Interview
with The Adored
The Adored are a kick-ass quartet who make punked-out, new-wave dance music heavily influenced by The Clash, Stone Roses and The Jam. Their first EP features a guest spot by legendary punk vocalist Pete Shelley of the Buzzcocks, a relationship that only furthers the evidence that The Adored are a band that will be around for a very long time. AvoidPeril got the chance to talk to Ryan (vocals), Nat (drums), Max (bass) and Drew (guitar) about plans for their upcoming full-length album, their work with Pete Shelley, and how much Drew and Max miss Dunkin’ Donuts. 1. I had a hard time finding a good bio on The Adored, so I figured that the best way to accomplish this was to go straight to the source. Tell Avoid Peril readers about yourselves. Ryan (singer): Background? Do you mean like, what race am I? Oh… I grew up on early hardcore and punk bands from the LA, Boston and NYC scenes, then I got into other stuff. I met Nat (drummer) a long time ago going to punk shows when we were teenagers. I had a band called Carry On; his was called Insist and our bands played together. Then he disappeared for a few years. I met Drew (guitar) and Max (bass) in 2001 when I was working at the LA Urban Outfitters and a mutual friend introduced us. They were nice. Drew and I talked about Paul Weller’s recent tour. Drew (guitar): I’ve never seen Paul Weller live. I just thought Ryan had a cool haircut and wanted to impress him with some handy-dandy instant mod credentials. It actually turned out we had some Boston friends in common. Ryan: I just remember Max looking uncomfortable. Max (bass): We’d just moved to LA from Boston. I had no friends. I had to walk around Melrose and try to make friends in places like Urban Outfitters. Ryan and I had matching tattoos and my ex-girlfriend decided he and I would be best friends. Ryan: Then I moved to San Francisco for a year. At the end of that year Nat called me and said he had joined a new band and he wanted me to sing. I was already trying to start bands like The Adored in San Francisco but it never worked out. So I came down to LA and realized Max and Drew were those same guys I had met. 2. The Adored EP features guest vocals from Pete Shelley (Buzzcocks). I’m sure it was amazing to work with him – how did you start the collaboration process? Did he get in touch with you? Ryan: No, he actually saw us by accident in New York City- he had come to our show at the Coral Room, and we ended up hanging out with him all night. Later we emailed him half-seriously asking him to be on our record. The next thing we knew he was out in LA and we were singing the songs. It went really smoothly. It’s actually extra cool because it’s our first release and no one knows who we are yet, yet we have fucking Pete Shelley… it’s still amazing to us. 3. You guys have been touring relentlessly for a long time. What has been your favorite show so far? Max: Our first show in New York last year. I guess all of my favorite shows so far have happened outside of LA. I hope that changes once the arm-crossed masses of Angelenos catch up with the rest of the world. Ryan: New York was pretty fun. I like playing in my hometown, San Luis Obispo in California. The last show we played there was probably my favorite. People went crazy and knew all the words to our songs- even the songs on our old demos. I was bleeding everywhere and people didn’t care. I hit myself in the face with the microphone- I actually threw it but forgot to let go of the cord, and it came back and hit me in the eye. Stupid! 4. “TV Riot” is about the all-consuming television culture that has permeated the U.S. From the EP, it seems that some of your songs are culturally/politically minded, and the other half are about girls, etc. Where do you get the ideas for your lyrics? Ryan: I’m generally not even aware of those things, I just write about things I see every day. Observations of other people’s lives and problems. Stories about what other people go through, and shit I go through, mixed together. Life. Life Cereal. 5. How is the full-length album coming along? Can we expect tracks similar to the style of The Adored EP, or will you be branching off in different directions? Ryan: It’s going really well so far. Right now we have a gazillion songs that aren’t quite finished. I think it’s better than the EP already though- better hooks and more energy, a little crazier. The interesting thing now is that we’re letting go more. We’re more comfortable with each other and know our own strengths and weaknesses. We’re not trying to conform to what we think everyone else in the band wants, and more of our individual backgrounds are showing through. I’m a little crazier, there’s more of Drew’s pop stuff coming through. We’re letting Nat go crazier on the drums. 6. Drew (guitar) and Max (bass) are Emerson grads – Boston refugees living in a world with (gasp!!) no Dunkin’ Donuts. How do you take your coffee? And what kind of donut do you miss the most? Max: I take mine as fancy as possible. Gone are the days of the simple house drip. I do miss having a Dunkin’ Donuts in the basement of my dorm, but I've traded that in for coffee at Urth Caffé on Melrose (where the Olsen twins can be seen from time to time). Drew: I mostly miss the soothing orange and pink tones. I don’t drink coffee, and their hot chocolate was always kind of globby. Big balls of half-solid chocolate floating around or stuck to the bottom. But I did just read that they terminated the “Dunkin’ Donut”- the huge one with the handle. That made me kind of sad. My dad used to always get DD Sunday mornings when I was a kid. Then we all got fat. I still am. Ryan: I like, like, five sugars and cream. I lived in Boston for a month. Mission Hill is pretty cool. Good Indian food. I don’t eat donuts, though. Max: I never got into the donuts, although I do miss the following: Marché in the Prudential mall, Franklin Cafe, the Trident, Grasshopper, the onion rings at Betty's Noodle Wok Diner, the Bread and Circus salad bar, and, of course, Buddha’s Delight (RIP). 7. Avoid Peril described The Adored’s sound as “The Clash and The Jam talking about The Specials at a Blur show in 1992.” Do those bands count as your major influences? Care to add any bands into the scene that we’ve set up? Ryan: Those bands are definitely influences, yes… but I can’t name any more because I don’t want to give away any more of the bands we rip off! That’s enough right there… Drew: XTC, Wire, Elastica, Gang of Four, Buzzcocks. Max: Stone Roses, New Order, Minor Threat. 8. Give Avoid Peril readers three reasons to come see The Adored on their eventual (and triumphant!) return to Boston. Drew: Well, there’s Max Jr, Lil’ Drew, and “Ryanito,” all of whom are growing up in Allston with their overworked mothers and expecting us to make our paternity payments every month. Even on Patriot’s Day. Actually, anyone who ever attended “The Pill” in the early days might find it an interesting study to see how I’ve taken every song I ever heard there, processed them and spit them out again with these three guys to help create the kind of pop trash that’s on our EP. Ryan: Well, we’re from California and don’t go out there very often. I don’t know what the bands sound like there these days, and when I lived there I only went to hardcore shows. Are The Explosion still from Boston? I know that people can go crazy there- my old band’s shows there were sick, with ambulances and everything. I don’t want to go that far again, but I think we’re a band you can still go crazy for instead of standing there with your arms folded. You can pogo again. Also: wrestling shoes. The Adored’s self-titled EP is available now on V2 Records.
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