Husband and wife duo Adam Lee Miller and Nicola Kuperus are kind of like a modern-day Captain & Tennille, except that they play electro and Adam wears skinny leather ties instead of a captain’s hat. Together they are Adult. and since 1998, their highly influential live electronic act has been making people pull their favorite Gary Numan records out of storage. Filled with music that "borrows from the past and yet steals from the future," as Adam puts it, their latest album stimulates both the cranium and the bootie.
When Adult. first started out, their fan base consisted of three people: Adam’s mom and two German dudes named Klaus. Now, Adult. get their own dressing room when they play shows, have the clout to diss Kraftwerk to their faces and have rabid fans presenting them with everything from homemade music videos to plaster effigies of the band. One of the reasons their fans love them so much is that while most electronic groups are content sitting behind their computers, twiddling their knobs, Adult. is keeping it real. Adam actually plays all of the music "live" (not just pressing enter every five minutes on a G3 notebook). Nicola gets equally human on stage by chiming in with vocodered vocals.
So why aren’t they rich? Unfortunately, in the midst of all this popularity and kudos, Adam has decided to keep their bank account at zero by sitting on his ass all day making bad business decisions. This leaves his stunning wife (who looks like a cross between Pat Benatar and that fem-bot from Metropolis) to run their studio, Ersatz Audio, known worldwide for its genre-defining electro, new wave and synth pop. She’s also left to handle most of the records on their label (same name), including highly-influential releases from names like Le Car, Ectomorph, and Her.
While Nicola is running around town like a beaver on amphetamines, Adam justifies his laziness by pointing out that he bought all the synthesizers and clothes he needs when he was fifteen. They both seem OK with the set up and it shows no signs of changing.
Ahh men.
CITIZEN WAYNE
Resuscitation
is out now on Ersatz Audio. For more on Ersatz or Adam and Nicola’s art, check out www.ersatzaudio.com
