Q: Your collaborator on "Photograph Smile" is a gentleman named Bob Rose. He's the co-producer of the record, the co-director of your record label. How did your relationship begin?

A: Well, I had bumped into Bob Rose, I guess, quite a few times over the years. I met him in L.A. first, I think, probably on the club scene, when I was slightly out of control. And I was one, in the past, that always prejudged people too much. You know, because after I felt I was hurt so many times that I just -- you know, I judged people immediately on their -- even on their looks, without even considering what they were on the inside, what their personality was. And Bob looks very much in the past, like one of those traditional, sort of L.A. producer kind. Long black ponytail, you know, glittery jackets. And I was just wanting to stay as far away as possible from that. And I'm sure, under the circumstances and the condition that I was in, he wanted to stay as far away from me as possible. But we did manage to meet up several years ago, initially in the south of France, when I first moved down there, because I bumped into an old acquaintance called Greg Darling, who played piano and co-wrote some of the songs on the album, who used to be in a band called Darling Cruel, who I used to go and see in LA and used to see him on some of the music television show, you know, with videos, et cetera. And I was always a big fan of his. And Bob had just finished working with Greg Darling and played me some of his music. And I just enjoyed the production because it was honest, it was simple, it was raw. You know, no gadgets, no digital. It was using the natural ambiance of the rooms, et cetera. Micing techniques, et cetera.

And then he and I decided to sit down and have a chat about music, just casual. And we all like the same things. You know, we wanted -- my approach this time around was to be as natural and as raw and as honest as possible. And so we had a good chat. And it was only until I sat down and played him some acoustic ideas that he went, Jules, you can't put these on the shelf. At least consider coming with me into the studio for, you know, a week and let's see how this works. You know, no pressure, nobody telling you what to do. Just -- we'll just go in and play around and we'll put a band together. And that's how it all started. And after the first week, you know, of coming out with 11 tracks, I said, wow, this is what it's supposed to be like.

And so Bob was -- had not only become one of my dearest friends, without a doubt, but also not necessarily just that person to bound the ideas off or when you hit a brick wall, but is on the same wavelength musically as I am. Not only lyrically and production wise, arrangement wise, the musical aspect, but all over. And also, the approach business wise in regards to the label is, again, from both our standpoints, is to approach it from the heart. I mean, we both know there's a lot of business involved, but we definitely approach it from the heart level and gut feeling level, rather than anything else. And so, you know, from that first meeting, we have -- we are now partners in crime.

Q: Well, perhaps the most unique aspect of "Photograph Smile" musically is the use of the strings. And Bob scored and conducted the strings. You arranged them with him. The string use is inventive, it's organic, it's subtle. How did strings become so central to "Photograph Smile"?

A: Well, in the past, I don't believe I remember ever using live strings. And in the `80s all the rage was to sample strings rather than have like -- they were pretty good samples, but--and I couldn't tell in the `80s what was real or what was not real. But after experiencing real strings with Bob, there was no turning back. Absolutely no turning back, because of that organic element. Because of the type of songs that they were, because the production of the songs spoke to us about what the songs needed and because -- just because of the style and the nature, using real songs -- sorry, using real strings with my first experience with Bob in the studio in Rome, when I heard, you know, an 80-piece orchestra playing the string lines to, I think the first song was "I Should Have Known," without the track and the goose bumps on my arms just stood up high because just alone, the strings alone playing the song without the drums, without anything else, gave me -- made me feel so much emotion and the sincerity of what was trying to be expressed. There was no feeling like it. And there was no turning back after that.

And so in the future, you know, God knows where I'm going to go with this. But I do tend to write a lot of classically orientated pieces. I think "Photograph Smile" hints at that to a certain degree with one or two of the songs. But Bob knows and has heard some of the other pieces. And I think down the road there will be an album that will be full orchestra, piano and vocals. I mean, that's it. But it was just such a wonderful experience. And then, of course, you know, bringing in the vocals and then bringing in the rest of the track with the full orchestra there. It just all seemed to fit into place.

