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The Broken Family Band: Steven Adams
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Article
written by Ged M
Jul 8, 2007.
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The Broken Family Band are one of the best bands in Britain at the moment. It's not just us who think so (though we thought so first). They appear on Radio 2, Radio 4 and almost on XfM, they're in the Guardian - http://music.guardian.co.uk/rock/story/0,,2119218,00.html - and on this month’s Word covermount CD and are feted by Uncut, Mojo and all the serious music mags. And they've built this reputation gradually - playing to steadily building audiences in increasingly large venues, releasing bigger and better records and gaining a fanbase largely by word of mouth and web recommendations. Now they have a number of celebrity fans, of whom Jo Brand is the biggest...
The band are, alphabetically speaking, Steven Adams (vocals, guitar), Gavin Johnson (bass), Mickey Roman (drums) and Jay Williams (guitar). They were on Snowstorm Records and are now with the Track and Field Organisation and between these labels have released four full-length albums and two mini-albums. The latest record, 'Hello Love', is all about romance but delivered in a satisfyingly loud way.
This is the third time we've interviewed them because (a) we love their music (b) they give good quote and (c) Johnny Borrell refused to talk to us. The interview was conducted between festival appearances with Steve Adams by email in July 2007.
SXP: There’s a huge amount of energy on ‘Hello Love’. When did you become such a noisy band?
Steven: You should have come to our soundchecks four years ago. Me and Jay have recently been wondering why we both thought Anthrax were better than Metallica when we were kids. It's because we both grew up in cultural vacuums with no strong rock leadership. Mick was playing in a band who sounded like Bleach-era Nirvana when I first heard him, and Gav fought the punk rock wars of the late 1990s, hard and fast, and with a pink mohawk. I fucking dare these wet-end journalists who think we've jumped ship to come and play a heavy metal pub quiz with us. We will fucking destroy them. We were only quiet before because it was a novelty, and we all know what happens to novelties…
SXP: What was it like working with Brian O’Shaughnessy? Did he encourage you to rock out?
Steven: We like Brian. He's a tough cookie. He made us cry sometimes because he's so brutal. He enjoyed the novelty of us rocking out, but...
SXP: You’ve said “we wanted to make an album about love”. How come? Are
you in love, on drugs or just getting soft?
Steven: Because it's easy. The rhymes were already mapped out in the 1950s.
SXP: You’re one of those rare bands whose sound seems to develop from record to record: ‘Hello Love’ is different from ‘Balls’, which is different from ‘Welcome Home Loser’ and so on. Are you consciously trying to do something different each time?
Steven: No. Every time we make a record we are trying desperately hard to replicate the sound of the last one, but so many things have changed and we find that we have forgotten so many things, like amp settings and chords and where the drums are and stuff.
SXP: Do you think you’ve left behind all the old country references now?
Steven: We tried to ages ago, but journalists just won't let go. Whatever SELLS the PRODUCT I suppose.
SXP: Your songs are sharp, even spiteful, and often witty but on ‘Hello Love’ they feel more personal and you really seem to open up (for example, on ‘Julian’). Were these songs harder to write than on previous albums?
Steven: Thanks, but no, they were just as easy. Some of them took longer, but only because I was doing other things, like reading books, or speaking to people on the telephone. I'm not a big fan of the telephone, but I do sometimes text myself lyrics. And they're always shit.
SXP: You’re playing bigger venues and have more radio exposure. How do you
cope with the demands when you still all have jobs?
Steven: With fortitude and fatter wallets.
SXP: You're playing lots of festivals this year – what is it you like about them?
Steven: The bare breasts, the free drugs, the freedom, the smell of the other
band's desperation.
SXP: You sang a very funny song from Glastonbury for Radio 4’s Today programme on the Saturday of the festival. How did you get the gig with the BBC? Was it hard to compose? And how rock’n’roll is it to be awake in time to listen to the Today programme anyway?
Steven: Because people have begun to appreciate how good we are? Your guess is nearly as good as mine dear.
We're really fucking good. It is just a pop group, but we're one of the best fucking guitar pop groups this country's had for years, so you'd hope that the BBC would cotton on. I'm glad you found it funny - I was a little embarrassed because it was light entertaiment. It was quite hard to write, but I enjoyed it.
Are you suggesting that getting up late is rock 'roll? That'd be weak.
SXP: Your singing sounds more direct and powerful now, with no American
inflection. Have you consciously changed your style? Or is it just confidence?
Steven: Yes, I have changed my style. I used to sing in American because I really enjoy it, but these songs are a bit more personal, and I'm a bit more full of myself now.
SXP: Your do something in your songwriting that linguists call “enjambment” - breaking up one sentence or line into two lines for effect (as in: “I spent all my time believing when I should have spent it reading/ the signs” from ‘Give and Take’). Is that something you’ve learned from other songwriters or is it just part of the Adams style?
Steven: I don't recall nicking it consciously, and it's a trick I enjoy. Most people don't notice that shit - thanks for listening.
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