Having Fun: Adult DVD on their debut album

“At Tenement Trail in Glasgow [2025], there were these three geezers in the front. We were on at midday and this lot are passing water around and moving quite a lot... and sweating quite profusely. I was speaking to them after and they were like: 'yeah, we were so excited to see you that we took our disco biscuits a bit early' and I was like, 'wait, we were the first band on.' He says 'yeah, we fucked it. I don't know what we're going to do now.' All right, well, thanks.”

Vocalist Harry Hanson relates this typical anecdote which demonstrates the legendary, high energy nature of the Adult DVD live show, even a full year before the arrival of their debut album. It's been a long time in the making, but the band haven't been idling since they started noodling about with synths back in the pandemic lockdown. Endless touring has honed their chops onstage, but they've also learned how to sharpen their character studies without sacrificing shout-a-long choruses.

The Leeds-based band will release their self-titled debut on 25 September, exploding with blaring synths and pummelling drums, absurdist vignettes and a society gone to the dogs. But in spite of everything, the key takeaway is having fun. Small victories in the face of all the bullshit. “I was just kind of an angry teenager, I guess," Hanson admits. "And then you grow out of that and realise, 'Oh, you can actually have fun with music.' It was a tempo thing; I started listening to loads of dance music and wanted to delve into not just playing guitar. I'm still not very savvy with synths, so it wasn't so much about the technical aspect, more just like, the feeling that you can get from it.”

And once the chaotic canvas is prepared, Hanson and Greg Lonsdale (synths) provide lyrics to bring the messy universe of Adult DVD to life. “None of the songs are about us or, like, me as a person," Hanson says. "They're all just made up stories. I've got notes in my phone with everything that I hear that I think is interesting. Normally stuff that my dad says, actually, I'll just write it down. It's like we've created a world within the first record, but it's all quite different and they're all like individual stories.

Adult DVD. Credit: Sandra Ebert

“I think I was just writing sad tunes about, I don't know, heartbreak and whatever I was feeling as a little angry teenager. And then just thought, you know, we can just have fun with this. And also, it means that you'll never run out of ideas, so you can always keep writing songs. I don't have to go through anything traumatic to write the next record, you know?”

Ahead of a headline tour for the album in October, the band are playing at Edinburgh Psych Fest in September. Are Adult DVD psychedelic? Harry tries to draw a parallel between the repetitive, krautrock elements of their music and the dancier acts that the festival now routinely books, but it's all in vain; “Sorry that's a bullshit answer. It's a great fest, really varied...” he trails off in thought. Maybe the closest we can muster is the primal freedom of the Adult DVD live experience? “I mean, I still can't dance, man. It's fucking embarrassing. Sometimes when we're playing onstage, I'll catch myself, like, moving around. I'm like 'what are you doing?' Whereas Greg, you know, he's at the side of me and he's like a cheerleader, man. He's great. So I kind of leave it to him.”

Dodgy moves aside, Adult DVD are a seriously good time, but is there a serious side behind the shenanigans? “I'd be happy to be [known as] a fun band, as long as I'm happy doing it, really. Musically it's fun, but also not happy all the time. Especially on the new record, there's some darker elements for sure. It's a mix of tunes and a bit of a mix of genres.” Born-again incels, reflecting on your own funeral, and a breakdown in Lidl are all par for the course across the self-titled debut, but the serious themes can be easy to miss amongst the acid house excursions and memorable one-liners like 'Went to New York / But they didn't have a Greggs' and 'Actually, fuck sourdough bread!'

Come for the pulsating beats and shit dancing, and maybe you'll discover something about the decaying state of the world. Either way, you're in for a top time with Adult DVD.

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Adult DVD is released on 25 Sep via Fat Possum; Adult DVD play Edinburgh Psych Fest, Edinburgh, 6 Sep; King Tut's, Glasgow, 23 Oct