Last Thursday, Assembly in Kingston, New York hosted opening night of the Rare Kisses Tour, a double-headlining jaunt featuring legendary Detroit synth-pop duo ADULT. and New York City noise rock icons A Place To Bury Strangers, which will have the two acts returning to Underground Arts this Tuesday, November 10th. This March, Nicola Kuperus and Adam Lee Miller dropped Kissing Luck Goodbye, ADULT.’s tenth LP, while the following month saw the release of A Place To Bury Strangers’ Rare And Deadly, a collection of the band’s rarities spanning from 2015-2025. The afternoon prior to opening night, I got a chance to chat with ADULT.’s Nicola Kuperus about all of her memories of the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection (and she’s got lots!), making a protest album that embodies almost three decades of sonic sentiments, and what can be expected on Tuesday night.
Izzy Cihak: You’ve played Philadelphia a number of times over the past quarter of a century, from Transit to First Unitarian Church to Johnny Brenda’s to Boot & Saddle and Underground Arts. Any thoughts on or memories of the city, whether from onstage or just about town?
Nicola Kuperus: AH! You’ve done a good job tracking down our shows in Philly! I remember distinctly at Transit supporting Trans Am (it was our first Philly show in 2002) and we sold ZERO merch, nothing, but someone stole one button off the merch table – haha! I also remember Zeb from Trans Am set his cymbals on fire! The venue didn’t like that. Totally look forward to playing at Underground Arts for our third time! Such a cool space! I feel like I’m always lost in that venue and backstage area! Johnny Brenda’s was so fun with Ritual Howls and Void Vision (hometown hero), Boot & Saddle great venue too with our pals PLACK BLAGUE, Unitarian Church was sooooo long ago. That one alludes me, but I do recall lots of wood paneling?
Izzy: Earlier this year you released Kissing Luck Goodbye, your 10th studio album, which is kind of crazy… How do you feel like the album compares to previous LPs, in terms of sounds, inspirations, and just the process of writing and recording it? I understand all of the world’s present atrocities kind of provided you with an energy to produce an exceptionally potent response.
Nicola: Yeah! Ten albums… it feels kinda crazy! That album felt almost impossible to write. It felt like everything was working against us both externally and internally. We tried to make something new and yet also have it encompass the past since it was the 10th album. Reflection of our career felt import. We worked with a producer Nolan Gray from LA, and he was great at inspiring us and pushing us to try things we really wanted. We also really wanted to make a protest record! And we did.
Izzy: And have you had any personal favorite responses to the album itself?
Nicola: I think one of my favorite write ups was, “we’d pretty much spent our entire career working up to this – A total apocalyptic moment.”
Izzy: I have a monthly radio show on Y-Not Radio called Philthy Radio, and I’m going to be spinning “Freaks” on the next episode, so I’m curious how that particular track came about, whether sonically, sentimentally, or both?
Nicola: AH! Geez. I’m not totally sure? I think just trying to find a space for myself as a weirdo with a voice! And just being fed up! An Anthem for myself! HA! And anyone who wants to join in! Also, Adam was sampling from a lot of 8os game shows at the time, and he got the sample “Freaks / Weirdos / Ah Perfect” and we went from there.
Izzy: You’re about to kick off the Rare Kisses Tour, a double-headlining run with A Place To Bury Strangers. What can be expected of the ADULT. live show — which has earned quite a reputation over the last almost three decades — this time around, when you return to Underground Arts?
Nicola: Yeah. We are super excited to be playing with APTBS! We are always trying to stir it up with our set and make it different from previous shows/tours. This set has a lot of the new material from our latest album on it because it’s NEW and it’s fun to play new shit. But it’s also got some classics in there. Green Lights. Strobe lights. No lights. Fog! Well… I can’t remember if Underground Arts allows fog!?! HAHAH! Our biggest FEAR!
*Get your tickets here.
**I consulted with Underground Arts last week and they do, indeed, allow fog… Ask them about what happened in the kitchen when Sunn O))) played there…
