ADULT by Joep Vermaat Part 1, 2 They didn't at first? Adam: 'The first four records were a total failure.' Nicola: 'But now they sell.' Adam: 'Now they have sold incredibly. But it was two years of no sales and then all of a sudden everything started selling. I don't know why. I guess it caught up.' Did they sell as well in the States as here? Adam: 'No there's no electronic music appreciation in the States.' Why not? Nicola: 'I don't think it has caught on yet.' Adam: 'Everyone is behind the times I guess.' Nicola: 'We shouldn't say that there is no appreciation.' Adam: 'It is growing more and more, but there wasn't any three and a half years ago when I started my label.' Isn't it hard starting a label and knowing that your audience is on the other side of the ocean? Adam: 'I didn't know it was over here.' Nicola: 'When you started it you didn't know where it was.' It's quite brave. Adam: 'Thanks. You hear a lot about musicians that were promised a contract from Rephlex and never got one. I am one of them. So I waited around probably six months for a contract and then I said fuck it. And I am really glad they have never put me out, because I'm really happy where I am at now.' Their stable seems to have narrowed. Adam: 'Yeah I don't really like where they are at now anyway. They used to be really great three and a half years ago. And now some of their releases are really good and some are really bad. Like hit or miss.' Is there anything else you want to do with Ersatz Audio, instead of releasing your own records. Do you want it to grow? Adam: 'I put out other people’s records. There's Frank de Groodt from Holland I released a record of his. The second record was me and Clark and the third was Kym Serrano. The fourth was a compilation of everybody. And Le Car is two people or sometimes three or four. We did some track-trade stuff with Third Electric and released some Bolz Bolz records. We have done a lot of stuff with other people. And we have another compilation coming out with lots of people on it from all over the world. I hope to get a track out of I-f.' Your label Ersatz Audio and the name of the band Le Car all seem like European references is that right? Adam: 'No Le Car is an American name for a car by Renault. And Ersatz Audio is an American name as well. It is one of those words that didn't translate, but if you open up an American dictionary it is in there. In German it would mean something like extra or spare. But in American it means more like a cheap substitute. It's like a plastic hammer. That would be a cheap substitute for a real metal hammer. And it fits, because with Ersatz I try to put out a lot of cheap sounds.' Is this your first tour around Europe? Nicola: 'No.' Adam: 'As Adult, yeah.' Nicola: 'But not together. Last year we toured as Artificial Material together. And I have toured with Le Car. But I think this is our twelfth European show.' Do you like touring? Adam: 'No. NO! I hate it!' So why do you do it? Adam: 'Good question! I ask myself that all the time. Why do you do it?' Nicola: 'It's a free trip.' Adam: 'It's a free trip to Europe.' You don't see anything. Nicola: 'No you sure as hell don't. Adam: 'I do it to meet people. I like to meet the people that are really into a scene. People I have known via the telephone. I know these people quite well, but I don't have a face, so this is really the only way to meet them.' Nicola: 'I always imagined that if we would meet these people they would look totally techno-ed out and weird. But when you finally meet them they are really nice. Nobody ever fits the mental picture you have of them. Which is good.' So if it were up to you you would stop touring and not come back again? Nicola: 'Who knows. Let's go home first and when we’re there we probably will want to come back.' Adam: 'Ask us again in three months, don't ask us at the end of a two week tour.' Especially with a horrible show like last night, where your instruments fail to work and the whole show has to be cancelled. Adam: 'Yeah, that was unfortunate.' Nicola: 'And that really sucks, because you have come all this distance to play for the people that really care.' Isn't that one of the problems of playing in an electronic band? Adam: 'We won't tour again until I can afford a G3 powerbook. I mean it.' But are you happy to take all that electronic stuff with you and risk the possibility of the things breaking down? Adam: 'We don't like it all. We are living on the edge. If you take good care of the stuff and take some spares with you it normally turns out alright. You just learn. The first time Le Car played in Germany we took some much stuff with us, and stuff got broken, that we learned so much. We don't have that much stuff with us. But Ectomorph he's got a lot. I don't take any of my vintage stuff with me except for the 808.' But how do you play with these vintage sounds then? Adam: 'Sampler. I sample every vintage synth I have at home. I need and use a sequencer to play the keyboard lines. I do take an 808 with me because I know I can replace that, but some of my synths I can not. They are too expensive to buy again if I can find them. But some things can't be done with a computer or a sampler, the true analogue synths have a richness that can't be replaced.' And then they get their stagecall and they play a very convincing set with harsh electronic sounds which at times reminds me of electronic music from the early eighties. It may not all be done on vintage machines, but it sure as hell sounds great.