The supremely funky Barry Adamson
Barry Adamson is one of the supreme cats of the punk rock world – and we mean punk in its widest, most adventurous sense.
Back in late 70s Manchester, he auditioned for the band who would be Magazine using a two-string bass and got the gig.
Next up, a mid-80s stint in that magnificent band of desperadoes, the Bad Seeds, before he embarked on a solo career writing film noir-inspired soundtracks to imaginary films.
And then some soundtrack work on actual films, including David Lynch’s Lost Highway, Oliver Stone’s Natural Born Killers and Danny Boyle’s The Beach.
Over the last ten years, he has rejoined both Magazine and the Bad Seeds for a time before pursuing his own work again, adding filmmaking, photography and writing to his already stuffed CV.
His latest release is new EP, Love Sick Dick, a typically cinematic outing in which he inhabits the role of the title sad sack.
Ahead of his show at King Tut’s, where he says he will present “the full Barry Adamson experience”, we teased out some sage thoughts on a variety of topics. Here’s Barry…
On marking the 40th anniversary of punk:
I remember being at a club called Rafters [legendary Manchester venue where the likes of Joy Division, The Buzzcocks and Depeche Mode played early gigs] taking photos of a mainly 17 year old band called The Fall and then playing on the same stage within weeks.
On rejoining the Bad Seeds for a time
It really was like doing the timewarp again! These things often are. They become part of your identity and you never quite leave. Though the horse’s head in my bed this morning gave me a few clues as to my current status…
On what he means by “the full Barry Adamson experience”
I guess I mean emptying the contents of my entire life into the audience. My experience conveyed though song and sound and light, which hopefully arouses images and emotion and inspires from the place of an artist bringing himself to the table (or the chopping block).
On performing solo again
The idea of doing it quite alone in the same way I did the current record was, for want of a better phrase, to totally expose myself and lay bare the ideas that are inherent within this new work. Ed Sheeran reckons it’s a doddle, which is good, as I was still a little trepidatious about it, now I’m all like ‘show me a stage where this bull can rage!’
On the funkiness of his new EP
Everything I do is gonna be funky from now on.