The Ramshackle Delight Of Adult Books Hits Costa Mesa

ADULT BOOKS

ADULT BOOKS play The Wayfarer Mar. 29; photo Fribourg

Adult Books wrap up their tour with Tracy Bryant, stopping at The Wayfarer in Costa Mesa Mar. 29. Nick Winfrey (guitar/vocals) of Adult Books illuminates how this meeting of the minds occurred.

“I’ve been playing in Tracy’s band for like a year now. I play guitar in his band. And Dan (Quintanilla/Adult Books) is going to be playing bass, too. We’re just like good friends, and all of our band members hang out all the time, so it just made sense. Go on tour with your friend, help each other out.”

In fact, the band looks forward to touring, for both the on and off-stage antics which make it so enjoyable. Winfrey describes it like this: “We are getting ready to go on this tour to South By (SXSW). I’ve been thinking of our last national tour when we were at South By. I was actually telling this story – we floated the river between San Antonio and Austin. You rent innertubes and drink beer on the river and get sunburned. And then you get picked up and they take you back to the top of the river. That’s one of my favorite times on a tour. We ended up getting too drunk to play that night, but I like it.”

ADULT BOOKS play The Wayfarer Mar. 29; photo Casandra Marquez

ADULT BOOKS play The Wayfarer Mar. 29; photo Casandra Marquez

Getting their name from the band X, Adult Books has been rocking their unique brand of rock/punk styles all over SoCal for some time now (much like the band they get their namesake from.)

“It was one of my favorite songs; I liked the sound of it,” Winfrey said.

As a matter of fact, Adult Books has near-future plans for fans to look forward to.

“We just finished recording a new record with Jonny Bell (Crystal Antlers) at Jazzcats Studios in Long Beach,” Winfrey revealed. “And we are finalizing our release plans for that, but it will hopefully be out within the year. We are also gonna have a new single out soon, too.”

Playing live shows is a driving force of Adult Books. “It’s really fun to play to a packed room, and just like, feel like all the good energy coming from people,” Winfrey noted. “And like good energy coming from your friends that you’re playing with. That’s probably what it is, being able to share the kind of collective energy together.

“We are all from Orange County, our drummer Sina still lives in Orange County. But the rest of us now live in L.A.” according to Winfrey. “Myself, Dan, and Sina have been playing in different bands together since we were in high school. And we have been doing Adult Books since 2012. And then we have a group of friends that are all similar from different points that live in LA now and will sometimes play in the band, too. Everyone that plays with us we have been friends with forever.”

ADULT BOOKS play The Wayfarer Mar. 29; photo Thomas Kanschat

ADULT BOOKS play The Wayfarer Mar. 29; photo Thomas Kanschat

When it comes to their music, Adult Books is known for their diverse songs and sounds. “Everyone kind of has their own thing,” Winfrey shared. “Our drummer Sina is really into hardcore, and definitely still in the punk world. Me, I listen to a lot of postpunk. And Dan is all over the place. I think we all bring our own influences to the band.

“My favorite song to play from the last record is “Casual Wrecks”. And then um…for a while we were covering The Cleaners from Venus song “Only A Shadow”. I really like doing that cover.”

Adult Books has no pre-show rituals, except for one. “Dan has a habit of getting sick before every show,” claimed Winfrey. “I don’t know if he has that problem anymore, but he used to get really nervous and throw up before shows. But other than that, we don’t have any rituals.”