Adult DVD are on the rise

On the Leeds band’s 2024 EP Next Day Shipping we hear about survivalists parting in their bunkers, conceding the world is over (“Doomsday Prepper”). Freshly acquainted actors who might not “need to be doing it just yet” for a sex scene wait in limbo as production stalls on another EP track “Hot Set”. Bill Murray and Tom Hanks’ filmographies are listed side by side on “Bill Murray” from their 2023 debut EP Fountain of Youth. Recent single “Because I Like It” reserves judgement for peoples’ proclivities: “New build house / boring spouse / shit hair / because you like it.”

These imaginary scenarios are inspired by what the six members of Adult DVD hear, see, feel and dream about IRL. It breathes rich, frequently funny life into lyrics soundtracked by sinewy guitars, sawtooth synths and disco beats. Adult DVD’s sound to date veers between indie rock’s jaggedness and dance music’s euphoric pulse, anchored by lead vocalist Harry Hanson’s soft singing and sprechgesang. And, as he tells Best Fit over video call from West Yorkshire, this sound is a pliable one – much like the stories they work into song.

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“It’s super freeing,” Hanson says of the approach. His eyes squint as bright September sunlight streaks into the room. “It’s not like, ‘woe is me.’ They're not honest songs. They’re not about any of us. With the music, you can really just tap into anything you want,” he says.

“That’s the best way: making it about scenarios,” Hanson continues. “There’s never a fear we’ll run out of ideas.” It’s a refreshing change from the seemingly default mode of musicians writing songs about love.

The randomness of their songs’ subject matter goes with the territory of Adult DVD not wishing to be pigeonholed. Even if they can broadly be described as making dance rock or indie disco, Hanson says writing their forthcoming debut album is already presenting them with more eclectic, sonic ideas.

“It’s odd because some songs are just straight up rock tunes and then [others are] literally acid house, so it’s weird doing a big body of work and getting all those things to fuse together,” he explains. A song written recently for the album “sounds like The Prodigy”, while another recalls Blur. “As long as we can bridge the gap where it’s not an album that sounds like two different bands, we’ll be fine,” he adds.

That challenge is a “fun” one, coupled with being mindful that their oft-scattergun storytelling doesn’t, paradoxically, make them stale. Not that you can imagine a band that’s also written about sad mancaves nor a pensioner penny-pinching after years of frivolous spending (“Yatch Money”) will suffer writer’s block. Hanson or the band’s co-founder Greg Lonsdale tend to write the lyrics alone but sometimes together. For moreish, proggy synth stomper “Bill Murray” the whole band chipped in ideas (“Bill Murray, Bill Murray is lost in Japan / Tom Hanks, Tom Hanks saying catch me if you can”) after stumbling across a Reddit thread on the topic. The simplicity of those particular lyrics aside, though, Hanson is keen to discredit himself as a wordsmith. “A lot of the time I’ve got really good ideas but I’m not that great with big words,” he says. “That makes me sound a bit daft, but I don't sleep with a thesaurus like the rest of them.”

The breadth and flexibility of Adult DVD’s lyrics provides them with a freedom to expand their sound more, adds Hanson. “I don’t feel like we have to stick to anything, especially because we haven’t done the first album yet.”

One thing that is constant in Adult DVD’s music, however, is energy. It’s mirrored as much on record as it is in live shows, with some reports applauding the band’s ability to getLeeds’ allegedly motionless crowds dancing (Hanson disagrees, believing it to instead be Londoners). They’ve even added matinees to meet demand for their high energy shows.

Speaking on his bandmates’ behalf, Hanson says that performing live is their favourite part of being in Adult DVD. Regardless of flailing limbs and "embarrassing dancing – none of us can dance”, Hanson says, an Adult DVD show is all about “letting loose” and “not worrying about what you look like”. It’s partly why the band writes about whatever bizarro or banal thing has piqued their interests. “Because the music’s so uplifting and dancey,” Hanson adds, “it kind of doesn’t matter what we’re saying.”

