...Of The Essence; An Interview With Adult.

Time is a devil of a thing... Too much of it that is. In mid December of 2003, I got a chance to wrap up an interview with Detroit's very own Adult.. Said interview was set up, by the efforts of our head editor on Bettawreckonize in hopes of having it in to kick off the 2004 January issue. Due to some personal issues on my behalf -- let's just say that I was in the process of closing one chapter and beginning anew -- the interview with Adult. has remained under wraps, on a little compact disc, in a box that I had long forgotten about.

After some much needed cleaning I stumbled across the interview and have made it my sole mission complete the interview before the final Bettawreckonize deadline. (Editor's note: twas still late as a mutha.)

Interview conducted in person by Motor City Rollie in December 2003. Pictures provided by the lovely folks at Tag Team Media.

Names: Nicola and Adam
Band: Adult.

Bettawreckonize: So tell me guys how was your trip out east?

Adam: It was good.

BW: I understood that you guys had a Boston Show and a New York show?

A: And a Baltimore show...

BW: And a Baltimore show? Is this where the van ran into the piles of snow?

Nicola: Yeah... coming home.

BW: Wow... who did you guys actually play with when you were out there?

N: It was the same lineup as Detroit. Tamion 12 Inch & Electronicat.

BW: Oh, excellent. So did you guys all just head out together? I'm assuming...

A: No. Not actually. We drove Electronicat out on Monday cus' he had a Tuesday night show by himself and then Tamion 12 Inch drove up to Boston on Wednesday from Detroit.

BW: How were the turn outs by the way?

A: They were good.

BW: Were they really?

A: Mmmhmm.

BW: Excellent.

A: Can't complain. (laughter)

BW: So um.... listen. I was kinda wondering wondering how things have been going down, for your-guyzez label?

A: Oh. They've been going good. We've kinda took a break this Fall because we... are... tired. (laughter)

BW: Yeah! I understand you guys are actually... umm.... perhaps maybe swamped? Or is it that you guys are just kinda tired?

A: Well it's just that we took on too much this year.... and so, we started out the year with... How many? Five releases in the first six months? And three of those were CD's and Double 12". Like you know, like LP's? It is a lot easier to do just like a thousand / fifteen hundred run of a 12". and just do a little bit of promotion, and then just kinda sell those. But when you do an album, there is so much more work to do with promotion and tours.

So then we did our biggest tour to date, which was 20 shows in 26 days in the U.S. and then we did a month in Europe. so we were just like... We got back and we were like OUCH.

BW: One thing I'm really curious about -- you guys are married. is there a point of the day where you guys say "Listen it's seven o'clock... we're married, we're just not doing that." I mean, "It's now time to watch really bad re-runs."

A: I wish!

N: Yeah...

R: Really?

A: During, well... During the first part. The first eight months of the year... there was no option.

N: Yeah.

A: And we worked every night till we went to bed. Um, but now that we've gotten back and then we had two months off. We wrote some new songs. We had no releases so that gave us some time and then we did these last shows and the year is almost over.

Um... we've tried that in the past. it's like, "Ok. At this time we're done," and it never works.

N: We always think we're going to make a schedule. but it never happens.

A: Then its like, you're about ready to quit and "did you ever send those pictures to so and so?" and "Oh Crap" and then its like "You haven't updated the website. and someone ordered the album and we don't have it anymore" and then you just can't stop.

BW: Now you guys are relatively "hands on," right? Does it help being so tech savvy? Like, one thing I really, really dig about what you guys have done the past couple of years... it really feels like... when I get anything from your label I know how much effort went into this.

A: (quietly) Thank you.

BW: I should ask you this, are you the kind of characters that really kinda know that everything is done right, if you do it.

A: Yeah, we're that type and i don't even begin to pretend that it's the right type.

N: Yeah... I mean in a way it's sorta like a bad thing that we know how to do so much. I mean its good, because we can save money on certain things. But it's bad because we give all our time. But it's what we love to do. So I guess that's the sacrifice you make. But, there are times where you're just like "AAAAhhhhh, what are we doing?""Are we crazy?"

A: Finally, when we realized that we reached a certain level with Adult. Good sales on the records and then great tours, I think we were able to relax a little bit and take a little time off. i think that's where the obsession starts. I think that's what happens to a lot of bands. They have to take it to the next level. We're worked really hard this year on stopping and smelling the roses.

We've taken it to this level, and its OK to take two months off and enjoy this. But when I say two months off, we're still shipping records and doing mail orders and writing new songs, but it's nothing like when you're having to do a new release.

