Ones to Watch: Freeland

When you think of the name Adam Freeland, it’s more than likely in conjunction with some solid slab of dancefloor magic.

For that is exactly what he created in his guise as an international DJ and producer over the past decade. But now he’s back in the frame, and this time it’s with his first artist album in six years, the rather excellent ‘Cope™’.

“I was a DJ before I ever made music,” says Adam. “I think that if you listen to enough records continually as a way of life, you get to know what it is you like and don’t like about music, and naturally you want to start making it. That’s how it happened for me anyway. The Freeland artist stuff, I’m not designing stuff for a DJ set, you know? Obviously it has that dancefloor in mind, just because of the way I produce, it has to have that fatness to it. Essentially though, I’m writing songs, which creatively is a totally different dynamic.”

A huge host of stars appear on the new record, including the legendary Tommy Lee, Joey Santiago (Pixies), Twiggy Ramirez (Marilyn Manson/Nine Inch Nails), Brody Dalle (Spinerette/Distillers), Jerry Casale (DEVO) and Tony Bevilacqua (Spinerette/Distillers).

‘Cope™’ also heralds the arrival of Kurt Baumann - the owner of a haunting, distinctively powerful voice and the man who will act as front man for Freeland's eponymous new touring band. “We couldn’t really afford Tommy Lee and Joey Santiago. I don’t think they’re going to get on a bus for £150 a gig…they’re not going to get in a mini van with me and head round England now, are they?” Adam laughs. “But that was never the intention anyway. In Kurt, we have a great frontman and we wrote some really great songs together. What I found in Kurt is that, creatively, we were on the exactly the same page. He’s got this amazing voice, and he’s a really charismatic performer, so it’s the perfect combo for what I’ve always wanted to do.”

The album bristles with Freeland’s inimitable style, none more so than on first single ‘Under Control’, released earlier this year. A digitised throb that explodes in a memorable chorus, it acted as a good introduction to the new album, and well, a new band. “At SXSW this year,” Adam tells us, “people were there who didn’t know that I was a DJ, and they just appreciated it as a band, and that’s what we are. That’s a really exciting thing for me.”

A jaw-dropping, ass-shaking, fist pumping new band with Adam Freeland at the helm? It’s an exciting thing for us too, Adam.

Words by Jon Mutch