Adult DVD formed during the pandemic after members from previous Leeds-based bands joined up for a new project. Leeds native Hanson met Adult DVD synth-player and backing vocalist Greg Lonsdale while doing bar work at the Brudenell Social Club. Lonsdale introduced Hanson to his Uncle Buzzard bandmates at the time: George Manson (now bassist in Adult DVD), Jake Williams (synths) and Danny Blackburn (guitars/synths). Jonathan Newell (drums) was in Hanson’s former band, Glass Mountain.

Newell is originally from Bradford and Williams is from Shrewsbury. The remainder hail from near Teesside. Hanson aside, the others adopted Leeds as their home when they arrived there for higher education. Hanson pursued music production at Leeds Conservatoire – formerly Leeds College of Music – coinciding with fellow Leeds band and the 2024 Mercury Prize-winners, English Teacher, who were also enrolled at the institution.

If that all sounds rather tight knit and collaborative, well, it is. The music scene in Leeds is “very supportive” and close-quartered, explains Hanson. “Partly it’s ‘cause it’s so small that if you slag a band off they’ll probably see you around the corner, know what I mean?” Hanson says, smirking. In recent years English Teacher have placed fresh attention on the city. So have caustic, comical post-punkers Yard Act and jungle revivalist Nia Archives.

“The scene definitely seems to be really bubbling,” Hanson says. “There’s loads of new stuff, especially in dance music.” He lists DJ Subaru and Farwell Moscow, as well as electro-noise outfit Bathing Suits. “As clubs are shutting, there seems to be a scene rising.”

Leeds is fortunate to have a host of celebrated music venues – from the Brudenell to Hyde Park Book Club. But it’s not immune to the struggle of keeping venues open. The Old Red Bus Station, for example, shut in January this year, citing an “unassailable” rise in operating costs. In 2023, 13% of shuttered grassroots music venues were in Yorkshire.

Hanson is cognisant of this. It’s part of the reason why he’s “excited” to perform at Live at Leeds: In The City this November. The multi-venue festival takes punters on a whirlwind tour of the city’s best music haunts, including the Belgrave Music Hall and The Wardrobe, replete with a killer line-up. High up on this year’s bill are Jalen Ngonda, Fat Dog, Divorce, Honeyglaze, Warmduscher and Katy J Pearson. It’s important to keep the local scene alive.

After the festival split into two events three years ago (In The City takes place each autumn; In The Park each spring), Hanson feels that the infrastructure behind the city-based edition primes fans for chancing upon new favourites. “It’s the best way to discover new bands,” he says. “Live at Leeds has always been a big thing here. I’m excited. We’ll have a good day bumbling around, seeing friends and performing.”

Does Hanson think there are any similarities with other Leeds bands, Yard Act and English Teacher, and his? They share elements of half-sung, half-spoken vocals and songs stuffed with observational and/or polemical lyrics. He gives a swift no. “We probably all sound a bit similar because of the accent,” he says. “But, thinking about it, we all put loads of words into each song. That’s a good comparison, definitely. We’re probably all saying too much.” The lyrics on Adult DVD’s debut album are, so far, sounding more “ridiculous” than ever, Hanson adds.

Where Adult DVD clearly differ is their emphasis on synths, a sound only pushed harder on later records “because when we first started none of us could actually play them”, Hanson says. Now, he joins Lonsdale, Blackburn and Williams thrashing keys onstage. The way they write songs with and play the synthesisers is fascinating. It’s much more akin to how guitarists interlock melody and rhythm for interesting texture. The patterns that traditionally drive synth music, Hanson adds, can sometimes flatten opportunities to build in choruses. “You need that lift into the chorus, which is what we do well,” he says. That may be why they treat synths like guitars, and why dance-rock fusion is their natural launchpad even if they sense that’s now evolving.

The band’s immediate ambition is to play more shows abroad after an “amazing summer” ticking off several European festivals. Hanson says it felt “like a holiday” they never wanted to end. The bucket list UK festival was Glastonbury where they playing the BBC Introducing stage, no doubt bolstered by early support from Leeds’ “legend” of a BBC Intro presenter, Emily Pilbeam.

As for the future, the band are looking forward to finally revealing their debut album. “That’s what l’m really focused on now,” says Hanson. “And I want to come back to that album five years later and think, ‘I'm still really proud of that.’” We have every confidence.