BW: Have you guys thought about what the next level would be?

A: Mmmm... nope?

N: (laughs)

A: I think what will happen is... I think there's something about New Years and January that makes people sit back and reflect. I think at that time we'll look back and go "OK, what happened?" "What do we want repeat? What do we want not to repeat?"

BW: How long does it take as a two-piece to flesh something out?

A: A song? Or?

BW: Perhaps a collection of work... Do you feel like you guys write in periods?

A: We definitely write in periods. Maybe that's why we have the period after our name?

N: (laughs)

A: I noticed it when we went on tour with Electronicat. He was always on the back of the van with his headphones on, working on new songs. He's more like a noodle. And then it all of sudden it comes together. He goes into the studio and just records it. He'll have one song 90 percent done and one song 10 percent done and three other sketches. We're totally not like that. We did a remix for him and he totally wanted us to play it live, and we were like "we wanted time to practice, and this and that," and he was like "Let's just figure it out on the fly." And we're like "We don't work that way."

We're really calculated...

N: I mean I think we're trying to. Like we've already written three songs that we've played live now about six times. And we're pretty happy with those. We're tying to write songs, play them out, then record them.

A: But you won't see us going to my parents house for Christmas, then going into the bedroom to work on the laptop. There's still a period of time. If we have two months before these five shows, we'll make sure to have at least three to five new songs.

BW: Have you guys recorded and written just about everything in Detroit?

A: Just about everything?

R: Have you thought about leaving the city to record elsewhere?

N: No.

A: I think the city has a big effect on us. It has a real work ethic. It's a real, sorta middle class, down to earth place. You don't run into too many stupid people who are in it for the scene and stuff. You read about Ladytron going to L.A to record their album, and they're great people and I like them and don't get me wrong, I'm not passing my judgments on someone else, but for us
we read...

N: I mean that would be weird.

A: They had a pool. I mean this recording studio is next to a pool next to a pool and they would drive in their car with the sun roof down and listen to Joy Division. It's just like, i don't understand that. it's just work. (laughs)

BW: I was wondering if you could tell me about your NO WAVE influences?

A: To tell you the honest truth, we were introduced into it two years ago. We were never into it. I just didn't know about it. Then we started working with Magas on our label and he used to be in a No Wave band called Lake of Dracula from Chicago. It was a real big influence early on for a lot of people. He started saying stuff like "You know the Contortions, DNA, Teenage Jesus & the Jerks?" And I was like "No." He was like "Really? Listen to this." And it was really funny how we never knew about it. I think Tamion 12 Inch definitely takes a serving of it for their ingredients, so that kinda opened our ears to it as well. It's something we like, but it's never been a big part of who we were and who we are now.

BW: What about an act like John Foxx?

A: Yeah, his album MATHEMATICS is my favorite album of all time.

BW: Really? And why is that?

A: A lot of it has to do when you buy something, and it was literarily one of the first things I ever bought. I was 14. I had maybe gotten a hold of Duran Duran or Gary Newman and i liked it, but it wasn't until I got something that had such a stance and such a theme throughout it all... with all the J.G. Ballard references. This was a whole concept. It's pretty obvious that we work like that with our releases. Like our EPs... each EP has a concept. I think that's how he's had such a big influence on me.

BW: When you talk about concept... do you guys begin to work on the music and then does the design (art work) come from the music? Or do you guys have a quick photo shoot and then begin to work the other way around?

N: It varies...

A: We try to never repeat it, so that it never becomes formulaic.

N: It's also a lot different when you're writing a 12" compared to a full-length album. Like with Nausea, I think we started writing one song... then we sorta said, "Let's just write all these about phobias." But with Anxiety Always, we sat down, we said, "OK. Let's write an album based on some of the feelings we're having about music. And let's make sure none of the songs on the album sound the same."

BW: Do you think there's a hint of "reactionary?"

A: Yeah, We're terribly reactionary.

BW: Quick question: A friend of mine, who I believe is a pretty good friend of yours, wanted me to throw out another act and that was Japan, as an influence. He told me that this maybe some thing that you've never talked about, this (Japan) as an influence...

A: Who is this?

BW: Who is this? I'm sorry no... I promised him I'd ask some other things without revealing...

