The Trades Club

Barry Adamson has been creating all of his life. Perhaps his greatest creation is himself as a multi-disciplined artist. The self-taught musician rose to prominence as the bass player in Magazine and toured extensively. His establishment as a solo artist came after a three year stint with Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and heralded the release of his seminal first solo album, ‘Moss Side Story’. Critically acclaimed, it raised Adamson’s name as a composer of diverse complexity; able to tell a story with music, where the images were those supplanted in the minds of the listeners. Offers quickly followed and saw Adamson work with some of the film industry’s most intriguing mavericks including Derek Jarman, David Lynch, Oliver Stone and Danny Boyle.

Having released nine studio albums, including the 1992 Mercury Music Prize nominated ‘Soul Murder’, Adamson has continued to tour globally with his talents being in as much demand by new generations of artists, as he was after his first solo release. He is constantly sought across all art forms for commentary and contribution. His music being both the platform and background for documentaries, TV series, adverts, computer games and even an Olivier Award winning ballet performance by Sylvie Guillem and the Ballet Boyz.

It was always a logical progression for Adamson to move behind the camera and once again his brooding film noir style and dark comedy has seen him write, direct and score a number of short films. His latest offering, ‘The Swing The Hole and The Lie’, being shown at the Cannes Film Festival this year.

Rising phoenix like from the flames of his previous work, Adamson continues to push himself and blur the lines of film, music and art.

Earlier this year he returned to the studio to begin recording a soon to be released new solo album, which shows him embracing all of his diverse influences into a more commercial undertaking.

Musician, composer, writer, photographer, filmmaker. Barry Adamson is not a man to take it easy.