Birthed in Bristol and marinated in Leeds, Fun Adults have only released a few singles, but already they’ve got numerous bloggers all excited. Lucy Snow chats to the band (Deco, Huw, Dan and Kyle) about their sound, their art, Kyle’s snowboarding and Live At Leeds, ahead of their performance at the festival this weekend.

LS: How did you meet, and how long have you known each other?
Deco: The three of us (me, Huw and Dan) all met at school in Bristol, and then we met Kyle at Leeds.
H: As a band, we had our first gig in February last year.
Dan: But we’ve been playing music for a long time.

LS: So Kyle’s the interloper?
H: Kyle came and shook things up with his groove.

LS: And how would you describe your sound? What influences you most?
Deco: We’re very focused on having a strong rhythmic element to everything we’re doing…
Dan: Ultimately we love pop music, so I guess it’s groovy pop, that’s the genre…
H: Is that really our answer? That’s like something your parents would say!

LS: Would favourite bands be a good way in?
Dan: We all have our separate influences I think. I’m more involved in the production side of it, so I’m influenced by a lot of hip-hop, J Dilla, that sort of thing. And Four Tet, producers like that. Declan, you’re into your classic songwriters, your crooners…
Deco: I do like croon music.
H: I guess I’m somewhere in between. I was into all of that stuff before I really got into band music. I only really discovered bands mid-teens under the influence of older brothers.
K: I’m all about the groove, all about the bass lines. Lots of African style influences as well.

LS: So tell me about the barn… [the band converted a 200 year old barn into a recording studio this summer]
K: It’s at my dad’s house in Scotland

LS: And it was a full-scale revamp?
K: It has turned into that. It was an idea I’d had for a while, and I got these guys in to help in return for a bit of recording. My dad’s been doing it and I’ve been doing it and various people have been coming up to help, but yeah, we’ve managed to convert it into a proper space now.

LS: Is it going to be a Fun Adults creative hub?
Deco: That’s the long game.
K: Yeah, it’s turning into a proper studio, and it’s good to have our own space and be able to go whenever we want.

LS: Tell me about your artwork and the animation – how does it fit into the music? Do you see the two as totally collaborative?
Dan: Huw does the still stuff, and I tend to do the animation.
H: And it’s a direct mirroring really, it’s always the music that influences the art, we don’t work the other way round…It’s exploring colour and shape, through what we feel are the colours and shapes in the songs. That’s the way I work anyway.

LS: So do you finish the track completely and then sit down and listen and do the art?
Dan: Yeah, we have ideas brewing as we do the music as well, and then it all comes together.

LS: Live at Leeds… who else are you going to be going to see?
Deco: I want to go and see Melody’s Echo Chamber… the singer is also involved with the guy from Tame Impala, who we’re fans of. I’m really looking forward to seeing her.
K: I’d like to see King Krule again
Deco: I’d like to see what Laura Mvula’s like as well, because there’s a lot of press, and I don’t really know much about her.

LS: You guys are playing Great Escape, have you got any other summer plans?
Deco: We’ve got a few festivals…We’re going to be doing a few shows and then just writing and recording and getting the album ready, that’s what we’re excited about doing.

LS: Any closing remarks?
Deco: I’d like to plug the fact that Kyle used to board for Team
GB
LS: That’s a fact about you that sometimes I forget… Are your snowboarding days over?
K: I still like going for fun, but I wont be competing again.
LS: I won a snowboard at a pub quiz the other day…
H: That’s more interesting than anything we’ve just said.

Image: Charlotte Norman