Q: Also on "Photograph Smile," your vocal range has expanded. You're exploring the lower register of your voice in a very interesting way. Did it come naturally to you?

A: I've -- my register and range has always been pretty all over the place. You know, I can go very low and I can reach some very reasonable falsetto notes. I've always had that capability. It's maybe never been expressed quite in the correct or right way before. Maybe it was the songs, maybe it was the arrangement, but this -- the process with this album was very, very natural. I mean, and especially there are still -- I mean, we recorded enough for several albums. And there are lots of songs that we didn't put on this album which Bob seems to believe are better than anything on this album, which also dive into vocal arrangements unlike you've ever heard me do before. There's one classical piece called "I Belong," which is all falsetto. And it's -- you wouldn't recognize it from Adam as far as an artist who would write something like this. And it's -- yeah, it's exciting to actually finally be able to show people, hopefully, what I'm capable of. For me, this album is just the beginning. You know, it truly is.

Q: Well, speaking of beginning, supposedly when you were born, your father said, "Who's going to be a famous rocker like his dad?" Do you feel you were preordained to be a musician?

A: "A: famous little rocker like his dad." Yes. That's a tough one. I mean, I don't know. Obviously, growing up I had an interest in music. You know, at the age of 11, Dad bought me my first guitar. And I played drums a little bit before that. And I started playing acoustic guitar. And so I definitely had an ear. But it was a natural ear. And you know, I did sit down once or twice and have a proper lessons, but one of my experiences was on the piano -- first piano lesson with a little blue-rinsed haired old lady in school. And you know, I hit the wrong piano notes and she whacked my hand with a big wooden ruler and it hurt a great deal. I said, this is no way to learn music.

And so I just would quietly sit down and tinker away, more as a sort of sideline hobby, but not with serious interest until my mother bought me a piano when I was about 16, 16th birthday. And that's when I started sitting down when I wasn't out doing the normal teenage things. When I'd find a quiet moment, I would sit down and I would start to, without even trying, come up with a 30-minute, classically-oriented pieces, not unlike -- or not dissimilar, should I say, to Keith Jarrett's work. And I was -- I scared myself with what I was doing, because that's where my forte was and where my heart was at. You know, everybody was listening -- I mean, I myself, too, was listening to a lot of hard rock acts. You know, Led Zeppelin and Van Halen and all that kind of stuff. But a lot of the milder stuff, too, like Steely Dan and Doobie Brothers and many, many others, Badfinger and a couple of others. But every time I sat down in a quiet room with a piano, I'd come up with classically orientated pieces. And I have no idea where this comes from, unless it's a deep-rooted thing that comes from some of the orchestration that was on a lot of the Beatles' albums, you know, which, I believe, had a lot to do with George Martin, obviously.

But it's -- you know, I also, as I said, one of my first desires was to be a chef. And after that, before I got into music, I was doing a lot of stage acting and was offered a scholarship to the Royal Shakespeare Company. That was on the table. And at that point in time was when I did my first school gig with my friends in school that were taking lessons, et cetera. And it was one of those end-of-term open days is what they called it in England, where friends and family would come along to the school and observe how well you were doing in school. And plays were put on. And so we put a band together. And this was the first-ever band in the history of the school. And we got up and sang songs like "Roll Over Beethoven" and "Kansas City" and stuff like that. And at that point, I realized after three months--sorry. At that point I realized after being on stage for maybe three minutes, because those songs are only like three minutes long, if that some of them. And getting standing ovations and the buzz of being on stage. There was no other feeling like it. And I said, well, I love acting, but you know, I have to learn 100 to 1,000 lines and it's all too serious. It's wonderful, but look, I can get up on stage, play three chords, sing a little bit and the buzz was amazing. So I just said, this is what I want to do. And initially, it was for the buzz. But then it was later that I got the piano. And that's when I started taking the writing of music seriously. That's when it became an art form and a craft.