A and N: (laughter)

A: Alright, alright it's cool, it's cool. Japan's been... I LOVE Japan. I'm totally a fan of ZR78 drum machine, which they are prone to use a lot. But what I always like and identified best with Japan was they were a band that stuck to their ideals so hard. That they got beat-out by Duran Duran, for you know... like John Foxx got beat-out by Gary Numan, because he stuck so hardcore to his cold aesthetic, where as Gary Numan made it a little bit more personable, and a little more pop. Same thing happened with Duran Duran. Like they totally went balls out for success, and i'm sure you've heard what people have called Duran Duran, Japan, Japan... because they ripped them off SO much. I think sometimes we identify with that.

BW: Do you think there's an act out there that's possibly doing that to you? Or do you fear falling victim... or maybe fear holding on to that aesthetic?

N: I think its more... we're so hands on in a sense and we're so reactionary that we constantly, continue to move on and just do what we enjoy doing. And a lot of times, a lot of the things that we've done in the past have become popular. And I think we sorta go with that and indulge in that. But then we move away from it. I mean, in the end it will probably hurt us, but we don't really care.

A: We both have fine art degrees, and we both hold an ideal of art in the back of our minds. And its like, "Right now we can get hurt and a couple of people can get quick fame, and they'll disappear. And then hopefully..." What I think can help keep us motivated is the thought in the back of the head, that maybe we get overlooked right now by the masses, but then one day people will look back and go "You know what? They were the ones actually holding true to the ideals." Just like Japan and John Foxx. If we can hold on to it, in the long run, we'll be looked at as a respectable band, and the bands that have more financial success right now, will be gone in two years. It's a sacrifice we're willing to make.

BW: Nicola, I understand that a lot of the photography is done under your direction. Is that correct?

N: Yeah, well, I do all our covers and stuff.

A: By under "her" direction you mean "she takes them." Yes.

BW: There's a couple of things that I've always found interesting about them. Can you tell me about your technique or the aesthetic about your photography and how it's developed over the last five or six years.

N: I guess ultimately all my photographs are a story that can go two ways... uggahhhh... yeeeee... i don't know.

A: As an outsider, I've watched it develop. I would say that it's developed in the fact that, early on it was a bit more one dimensional. Sorta like "Legs on a Couch." Now its sorta developed into these bi-directional narratives, that have a lot more elements... that create a lot more stories. So where as before it may have been "Why are those legs on a couch?," now it's like "What happened to that girl... is she ok?" "What does that pose represent?" It has a lot more symbolic elements that can be used to create a story.

BW: Nicola, what are some of your favorite album covers?

N: Oh god... i have no idea.

A: I don't think you've ever been asked that...

N: Most of my favorite ones aren't photographs... honestly I can't think of anything.

BW: What was maybe an album that really caught your attention years ago and has always stuck with you... a question for you both really.

N: Mine would probably be Bad Music for Bad People by the Cramps, but I don't know about Adam

A: Oh mine would be John Foxx's Mathematics.

N: You know that's a really good question you asked about my photography, but I'm totally stumped.

BW: It's to my understanding that you've shunned the "electroclash" tag. Is this true?

N: Yes.

BW: Where do you think this surfaced?

A: What surfaced?

BW: The tags... with the scene...

N: I think a lot of times people feel the need to put things they don't understand into categories...

BW: Is it fair for me to ask... like on the on the compilation Disco...

A: Nouveaux.

BW: Yes. Were you guys happy to be a part of the compilation?

A: Ummm hmmm. Yeah, I was happy to be a part of the compilation. What I don't think anybody understands is that we were asked to write a song that sounds like "Italio Disco." It was a commission. It's hard for us to explain to the audience when...

N: People always yell for it.

A: People always ask for "Night Life." And we always say that we're not playing it because it's not us. That song came out through a specific set of rules, and we were happy to do that and its always fun to be forced to work outside of your boundaries. But then suddenly it's like... "Why does everybody keep...," and it's nice that they like it, but it's not who we are.

BW: Do you think this is maybe where the tags came from?

N: I don't think it came from that. I think it basically came... because we played at the first Electroclash festival, which at the time was a festival like any other festival that we've ever played at. Whether it be Poko-pop festival in Belgium or Lowlands festival in Holland or the Bio-fighters festival in Greece. It was just a festival. It was just a name. But, yyou know, it was just the man behind the festival, that sorta has connections to the media and he made it into something he wanted to make it into. We got asked to play the second festival and we said no.

BW: Which actually toured correct?

N: Friends of ours... we're friends with Chicks on Speed and we're friends with Peaches and I don't they understood why we wouldn't do it. And we tried to explain to them that it was becoming a genre. But, sometimes Europeans get away with murder. But it's not so easy for us over here. Luckily Detroit never caught on to the fad. A lot of cities never got it. It was more of a East Coast / West Coast thing.