Barry Adamson is in a weird position. After winning acclaim for the noir-cinematic atmospheres of solo projects such as Moss Side Story and the mash-up of Back To The Cat, writing songs for directors such as Danny Boyle, Oliver Stone and David Lynch, and composing film scores for Delusion and Out Of Depth, the 53-year-old writer/multi-instrumentalist found himself directing, writing and acting in his own movie with 2011’s The Therapist. “I’m a marketing man’s nightmare,” he jokes. To make things more intense, Adamson—post-punk’s most legendary bassist, with roles in Magazine and Nick Cave’s Bad Seeds—returned to the scene of the live-music crime by playing gigs with Howard Devoto’s re-united Magazine after decades of being a lone wolf. What was he thinking? And how did all of that recent interaction inspire his newest project, the aggressive Destination? Read our new Q&A with him below. Adamson will also be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week.
Adamson: My cousin likes to remind me of how I could always be found as a youngster, sitting with a pile of comics, disappearing into worlds other than this one. I love the stories, the panels, the artwork, the layout, the impact of the layout and how the story can be told visually as well as with added speech. The cinematic use of each shot has now become second to none, thanks to modern technology. With an iPad and the comiXology app, you can read comics panel by panel, swiping each one and watching it resize, wide shot, close-up, etc. There are titles for every conceivable genre. I go for crime-noir titles such as Daunt, Bullet To The Head, Nothing Face, Shuddertown, Near Death and The Last Days Of American Crime.
Video after the jump
