COOL CAT
An Interview With Barry Adamson
By Gary Gonzo

 

Barry Adamson has a new album entitled Back to the Cat. The album seamlessly mixes jazz, blues, and soul. Via telephone, Barry Adamson discussed the new album, changes in the music business and his recording as well as what he’d be doing if he weren’t making music with Art Nouveau Magazine.

Art Nouveau Magazine: What does Back to the Cat mean?
Barry Adamson: I guess it means whatever you want it to mean really. Usually, I like to go in for a title that has all these very obvious three-way meanings. This is really one of those off-the-cuff things that somebody said to me. Back to the cat; I wrote it down. It has a similar resonance and hookiness as a lot of the music on the record. I thought that’s pretty straight forward. There’s an obvious connotation about coolness. There’s a sort of obvious way the cat is seen throughout the history of music as being lonesome and out on the periphery. I like that about it.

ANM: It’s definitely got that cool connotation.
BA: It has that hookiness without having to think too much about it. Do you know what I mean? I quite like that.

ANM: How would you summarize the album?
BA: It’s got a nice heady mix of all kinds of influences, from jazz to soul and blues. Sort of put together in a modern way with one eye firmly in the past and one eye on the future. So you get a bit cross-eyed. It’s an exploration of various genres all whipped together with a good eye on the past and future. It summons up images from all over the place really.

ANM: It certainly does have some range. That was another thing I wondered about; how it came together with so many different influences.
BA: Anyone who knows my other work, I’ve taken various inroads to film soundtracks and being in bands. I feel like I’m able to be perched in a place where I’m able to draw different strands from different areas. I somehow go and mix them together in my own way. I feel quite comfortable shifting from something that’s very obviously a soulful blues song that might be in a movie, if you like, into a sort of of segue that’s a musical sequence that might take you through jazz. I think it’s something I’ve been practicing over the years. It comes to me quite easy now.

ANM: I’d say so. There are more styles and influences on this one album than a lot of bands would incorporate in a career.
BA: I used to be a little perverse about it. I was quite extreme like a mixtape that flips from one thing to another. This album is more unified in the soundscape. From there I feel free to go all different places. It still feels anchored in some way. Even though it’s going all different places, it still sounds to me like the same album.

 

ANM: How would you compare this album to previous albums?
BA: I think it’s more direct in the sense that I’ve worked through and worked out a lot of things that might cause people unconsciously to go, “Mmm yeah. OK. I see where he’s going with that.” They kind of stuck around and listened to the next one. This one blows away all that stuff and is more, you put it on and you know where you are. I feel better able to use my powers of description to set the scene, to sort of lay out where the music is. You get it straightaway. There’s not a whole lot of thinking about it. It’s more instant.

ANM: You’ve been recording a long time.
BA: Too long.

ANM: I wanted to get your thoughts on how the business has changed since you started.
BA: It’s quite dramatic. I don’t think in the beginning, I could have imagined a world where you talk about a physical release or should we just produce a download? It’s fine. I’m kind of evolving with it. I watch myself. I watch my own habits: how I buy music, how I take music. I don’t really think about it that much. I just go with the times, change with the times. Try and find the thing that’s gonna suit me really.

ANM: How have you changed your approach to recording?
BA: As much as technology be damned, I do like the fact how it’s changed to the point where, for example I am able to make that record. I just sit with a laptop and go to various people and have them sort of play as well and take it into the studio. And then mix it and do all the other stuff. Before, you’d have to go to a record company to get the money to get to the studio, to buy the tape, to block the engineer. Do you know what I mean? It was this endless thing that kept you away from the actual creation. I guess for me, it’s more instant, back on that. I can wake up in the morning, have an idea and be pretty much finished by the end of the day. Which is what I like about it really. That’s the way I always wanted to make art. Get up, paint, and then maybe take it to the market to be sold. Which is exactly what I do with my music. I have my own label. We press the things, we get it out there. That’s how it works. Just like in a drawing room, put it up by the end of the day.

ANM: It must be nice not to have to go through the whole process of label and studio and what have you.
BA: Yeah. I’m kind of grateful that I had a bit of that before, when I first made records. They were the label but pretty much artistically, I was quite free to do what I like to do. It was kind of training for this kind of music. I worked my way to film soundtracks. I’ve been kind of used to it. When I was in bands and we were with labels, it was just the distance between you and them and the work and all these people telling you what you should do and all the rest of it. It’s not really for me. I look at it like it’s sort of an obvious way to go. For a lot of people, they probably wouldn’t. If they get signed, they forget it. If you’re gonna do it, do it. If you’re going to press a few, press a few. If you need to press more, press a few more. That kind of idea really.

ANM: What do you think you’d be doing if you weren’t making music?
BA: It would be another area of art. Before I joined a band, I was all set up to be an architect. I’ve always painted and sculpted. I’ve always done something. I think any of those places would satisfy me in some way. It would always be something to do with the arts.  

For more information, visit www.barryadamson.com.