Summadayze will be taking over two of Perth’s most picturesque festival locales not long from now and James Broadhurst took some time out to catch up with Adam Freeland to talk about snares, stagedives and what it is like to be a rock star trapped in a DJs body.

Adam Freeland burst onto the worldwide dance music scene with his Coastal Breaks and Back To Mine series, compilations at the very fore of a culture and trend that would eventually become more widely known as Nu-Skool Breaks, in the mid 90s.

No more than two years after his debut compilation hit the shelves Adam Freeland founded a label he could call his own and Marine Parade, named after the parade he still calls home in Brighton, has become one of breakbeat’s most prominent, diverse and respected labels in the business.

Marine Parade has released music from the likes of Evil Nine, Alex metric, Bassbin Twins, Apex and, of course, Adam Freeland himself and has continued to stay ‘fresh’ as music scenes all over the globe evolved.

Chances are you have already heard some of Freeland’s more successful works with singles like ‘We Want Your Soul’ and ‘Heel and Toe’ doing damage on dancefloors all over the globe while his bootleg versions of The White Stripe’s ‘Seven Nation Army’ and Nirvana’s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ found favour with the very best DJs.

Adam Freeland recently said goodbye to the eternal shadows and rain trodden footpaths of Brighton in favour of the glitz, glamour and sunshine of Los Angeles to pursue a romantic interest and although his romantic escapades lead no where fast his international relocation has dumped him in a hive of musical activity that seems to be paying dividends for his music.

“The music scene here is just amazing,” says Freeland, “every night of the week there is just some wicked parties, amazing shows and just a lot of inspiration around. I’ve been writing a lot of music and been going to see bands every night of the week. The city is just buzzing at the moment and I’ve been enjoying the surf and heading out to the desert and it just seems to be a good balance of lifestyle and getting work done.”

Adam Freeland’s idea of work is probably a lot different to most peoples as he gets paid to perform all over the globe and he says one his most memorable performances of 2008 was at the Coachella festival, not just because it was the fourth time he has played at the legendary festival, but because the festival gave him a chance to take part in a good old fashioned road trip.

“I went down there [Coachella] with 18 friends and we got this ridiculous house and made a huge weekend of it and I only had to do this one show and the rest of the time I spent just going crazy. It is a really good festival. The whole production of it. All the sounds systems are banging, the talent is really spot on and there is a really great vibe there.”

Going crazy is something Adam Freeland does very well and his struggle with his ‘inner’ self has been well documented in the past and he still strongly believes he is a rock star trapped in a DJs body.

Freeland’s rock star persona often simmers just below the surface, but at Coachella festival he let his rock star ways get the better of him and he thought it would be a good idea to throw himself head first into the sea of hands belonging to patrons in the first couple of rows.

After being confronted about his stage diving antics Adam Freeland felt obliged to delve into the pages of his stage diving diary and in the end he blames the Australian public for his strange and unpredictable addiction.

“I like stage diving its good fun. I would like to say that is the first time, but its not. You can’t plan the stage dive and you just have to go with the vibe. My first ever stage dive was in Sydney. I can’t remember when it was exactly, but I was doing a show somewhere in Sydney and it was just going so mental and I just got very excited and ended up leaping off the decks into the crowd and they passed me around the whole club and I just about got back to the decks in time to mix the next track. It was the Aussies who got me started. Aus is a rock’n’roll institution.” 

Adam Freeland was one of the first DJs on the worldwide scene to incorporate big rock tracks into his sets and he says as his tastes evolved he began to realise the impact his music could have if he combined his passion for rock with his skills in electronic arena.

“I saw one thing as something I listened to and the other was something I would play in a club and then I had an epiphany a few years ago and I said ‘you know what, I should just play exactly what I want to listen to when I play’ and it works.”

Like most fans of modern day breakbeat Adam Freeland is not afraid indulge in a little bit of snare drum love and he says after all these years of tumultuous experimentation and forays into almost every type of dance music on the planet it is the humble snare drum that has become his instrument of choice.

“People get obsessed with genres, whether it is breakbeat or this or that, but if it’s got a fucking groove that is broken up by a cracking snare drum then it will keep my ear drums excited. It’s probably my instrument of choice. I’ve got fuckin’ heavy snare drums on this album. I’ve really nailed the snares on this new album, let me just say I’ve finally got my mixes sounding where I want them it sounds fucking heavy.”

The album Freeland is talking about is his latest artist album and with a release date becoming ever closer fans can expect a more song based album than his previous offerings and with cameo appearances from rock legends like The Pixies’ Joey Santiago, Jeordie White and the infamous Tommy Lee, Freeland says this cut and paste rock outfit has lead to what could be his best album yet.

“I got to work with some of my heroes like Joey from The Pixies playing guitar and Tommy Lee is playing drums and Devo singing on the record and Twiggy playing bass and these were really just things that came together just because they were the only drum, bass player and guitarist I knew. So we got some proper musicians involved and it is still heavily produced and I have taken what they have done and twisted it. I’m really excited and it definitely feels like my most accomplished work to date to date.”

When it comes to performing in Australia Freeland’s most recent performance at Parklife in 2006 got people talking for all the right reasons and he says we can expect a lot of fresh Marine Parade bits as Alex Metric and Evil Nine have been ‘killing it’ back in the UK.

With such a sterling reputation as a DJ, producer and performer fans of Freeland’s edgy, evolutionary and upfront sounds will be pleased to hear Freeland is enjoying his life and his career as much as ever.

“My career is my life and I love it and I can’t do the same thing twice, it’s just not interesting to me, which is probably what is against me at some levels and for me at others. I feel like a move a lot faster than a lot of my elders and people want you to just play an old school straight up breakbeat set, but that doesn’t really interest me. You’ve got to enjoy what you do, obviously, and you have got to keep the dancefloor happy too, but just finding a medium between keeping it fresh and giving people what they want is what I do.”

His energetic and crowd pleasing sets continue to make Freeland one of the most innovative and in demand DJs on the worldwide DJing circuit and only time will tell what the future holds for Adam Freeland.

You can catch Adam Freeland performing at Summadayze at The Supreme Court Gardens and The Esplanade on Sunday January four.