“We were already going onto the next thing” – An Interview with Adult Leisure
Bristol quartet Adult Leisure have just followed up their debut album with a cracking new single “The Light You Attract”. The release coincided with their first US shows as the band played The New Colossus Festival in NYC before heading to SXSW in Austin, TX. The new single was recorded and mixed with long-time producer Ollie Searle at Humm Studios and mastered by the acclaimed John Webber (David Bowie, Duran Duran, Coach Party).
‘The Light You Attract’ is about recognising the patterns you keep walking into. It’s about that moment when you realise you’re not just a victim of someone else’s chaos; you’re complicit in returning to it. There’s bitterness in that realisation, but there’s clarity too.
David Woolford, Adult Leisure
The band consists of Neil Scott (vocals), David Woolford (Guitar), Luke Denham (Bass) and Nathan Searle (drums) and formed in 2020 in Bristol. We had a quick chat with the band before they performed one of their showcases at SXSW.
IDOV – How have your first US shows in New York and Austin been going?`
Luke – So it’s been pretty mind-blowing to be honest. To go across the Atlantic and you have people not only come to watch you but you also pick up people there as well that really like your music, like what you’re doing. So Yeah. It’s been amazing.
Adult Leisure at Seven Grand, Austin, TX during SXSW. Photo Credits – Kate Atkinson
IDOV – What differences have you noticed between the audiences in the US and the UK audiences?
David – I would say that, in the UK, there can be 20 people and they will all go a bit mad. Whereas, in the US, it takes a good 30 or 40, but as soon as you get that magic number, then everyone’s in. So I would say they’re a little bit more reserved. You have to earn their trust whereas England’s a bit more up for it. That’s not a bad thing at all – just a difference. But I’ll tell you what though; Everyone’s much nicer! If you do good, everyone is so congratulatory but in England, its more like “yeah, nice one mate, outside!” But yeah, that’s the difference.
IDOV – We ask everyone we interview three questions. The first one is which classic album cover art is your current mood?
David – So, we had in the car, Primal Scream – Screamadelica because the album cover is obviously crazy. Blue, red, yellow, which is kind of like red, white, and blue. But also it’s just an amazing album and it’s very sort of hedonistic and I think whilst we’re away from home, you sort of embellish that a bit. It’s quite nice.
IDOV – Your new single “The Light You Attract” just came out yesterday and you just put an album (The Things You Don’t Know Yet) out last year. Was this a newly written single or one you wrote for the record but you wanted to get some new music out?
Neil – No, I think it’s the format. We wanted to leave the album where it is. The album was this beautiful thing that was great over the course of time and for us to enter into a new chapter. So, in terms of the new single, it forms what will set out to be a new chapter for Adult Leisure, something that leans into the more dark elements of our album. I think that songs like “Boy Grows Old” and “Kiss Me Like You Miss Her”; that kind of vibe would probably be where these next few songs go.
David – We did the album and we wanna make music like we consume music. So it was like, right, you’ve done the first thing, now you get onto the next thing. We obviously heard the album all the way through last year so by the time it came out, we were just like, uurggh, the album’s out finally for everyone else. But we were already going onto the next thing.
Neil – To be completely honest with you, it was like an itch straight away. As soon as the album came out, we wanted to release the next month. Dave’s an incredible songwriter, we’ve got these songs that we’ve been sitting on and we just wanted to get them out. So it took a lot willpower actually to be able to hold a bit back and let the album breathe for a while, let people sit with it. Start to get a good idea of who we are and what we’re about. I think now we can really like push on that and the new track is doing exactly that.
IDOV – We loved “The Things You Don’t Know Yet” which was on our best albums of the year and “Dancing Don’t Feel Right” was one of our top singles of the year as well. Did you feel when you were writing and recording the record that you had something special?
Luke – I don’t think we really thought that it was anything special, did we? We just put music out and hope that somebody loves it and people have liked it so that’s a really good sign.
