It's been six years since you last did an artist album, and you're working with a totally new cast of characters now. Tell me about the transition from being a producer/DJ to leading a band.
It's a totally different thing. It's a lot more work [laughs]. We don't, like...we don't sit in a studio with a drummer and a guitarist and a bassist and just jam. We start in the studio, making beats and sounds and layering, and then when we bring in someone like Tommy [Lee], we just build them up and add them. We're recording in sort of a modular way. It's a totally different way of thinking, obviously, because when I was DJing and producing, I was only doing stuff that works on the dance floor. But with the artist project, obviously it's still got the dance floor in mind, but it's not the primary focus. This is my excuse to do something different, to bring together all my different influences outside my fearful DJ world.

So it doesn't sound like it affected the songwriting aspect too much, but what about rehearsing the live show? That's gotta be a huge difference from being a DJ and just going with the flow every night...
It's a lot more work! [laughs]

But it helps that this is your band, right? You don't have to worry about keeping the egos in check or finding the right creative balance...
No...I'm the whip-cracker! [laughs] But for this incarnation, we spent like a month, rehearsing every day.

So you guys must be pretty tight.
Obviously when you're a DJ, you can switch your set-up every night. Whereas with the band, you've all got to be on the same page, and know what everybody else is going to do, and when. It's a totally different head space. And I'm not DJing, I'm doing vocals and keyboards and playing samples and stuff, so, I see it as this entirely different world, really. And the practicality of touring...

Oh yeah...
You've got it pretty good, when you're a DJ. You rock out without a sound check, you know?

Tell me about the touring, then. What was it like adjusting to suddenly being crammed into a tour van with a bunch of guys every night? That probably affected who you picked to come on tour with you...
Actually right now, we're in a little van, coming up from DC. And nobody's had much sleep. It's a totally different thing. You have to get to the venue, hours before the show, do a soundcheck. It's a lot more work, but it's a lot of fun! Having spent the last 12 years, pretty much, continually producing and DJing, it's really nice to be on the road with your mates.

Must be tough to share the girls.
It is tough to share the girls. But we have different tastes, so...

That's helpful! getting back to this record, though, tell me how you assembled this all-star cast of characters.
You know, it was weird. Because it wasn't my idea to do this crazy mix, but then I moved to Los Angeles two years ago, for a girl, and I wanted to work with local musicians, and they were the only people I knew: Tommy was the only drummer I knew, the only guitarist i knew was Joey [Santiago] and the only bass player I knew was Twiggy [Ramirez]. It wasn't a list, it was literally just, "Can you come and play bass on my record?" And they were all, surprisingly, very cool and up for it. I've met other musicians since! [laughs] But it wasn't ever my goal because I knew, realistically, you can't have some huge lineup because of the logistics of touring all those people. But what i did have, consciously, in my mind, was a need to find a really good frontman. I think with the first incarnation of the band, we had a hit with "We Want Your Soul," but we didn't have a vocalist. There were various vocalists in the band, but I wasn't the lead singer and it kind of lacked an identity. I learned a lot from that process. So I really wanted a powerful, charismatic frontman, and I think that's what I found in Kurt [Baumann].

So did you audition people?
Officially, no. This was always in the back of my mind, and I was telling a good friend of mine - I'd written loads of stuff, and I was ready to get it into songs - and this friend of mine says, "Well, it's funny you should mention that, because I've got this guy, Kurt, and I think you'd really get along." And she'd sort of pre-emptively gotten that rolling, so we met in my back yard one day, and went into the studio and wrote "Strange Things" that day, and it came out really good! And after that, it was on. It felt really like it was meant to be.

How did you meet Tommy and Joey? They don't strike me as artists that move in DJ circles.
i was DJing at Coachella 4 years ago. It was great, I had like 10,000 people in a tent going nuts. And Tommy, who was there, was in the wings just going nuts, and during my set I was thinking, "Who's that rock star-lookin' dude?" Then after the show, he came up to me and was like, "Awww dude, I love your stuff!" and he had all my mix CDs, and he was like, "I'd love to work on some shit with you!" and so we went off and just got drunk together, and three days later, we were on a private jet to Las Vegas. And, like, that was the start of our friendship.

That's one beautiful start. [laughs] It was fun! It's never dull, with Tommy.

I don't imagine, no.
He's really into beats.

Yeah he's kind of a unique guy. Because obviously there was Mötley Crüe, and then that Methods of Mayhem thing, and he's also done some work with Deadmau5 under the name BSOD [Better Sounding On Drugs].
He has.