Q: Was the first time you were ever recorded with your dad on the "Walls and Bridges" version of "Ya-Ya"?

A: Yeah, that was definitely the first time. Yeah. That was -- I didn't know that was going on. I was actually playing around in the studio. He was very busy at that time. And I just found myself sitting in the studio itself, initially playing on his mellotron, which is why I also have a love for mellotrons as well. But then I, obviously, got bored of that and started hitting a snare drum with one stick. And Dad just came and sat in the room and started playing "Ya-Ya." And you know, the engineer put it on record and the next thing I knew about it was when I received an album, you know, and I played the album through and I was reading the credits, et cetera, and saw my name on it and went, my God. So that was a surprise, yeah.

Q: What was your formative musical relationship with Ray Cooper, the percussionist?

A: Oh, you have done your homework. Well, first and foremost, Mum was -- Mum, Cynthia, was good friends of Ray's and a lot of other mutual friends in the business. And I had decided that I'd had enough of living in North Wales and the farmlands and the countryside. And it was time to make a move. And I decided to move to London. And Ray kindly offered to put me up at his house, in the attic of his house where he had a bunch of instruments. You know, drums and other things. And he was a great player, of course, very talented player. Mostly known for his percussive work, but also a great pianist, great with most instruments, in fact. Multi-talented. Multi-instrumentalist, should I say. And so on the times that he was around and he wasn't on tour, you know, he would sit down with me at the piano and try and teach me a couple of things, or sit down at the drums and teach me some paradiddles.

And it was a great first introduction into the seriousness of maintaining focus in whatever you were trying -- whatever approach you were trying to do. So that was a very sweet relationship that we had. And it's only occasionally that I get to see him now and then. But it's always with fond memories. And, you know, I think -- I couldn't say that he specifically taught me something in particular, but I think focus is part of that, you know, and determination.

Q: So you're exploring all these musical avenues, you're playing with a band at school, you're taking some lessons, you're sitting at the piano, you're working with Ray. How did you get your first record deal?

A: Well, that was a tough one. That was actually a tough one because it was rather complicated. Actually, I had done some demos for a French label in London. And I found myself in a rather awkward predicament because I couldn't pay for the demos. And they weren't going to cover it. And they wanted me to sign up for a deal with them if I couldn't come up with the finances to cover it or if I couldn't get another deal. And I truly didn't want to sign up with this very small French label. And a friend of mine at that time, who was fairly well off, said, well, listen, if you let me be your manager, I'll get you out of this deal and we'll try and get another deal. You know, a real deal. And I said, okay, why not. Nothing to lose here.

So I finished doing a lot more demos and then I started shipping the demos round without any name on them. And didn't get any response from anyone, nothing. And I think a lot of that was due to the fact that -- I don't think it was done to the demos because I felt there was some good material on the demos. I mean, half of them ended up on the first album. But I think a lot of people were afraid to touch me because of the association. On one hand, you know, people could look at it rubbing their hands together and thinking they could make a lot of money out of it. On the other hand, it's going to -- it could be a difficult one to maneuver.

And so finally, the famous Charisma label, a small indie label in London who had the likes of Genesis on board and a couple of other bands, the owner, Tony Stratton-Smith was apparently -- this is how the story goes -- was walking by the studio one day and heard some of the tracks being played in the studio by the A&R guy. And he said, who's that? And he said he didn't know. And he said, well find out and sign him up. And that's how that began.

And it was one cozy, happy little family to a certain degree, until you know, I realized that I'd been sold off to Atlantic Records, which was fine for the first year. I didn't see any of the cash from that. You know, that went straight into their hands. But it was fine for the first album and the first year. And then from that point on, it all went downhill, you know, as far as that was concerned. But that's how it all started.

Q: It's got to make you feel good that he didn't know who you were when they said sign him up, when he just heard the music and -- you know, I like that.

A: Oh, absolutely. I think that was the only approach I felt secure with, because it had to be based upon the work itself and not the association of the name.