David – So you’ll have a favorite and you’ll have songs where you’ll go like, “oh, this has got some beans to it, I like this!” But then to us, that might be an album track and it’s only when you put out in the world that people go, oh! “Dancing don’t feel right” – we knew it was a good song, but it seems to be a lot of people’s favorite isn’t it?
Neil – Live specifically, I think it takes on a new form in comparison to the record. It becomes this aggressive, adrenaline fueled, punky tune. Whereas on the, on the record it probably is a little bit more summery, like floating and dancing.
Adult Leisure at Seven Grand, Austin, TX during SXSW. Photo Credits – Kate Atkinson
IDOV – Who were your inspirations growing up that inspired you to get into music and influence your writing?
Luke – So I love the Cure, I love the Smiths, I love Springsteen and then I also get really influenced by modern pop stuff that’s out now as well. But my kind of go-to is like old 80’s new-wave/shoegaze stuff and that’s what we all kind of like too.
David – I was always drawn to artists that provide you with a universe of music. So, for example, like my idol is Prince, second best idol is Bowie. Because they don’t provide a thing, they provide you with a universe of music that you’re just like completely in awe with. I think that we don’t like limiting ourselves to be this type of band. Well be whatever type of band we like to be at the time. And I think that’s really refreshing that you can do like that.
IDOV – Second question we ask everyone – if you only listen to one record, what would it be?
Nathan – Oh no, that’s too much pressure. That’s someone else’s question.
David – We said in the car, as a band, The Cure – Disintegration. It’s incredible
IDOV – You guys are from Bristol. What’s the music scene like at the moment?
Neil – It’s not us. It’s not anything like us.
Nathan – We are from Bristol but i wouldn’t say we are of Bristol.
David – Bristol at the minute is very kind of, it’s the echoes of Idles and post-punk. But then there’s an amazing band, everyone’s heard of Getdown Services. They’re from Bristol, like and they’ve done something completely different. It’s always been amazing city for music and it is an amazing city for music and what is good about it is because there is no Bristol sound. Manchester has a sound to it. Whereas Bristol, you could be anything and that’s a beautiful thing.
IDOV – City or Rovers?
Nathan – We do have to be very careful because both Bristol City and Bristol Rovers play our tunes so….
IDOV – What’s your favorite venue you’ve played and where would be your bucket list venue to play?
Luke – Well, me and Ollie (our Sound Engineer) spoke about the bucket list and it’s Red Rocks for me.
Nathan – I’m gonna go Strange Brew in Bristol.
Neil – I think Thekla was a dream.
Nathan – and dream stage is Park stage at 7:00 PM on a Friday.
IDOV – Last question we ask everyone. What would go on your signature pizza and what would it be called?
David – So we smashed this. We smashed it. It’s a five cheese pizza and it’s called Adult Cheddar.
IDOV – What else do you have planned for 2026?
Neil – Lots more songs, lots more festivals. We’re playing some incredible festivals across the UK leading up into the summer and beyond. So yeah, keep your eyes and ears peeled.
Formed in 2020, Adult Leisure released a string of celebrated singles before unveiling their debut critically acclaimed EP The Weekend Ritual’ in December of 2022, streamed over 90,000 times to date and championed by BBC Radio 1, Variance Magazine, The Independent, RTE and more, which soon saw the band embarking on multiple tours of the UK, earning a handful of rave live reviews along the way.
Their second studio EP Present State of Joy and Grief was released in November of 2023, supported by BBC Radio 1, Wonderland Magazine and picked by producer Jake Gosling (Ed Sheeran, Lady Gaga, One Direction, Paloma Faith) to be played in Hotel Chocolat stores worldwide.
Since their sold out debut show in July of 2022, Adult Leisure have earned a reputation for their memorable, leave it all on the stage live show. With standout performances across the UK, The Netherlands, Paris, Sweden and Norway, Adult Leisure have played a variety of UK and EU festivals and have supported the likes of The Pale White, Summer Salt, The Family Rain, Afflecks Palace, The Twang, Human Interest and The Luka State.
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