Meet Adult DVD, the Leeds band making huge, grin-inducing dance-punk
Influenced by the likes of LCD Soundsystem and Soulwax, this Yorkshire sextet play club tunes with a live band, making a glorious racket.
When starting a band in lockdown, live performance – or the outside world in general – meant very little. For Adult DVD founders Harry Hanson and Greg Lonsdale, that meant “biting off more than we could chew” and making enormous and outrageous synth-punk music.
Inspired by LCD Soundsystem and the ‘00s dance-punk boom, the project exploded their imaginations beyond their bedroom walls. When lockdown lifted, the songs were recorded and taken to the stage, birthing one of the UK’s most exciting and boisterous new live acts. “When we started playing live, it was sort of like doing karaoke,” Hanson tells Rolling Stone UK, bringing their ambitious but as yet insular music to the outside world having only previously existed inside a computer.
With music that sounds like techno floor fillers being played by a post-punk band, the six-piece make a hell of a racket and whip up a storm wherever they land. Ahead of a 2026 UK headline tour and more new music to come, we spoke to Hanson about the band’s origins, their formidable live show and where they go next.
Read our interview with Adult DVD and listen to their music via our Play Next playlist below.
Take us back to the formation of the band – how did you find each other, and what was the initial aim for Adult DVD?
Harry: I used to work at the Brudenell [Social Club] in Leeds behind the bar, and I met half of the band through that. They were in another band, and I [deputised] for them for a couple of shows. Me and the drummer [Jonathan Newell] used to be in another band, and then both of those bands fizzled away. Lockdown hit, and me and Greg [Lonsdale, synths] got together… over the internet. We were writing tunes together, and then when we were allowed to see each other, we got together, made music, and then were like, ‘Oh, we’ve bitten off more than we can chew – we need about a million synth players!’ That’s how it became the six of us.
Was this musical style quite intentional from the beginning? Was there something here that you didn’t get from previous bands?
I’ve gotten a lot more into electronic music in the last few years, and Greg was feeling the exact same. We wanted it to be prominently synths, but we like a lot of indie and rock music, so we wanted to bring that to it as well. It evolved into what it is now naturally – it wasn’t forced or pigeonholed.
Who were you listening to in the electronic realm?
I had an unhealthy obsession with The Chemical Brothers for quite a while. Then there was Soulwax, LCD Soundsystem. It’s dance music, but also not just repetitive. It’s actually just a solid song as well, with choruses.
Did you always know you wanted to perform this music with a live band? That’s what set LCD and Soulwax apart when they first started…
We could just be stood behind synths and have a drum machine going, but I think it’s so fun to go and watch an electronic band [who] have a live drummer. Especially when there’s an 808 kick going, and then there’s a chorus, and the real drums come in. You’re like, ‘Jesus!’
How has the band and your creative process changed since your formation in lockdown?
When we first started, none of us could really play synths… like at all. The way we write music is quite odd anyway. We’ve never been in a room all together and wrote a song. We do it in twos. That idea started because it’d have been such a painful thing to listen to six people trying to play synths with a live drummer in a room when we’re not very good at playing synths. It’d probably have sent us all insane. Three of us have got little home studios and we go between them over the computer. It’s never six of us in a rehearsal room with everything set up. It meant that when we started playing live, it was sort of like doing karaoke.
Your lyrics come from an abstract and somewhat absurd place – tell us about how they come together…
I played in bands before where the music was quite shoegaze-y and I was listening to a lot of sad music. As I came out of that band, I was no longer an angsty teenager. I was like, ‘Oh, wow, there’s actually music that you can smile to’. I think because of that, I’m writing music that’s upbeat and gives people a good feeling. Because dance music has a lot of repetition and is music-driven, the lyrics [are] just a hook. It’s not actually about the lyrics. Because of that, we can be silly with it. As long as it’s a pounding drum beat and people can dance to it, we can just say the most ridiculous things, and people will probably never notice that. If you broke it down, you could easily be like, ‘What are these lot on about?’, but I kind of like that. That’s cool.
Tell us about your recent single ‘Because I Like It’ – does it signal the way for where the band is going next?
We’ve been playing that live for quite a while, so it feels like it’s part of the old set now. It’s definitely a bit poppier than the other tunes. We’re writing an album now, and it’s such a mix of music. It has the elements like rock music and dance music, but they’re quite spread apart at the minute. If we fuse it a little bit more, it’ll make sense and be coherent.