Did he do production with you too?
He's really musical, and he's got a lot of ideas.
With this though, he's just drumming, but he's got no shortage of ideas. He's really just like, getting away with being a big kid. He still thinks he's 17, and he's getting away with it! [laughs] It's good energy to be around. He was so enthusiastic about doing the whole thing. You know, he didn't want any money! At the end of it, my manager sent him a contract, saying that we had to make things official and stuff, and Tommy crossed everything out, sent it back, saying "I won't accept no money or royalties or nothing! I only accept friendship for life!" and that's what he wrote on the contract! [laughs]

That's unbelievable.
What a cool dude!

There's so much variety on this album, yet it manages to stay cohesive. Do you think there are any particular things you don't think you'd ever do with Freeland, or are you open to anything?
I don't understand what you mean..

Like, a few months ago I read an interview with Busy P, Pedro Winter, and he was saying that he thinks one of the keys to success is knowing what you don't want, more so than knowing what you do want.
I don't really agree with that thinking. I think that, whatever you focus your energy on, you create it, whether it's do or don't. I don't really think about what I don't want, I think about what I do want. I mean, everybody has their own way, and you've gotta hand it to Pedro: he's created some really amazing stuff, and he's able to make stuff happen, but it's not something I think about.

I guess it's not really a universal thing.
I can tell you what I do want. [laughs]

Please do.
I think that, through the process of making this record, we've come up with an amazing team of people, and we are a really tight band. I really feel like this isn't some producer project with a vocalist saying, "We are a band." I really want to put together a live show that melts people's faces. I wanna put together an epic live performance, in terms of the sound, the songs, the visuals, the message, the content. it's just going to take a while to do that, because that stuff takes money. Right now, we're kind of starting again; we're a small band, we're playing small venues, and it's going to take a while to build it up. But we've already got great slots at Glastonbury, and we've got great opportunities in front of us. I just want to put together a show that really inspires. and to just keep writing, you know? We've already started recording our next album...

Do you find it possible to write on the road?
You know, we always say we're going to get stuff done on the road, but we never do. [laughs]

There's so much else to take care of, though. Most artists have the same problem.
I think once we're in a place where we've got the money for huge tour buses, we will. When I was on tour with Tommy, he had a ProTools rig on his tour bus!

Jesus christ.
So when you've got an eight hour drive, you can just be in the studio for eight hours. But with our current set-up, that's not quite practical. I mean, whenever I'm on a plane, I've got Ableton on my laptop so I can work on stuff, but as a collaborative thing, I hope we do! We've got some off days in England, the week after next, and hopefully we lay some stuff down then. It would be great if someone would build us a machine where we could tour the world and write at the same time.

Last serious question: Where does your album's title comes from?
Cope kind of continues with the theme from "We Want Your Soul." I'm just sort of fascinated by our culture, particularly American culture, where we'll give you a problem and sell you the cure. Cope is the thing that's meant to cure all ills, kind of a follow-up on Aldous Huxley's soma, for the modern generation. It's a bit of a play on that concept. We seem to be in a culture where there's a pill you can pop for everything, and I like Cope as being an antidote for that culture.

It's interesting to me that you identify yourself as being part of American culture. Are you happy in LA?
You know, LA is the sort of place I never thought I would want to live. And then I moved out here, and I loved it! [laughs] I'll stay there until it doesn't work for me, y'know? I'm really enjoying it right now. It's changed a lot from the place I used to come out to and DJ at 10 years ago. It's got a really strong music scene right now. It's the reason why I used to love New York, but that's kind of died out in New York, and the music scene in LA is better right now, I think. I'm enjoying that every night there's a band and a DJ I want to go out and see. I guess it's drawn in a lot of creative people, if you look at the creativity that comes out of LA, it's drawn a lot of people that want to make shit happen. And I like being around that, because it makes me step up my own game.

Okay, final questions now. What was the last record you bought? Or do you get everything for free, six months before it comes out?
I do get a lot for free, but I make a conscious effort to go out and still buy stuff. I got the new Paper Cuts album, the School of Seven Bells album. I'll tell you what I can't stop listening to at the moment, I don't know if it's out officially or not, but the Mountains record! It's this super Eno-esque drone-y ambient joy. [Bat for Lashes']Two Suns, the Crocodiles album, the new Yeah Yeah Yeahs record, Beach House...

How about the first? First record you bought with your own money:
[pauses] I'm going to be honest with you now...

You better!
It was The Muppet Show album.

Yes! Awesome! Best note to end an interview on, ever!
Great! Thanks!

Adam Freeland and his band are currently on tour. Their final North American date is on May 6, at Sonotheque in Chicago.