Published on August 11th, 2019 | by Darren Paltrowitz
0Def Con Sound System’s Adam Sewell On His New “Silver Bullets” Album, Rick Rubin & More
Since 1996, Adam Sewell — a Toronto, Canada-based, Juno Award-winning musician — has used Def Con Sound System as a catch-all band name for his miscellaneous musical projects; including soundtracks, one-off live performances, and even a short-lived full-on touring band. Yet only last month in July 2019 did Sewell release the debut full-length album for Def Con Sound System, Silver Bullets, as released via Sewell’s own Toronto-based Stereo Dynamite Recordings record label.
Adam Sewell began writing the first Def Con Sound System full-length album in 2008. In 2011, the first single from the not-yet-finished album, “Pistol Whipped,” was released. The song featured a Clash-meets-1960s spy soundtrack-sounding vibe which would hint at the direction Sewell and Def Con Sound System were headed musically. Sewell would then find himself sidetracked for a number of years, co-writing and producing the critically-acclaimed retro-soul, debut solo album by former Love Inc. vocalist Simone Denny titled The Stereo Dynamite Sessions Vol. 1. Co-produced by Sewell and Jon Drew (Arkells, Tokyo Police Club, F**ked Up), Silver Bullets was conceived, and written as a fictional movie soundtrack compilation album, combining radically different sounding songs and soundscapes.
I had the pleasure of speaking with Adam Sewell himself by phone in July 2019, and highlights from that phone chat are embedded below for your listening pleasure. More on Def Con can be found via http://defconsoundsystem.bandcamp.com and www.facebook.com/defconsoundsystem.