The New Cue #550 November 24: Insecure Men's Saul Adamczewski
"Get over yourself"
Good morning,
Today we’ve got a very enjoyable Life & Times interview with ex-Fat White Family fella and Insecure Men frontman Saul Adamczewski. Saul spoke to me, Niall, last week over Zoom from Paris, where he was visiting his daughter for her birthday. A few weeks before that, Insecure Men released their excellent new record A Man For All Seasons. I recommend sticking it on whilst you read:
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Enjoy the edition, see you on Friday
Ted and Niall
The Life & Times Of… Saul Adamczewski
What was the first record you loved?
Nevermind by Nirvana. It was the first record where I was reading the sleevenotes and I went and got a checked shirt and Converse and wanted to join the gang. I was 12 years old. I was a bit of a chav, being a rudeboy and overnight I changed into this grunge kid.
And the last?
I’ve been listening a lot to this guy called Pierre Bastien. He’s a French outsider jazz guy but he built a band out of Meccano that play all these instruments so it was the sound of the machinery going round and that’s the rhythm and then he plays all these African and eastern instruments. He puts out about a record a year and they’re always amazing. Aphex Twin put out his stuff in the 90s and he’s worked with Robert Wyatt. He’s not very well known but he’s a musician’s musician.
What’s your earliest memory?
Sitting on a beach in Israel and the sand burning me and I was too small to move and I was distressed.
What’s your daily domestic routine?
Fucking hell, that’s almost impossible for me to answer. There was a time in my life when I was married and living with my kid and I had a normal, conventional life but after my marriage fell apart, I reverted back to living how I did in my early twenties. I guess my average day, I get out of bed about 12 and I do fuck all. I might twiddle around on the guitar, smoke a joint maybe and then probably go to the pub and repeat. I don’t do any exercise. I read and I write and I paint. But actually the last year I’ve been insanely lazy. That’s the modern curse.
What’s your worst habit?
Ooh. I need to be careful what I say, really. I’ve got fairly well-documented issues with addiction. Heroin is a pretty bad one. But then the deeper you look into all that stuff, there’s always these underlying things that are beneath them, so the habit is like ‘thinking about death all the time’ or something. I bite my nails. I go up at the end of sentences sometimes. I copy people’s accents, that’s quite a bad habit.
What’s your pet peeve?
Jobsworths. That can make a blood boil. Those are the people that keep the entire terrible system afloat, a little bit of authority and they run a mile with it. I think maybe ten years ago I would’ve said I’d like to line them up against a wall and shoot them but these days I’m far more mature, I wouldn’t ever say such a thing.
What was your first job?
Peeling potatoes at my dad’s restaurant. And then the first proper job I had was on a building site, cleaning bricks. I was better at cleaning bricks. It’s quite scary being in the kitchen, it’s like being in the army or something, it’s got a horrible masculine atmosphere.
Has anyone you’ve ever met made you feel starstruck?
Yeah, and it’s not always the people you think it would be. For some reason, I felt really starstruck when I met Jarvis Cocker and he’s quite normal and down to earth. I’m not even that big a fan of Pulp but something came over me and I could barely speak. I’m not good at that kind of stuff. I don’t want to meet my heroes, the thought terrifies me.
What was the home you grew up in like?
It was extremely liberal and a little bit wayward and booze-soaked. It was chaotic but with great ups and downs.
What would people be surprised to learn about you?
That I’m not a sociopathic bastard. Actually, that’s what a sociopath would say, isn’t it?
When were you at your most creatively satisfied?
I made a record just before Covid called Adventures In Limbo which is a solo album I made. To me, that was the pinnacle of any musical achievement. I hit something far higher than I thought I could do with loads of string arrangements and getting a bit classical at points. That felt like magic and it was really easy. Records can be hard to make and that was a dream to make. I was also satisfied when I was making a lot of drone music and noise music. I was creatively satisfied but I couldn’t earn a living doing that, playing feedback to five people in a bar in Paris.
Do you mind getting older?
Getting older is a good thing. I think I matured incredible late, I’m only just starting to realise I’m an adult now at 37. I like getting older but the physical deterioration is sometimes alarming. I’ve gotta give up the fags.
What’s the best advice you’ve ever been given?
I don’t know if it’s advice but there’s this old punk I used to hang around with, Lee the punk he was called. He had a cobblers in Peckham market and me and my punk friends used to go and hang around with him, he was an older punk and he said, ‘There’s two types of people in this world, wankers and us’. That’s not advice but I’ve carried that with me.
I think the best advice I ever got was some random person came up to me in a pub and walked past me and said, ‘Get over yourself’. I was quite hurt and then I was like, they’re right. I was at a gig of mine and I was acting like a diva, everyone was trying to talk to me and I was like, ‘I just want my space’, being a dickhead. I was quite glad this person came up and laid into me a little bit. That’s good advice.
What book would you recommend we read?
I’ve just finished reading Boyhood by David Keenan. I think he’s an incredible writer and this is his best by far, I think.
Which talent would you most like to have?
It’d be quite good if I could box. I’d like to be able to do something physical, I’m a puny guy. I already do all the things I like doing. I wish I could paint better, but I do paint, I wish I could write better songs, but I’m trying.
Can you cook? If so, what’s your signature dish?
Yeah, my dad was a chef so I can cook. I always make boiled ham, parsley sauce and carrots and potaotes from the St. John recipe. If I’m trying to show French people that English food is actually alright, I go for that, which is always a failure because they think it tastes really bland.
Do you have a temper? How does it manifest?
I’ve got a bad temper. It used to manifest itself in quite extreme rage and madness and I’ve learned to keep a cap on it by living a far more, in a way, beige life. I don’t have extreme highs and extreme lows, which is what caused me, I guess, to have these rages. Living in the middle is how I’ve managed to stop my temper.
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
I don’t really give myself kudos like that. I don’t think I’ve really achieved anything… I guess some records I’ve made I’m proud of but my greatest achievement, fuck knows. I make a really good rabbit stew. I thicken it with the offal, that’s the trick.