and do that, you bastard’. I grew up on the TT, we didn’t have trackdays when I was a kid, we had 10, 20 and 30-mile routes which ended with a bacon sandwich.

“The team has always been about getting every situation we put ourselves into right. Not running before we can walk, doing it properly, completing the mission and looking at the next thing. There is a serious job in hand at the moment, so we will focus on that.”

The Prodigy’s Firestarter