INTERVIEW: ADAM BUXTON

Adam and Joe have just finished their successful 12 week return to 6Music and questions about a more permanent stay were being asked before they even came back, so what are the chances? “Oh gosh I really don’t know but I really hope so. Our understanding is whenever we have the time we certainly want to. But everything is getting more unpredictable. My schedule is so very hectic, Joe has a lot of time to kill, and he is dragging his heels as he is very lazy by nature. But if I can fit it in between trips to the shed, hanging out clothes, wiping up poo stains from my daughter’s poo experiments then yes. I really would miss it.”

The ease and enjoyment which evaporates from the speakers on a Saturday morning has been a slow but steady development. “I think it’s the best thing Joe and I have done together. It’s the closest we got to what I always imagined we’d do with our TV show. We only ever did those things with toys and puppets to distance ourselves from the screen because we knew that, left to our own devices, we weren’t very telegenic.”

For Buxton there was a frustrating disconnect between the mental and actual image of their TV style. “In my fantasies we would be this cool, riffing, easy going couple of guys. We really used to try hard but we were still pretty awkward! I have all of these tapes of us talking about things, the way we do on the radio now 15 or 20 years ago. I remember we had a conversation about Waterworld and what it would be like. And the funniest thing in that TWENTY MINUTE conversation was Joe saying ‘Wat-er-world’. It was a barren landscape of unfunniness. I’m not saying that we now have the perfection of comedy alchemy but it’s more entertaining”

Photo taken by Amy McIntosh Ball

 The modesty continues. Their loyal (if not cult) following would no doubt reassure them that perfection was made a long time ago. There isn’t much that a ‘Black Squadron’ member won’t do for them and the list is endless; put bread in their pockets, shout STEPHEN! in public and even protest to save 6Music in their honour.  Such chemistry has served them well so why does the dynamic work? ”It’s natural that people latch on to double acts because it mirrors your friendships and it’s nice to see chemistry between people. All my favourites like Vic and Bob and The Boosh, you get enjoyment out of watching them talk to each other.”And it becomes clear that he does not take such a long lasting relationship for granted: “It’s weird to be a part of a double act, but nice in a way. It’s a passport to people’s affections that you feel you don’t really deserve. I always think I haven’t done enough work for people to be as enthusiastic towards me as they are” he shyly admits.

Buxton’s drive and passion for what he does creatively becomes evident in the first few minutes of meeting him. Everything is done with a painful attention to detail. His radio shows are under the same scrutiny as he admits to listening back every week  for various reasons but one sticks out more than most.” I really like listening to Joe; I think he’s very funny.”

His recent solo project, Adam Buxton’s Big Mixtape, was a little more disorientating “I didn’t really enjoy listening to them so much (apart from the Ken Korda one because it feels like it’s not me).” As he explains that moving from the comfort of having a partner beside you to being sat with your own thoughts was a strange and new challenge. “It’s very different on your own, it’s not the same. It’s satisfying from the point of view of making something. I like to cram them with too much detail. But I am acutely aware that when Joe is around it brings something else much more enjoyable and lighter to the mix. When I am left to my own devices I tend to disappear up my own arse a bit.”

He remains vague as to whether he will return with this show “as it’s so much more work if you want to do it well and you can’t do much else. When Joe’s here its less work, the pressure’s off because we are so comfortable with each other now” It seems to be a recurring theme that work is not really work when Joe is around. However, his other side project, which is perhaps a little more off the radar BUG, is talked about with more affection. It is a bi-monthly insight into the weird and wonderful world of music videos. It might sound a bit retro but projecting these videos onto a full size cinema screen is a unique indulgence and encourages the audience to recognise more fully the art of videos. “It’s something I can be genuinely enthusiastic about.”

The show also manages to avoid complete ponceyness with the simple use of people’s maniacal YouTube comments which opens up a world of crazy (and a land of innumerable grammatical errors). “The joke for me is filtering these anonymous blasts through my mind. My version of the bollocks I read. No one has come after me so far and I hope they don’t.”

This innocent skip through the internet isn’t as easy as it sounds. “I spend a LONG TIME on the YouTube comments because it becomes obsessional, you sort of think oh they’re might be a good one out there but your heart sinks when you find a video with thousands of comments. And I go through allll of them. If you get to the Rebecca Black stage it gets a tad ridiculous! It would be the like Jorge Luis Borges story [Map of Empire] which explores the idea of mapping the world at one to one scale. You would end up reading Rebecca Black comments on her three minute song which would stretch throughout your whole life. It would be an existential nightmare!” It seems that such a unique twist on the world of art would slot well into a TV format, with Buxton’s DIY approach being an easy presence. “We have had lots of approaches but when it comes down to it we might realise the fun of it is in the live aspect, but who knows! I’m not that excited about trying to do TV again as it’s a fucking pain in the arse most of the time!” We’ll leave it at that for now.

This year Joe has also branched out from the home-grown partnership to fulfill a lifelong dream of directing and writing his own film, Attack the Block. With a generally pleasing response from the critics, the film seems to have set the wheels in motion for a long running career but will this cause rifts with Buxton? If it was me, I would be consumed with an internal bitterness but the way he so affectionately remarks on this new venture assures me that where there once may have been resentment, there is now respect and pride “I really enjoyed it; it’s very weird because I felt like I could hear lots of conversations we had when we were younger. I am so familiar with his intellectual rhythms it was odd seeing them in the context of a big film. It was amazingly slick, I was knocked out. Especially considering it was his first film.”

But these ambitions are shared as he claims “I would certainly love to make my own film. He went to film school and took it seriously from day one where as I was always more of an art school boy so I liked fooling about.” As time has moved on, a more serious drive has appeared, “I guess I have made a lot more short films than he has – if you can call them that – but I have never done something narrative which would be a new challenge and my plan is to try and I am getting there.” We can only hope that a feature length Country Man will be appearing at an Odeon soon.

You can catch BUG at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival.