All grown up

>> Detroit’s Adult. are fed up with fluff

by LORRAINE CARPENTER

“Mutant electropop” duo Adult. have been producing so-called “electroclash” music since ’97, years before New Yorker Larry Tee coined the term with his October fest, years before Fischerspooner bought their first boa, years before Miss Kittin met the Hacker. This married couple also runs the seven-year-old Ersatz Audio label, featuring Chicago’s Magas and Detroit acts Tammy on Twelve-Inch and Goudron. With these solid credentials in mind, the Mirror called the pair at home to discuss their pet peeves.

Mirror: What’s your feeling on “electroclash?”
Nicola Kuperus: Well, we hate the word so much that it hurts our ears. We agreed to play the Electroclash festival because the only time we get to see Chicks on Speed is when we play with them. Little did we know that, all of a sudden, we were an “electroclash” act. We just love making music and we have a sense of humour, we’re not cold-hearted people, but it’s really frustrating because a lot of the acts being associated with electroclash are gimmicky fluff. Especially in New York, where people are focusing on bad ’80s fashion, like shoulder pads and leg warmers.

M: You once said that if your style of music became too popular, you’d move on.
Adam LeMiller: We’re very reactionary people. My paintings are acrylic on canvas, hard-edged, bright-coloured, very clean paintings and it’s a reaction to going to school at DSC where almost all the artwork mirrors Detroit, you know, rusty mufflers nailed to a piece of wood. And Nicola is studying commercial photography, yet her work doesn’t fit with commercial or fine art, it just exists in this weird area. Fader said we’re not part of Detroit’s blossoming techno or garage-rock scenes, we’re just this weird band somewhere in between. When we play shows in Detroit, half the people are from the dance community and half are from the rock community.

M: Sounds like a good place to be. About new wave-
AL: -the thing that really makes us mad is being called a retro band. Larry Tee had a great quote: [paraphrasing] You call this retro? I’ll tell you what’s retro. House. It hasn’t changed in 20 years. New house records reference something 20 years old and it’s not developed, it’s just made for DJs to blend very easily with the originals.
NK: Everything out there has been recycled and revamped. I like the White Stripes but why don’t they get tagged as retro when they have a pared-down Led Zeppelin sound? I think it’s because electronic and new wave music never got the respect that rock music did because they got so cheesy.
AL: We blame it all on MTV. New wave was super amazing and revolutionary from ’78 to ’82 and then it got really bad. But we’re not referencing Culture Club, we’re referencing the first Human League and John Foxx’s Metamatic, overlooked albums that are super important. But when you reference Led Zeppelin, you’re really educated and brilliant. :

With Trans Am and Magas at Cabaret on Sunday, June 16, 9pm, $15