Elliot Adamson

Musician — Newcastle-upon-Tyne 

01Profile

A Elliot Adamson Photo

03Interview

Name, where are you from? 
Elliot Adamson, Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

What do you do?
Typically I’d navigate parties and try to instigate good times, now I try to tell you about it while I sit around and dream about it.

Describe your style in three words?
Quiet, loud and contradictory. I like understated, I like bold and I like things that don't quite make sense.

What’s the best gig you’ve ever been to?
Fabric 15th Birthday Party. Young, dumb, full of rum watching Ricardo Villalobos playing 'Total Confusion' by A Homeboy, A Hippie And a Funki Dredd and seeing my world turned inside out.

If you could be on the line up with any two acts in history?

Bob Dylan and Frank Sinatra.

Which subcultures have influenced you?


I was brought up on a heavy diet of punk. Siouxsie and The Banshees, Angelic Upstarts and The Damned. I've heard people say my records sound a bit shit, badly mastered, a bit distorted, but that is just how I like my records. There's an emotion in someone doing something in an imperfect way. When a shit singer sings you know he sings from his heart. There's a lot of perfect music out there for perfect people living perfect lives, but to me distortion reflects honesty.

If you could spend an hour with anyone from history?
Me and Kanye West, Mcdonalds and two filet-o-fish.

Of all the independent venues you’ve played, which is your favourite?


There’s a little place called Mansion in the basement of a strip club in York. The first time I’d played there I was on a rollover from DC10 in Ibiza the night before and Eastern Electrics in London earlier in the day. It blew me away. I was really fatigued so was playing a little bit all over and segued into a tangent of playing lower bpm stuff at the peak of the night, I played 'I Wanna Dance With Somebody' by Whitney Houston and it was like the stars aligned, the energy was higher than any peak time record could've been.

Your greatest unsung hero or heroine in music?
Mike Skinner never really gets his dues. Everything he touches turns to gold.

04Playlist Notes

The first track you played on repeat?
It'll have been 'Year 3000' by Busted. My cousin knew all the words, I remember being so baffled by that and I wanted to know all the words too.

A song that defines the teenage you?

'Come Up And Get Me' by Death Grips. Essentially a contemporary electronic punk record. Paved the way for a lot of my later tastes in dance music.

One record you would keep forever?
'
Dark Side Of The Moon' by Pink Floyd. I’d never really paid it any mind until the start of last year. I’d gone on a weekend away to a cabin in the woods with nothing but DSOTM, 'Rumours' by Fleetwood Mac, 'Love Can Damage Your Health' by Telepopmusik and a sh*t record player; lots of fungi, lots of friends. No light pollution out there so you could see every single star in the sky. No phone signal either so you had time to breathe amongst them.

A song lyric that has inspired you?
“It’s just me, my laptop and my bankcard”

From 'Inglorious' by Slowthai ft. Skepta. The modern go getters triptych.

A song you wished you had written?

'Good News' by Mac Miller.

Best song to turn up loud?
'Miss You' by The Rolling Stones.

A song people wouldn’t expect you to like?
'HEY QT' by QT. Postmodernism at it's finest.

The song that would get you straight on the dance floor?
'All This Love That I'm Givin’' by Gwen McRae could awaken the dead.

Best song to end an all-nighter?
'Stuck In The Middle With You' by Steelers Wheel.

Any new bands you are into at the moment?

Gabriels is killing it out of California with incredible contemporary gospel and soul with baroque pop leanings. They've soundtracked the last few years of my life I guess. Always something there to reflect the highest highs and the lowest lows. 
SAULT are new on the radar too, they put out two incredible albums in 2020. I think they’re British but I don’t actually know anything about them other than that. They’re next level.
 Lastly, it would have to be Marske. He just released his debut, it’s an oddball record of modern northern abstract poetry. 
We're working on some stuff together but I'm a fan first.

03Interview

Name, where are you from? 
Elliot Adamson, Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

What do you do?
Typically I’d navigate parties and try to instigate good times, now I try to tell you about it while I sit around and dream about it.

Describe your style in three words?
Quiet, loud and contradictory. I like understated, I like bold and I like things that don't quite make sense.

What’s the best gig you’ve ever been to?
Fabric 15th Birthday Party. Young, dumb, full of rum watching Ricardo Villalobos playing 'Total Confusion' by A Homeboy, A Hippie And a Funki Dredd and seeing my world turned inside out.

If you could be on the line up with any two acts in history?

Bob Dylan and Frank Sinatra.

Which subcultures have influenced you?


I was brought up on a heavy diet of punk. Siouxsie and The Banshees, Angelic Upstarts and The Damned. I've heard people say my records sound a bit shit, badly mastered, a bit distorted, but that is just how I like my records. There's an emotion in someone doing something in an imperfect way. When a shit singer sings you know he sings from his heart. There's a lot of perfect music out there for perfect people living perfect lives, but to me distortion reflects honesty.

If you could spend an hour with anyone from history?
Me and Kanye West, Mcdonalds and two filet-o-fish.

Of all the independent venues you’ve played, which is your favourite?


There’s a little place called Mansion in the basement of a strip club in York. The first time I’d played there I was on a rollover from DC10 in Ibiza the night before and Eastern Electrics in London earlier in the day. It blew me away. I was really fatigued so was playing a little bit all over and segued into a tangent of playing lower bpm stuff at the peak of the night, I played 'I Wanna Dance With Somebody' by Whitney Houston and it was like the stars aligned, the energy was higher than any peak time record could've been.

Your greatest unsung hero or heroine in music?
Mike Skinner never really gets his dues. Everything he touches turns to gold.

04Playlist Notes

The first track you played on repeat?
It'll have been 'Year 3000' by Busted. My cousin knew all the words, I remember being so baffled by that and I wanted to know all the words too.

A song that defines the teenage you?

'Come Up And Get Me' by Death Grips. Essentially a contemporary electronic punk record. Paved the way for a lot of my later tastes in dance music.

One record you would keep forever?
'
Dark Side Of The Moon' by Pink Floyd. I’d never really paid it any mind until the start of last year. I’d gone on a weekend away to a cabin in the woods with nothing but DSOTM, 'Rumours' by Fleetwood Mac, 'Love Can Damage Your Health' by Telepopmusik and a sh*t record player; lots of fungi, lots of friends. No light pollution out there so you could see every single star in the sky. No phone signal either so you had time to breathe amongst them.

A song lyric that has inspired you?
“It’s just me, my laptop and my bankcard”

From 'Inglorious' by Slowthai ft. Skepta. The modern go getters triptych.

A song you wished you had written?

'Good News' by Mac Miller.

Best song to turn up loud?
'Miss You' by The Rolling Stones.

A song people wouldn’t expect you to like?
'HEY QT' by QT. Postmodernism at it's finest.

The song that would get you straight on the dance floor?
'All This Love That I'm Givin’' by Gwen McRae could awaken the dead.

Best song to end an all-nighter?
'Stuck In The Middle With You' by Steelers Wheel.

Any new bands you are into at the moment?

Gabriels is killing it out of California with incredible contemporary gospel and soul with baroque pop leanings. They've soundtracked the last few years of my life I guess. Always something there to reflect the highest highs and the lowest lows. 
SAULT are new on the radar too, they put out two incredible albums in 2020. I think they’re British but I don’t actually know anything about them other than that. They’re next level.
 Lastly, it would have to be Marske. He just released his debut, it’s an oddball record of modern northern abstract poetry. 
We're working on some stuff together but I'm a fan first.

 

05Videos

Another Chemical Love Story | Do You Feel Like I Do? (2021)