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Blossoming alone

As The Man who pounds the skins behind tabloid vacuum Pete Doherty in Babyshambles, Adam Ficek is perfectly used to the wild life of a rock and roll band.

However, with Doherty tackling his drug demons and recording solo album Grace/Wastelands last year, Adam was free to pursue his own solo venture, Roses Kings Castles.

The multi-instrumentalist released his project’s first eponymous album in the autumn, providing both vocals and guitar, and he’s already finished follow-up Suburban Time Bomb.

“It’s a bit more produced, a bit weightier and less folky,” Adam tells City Times over the phone from London, where he’s about to catch the tube after having a jam with a friend.

While indie music tastemaker NME praised Adam’s “lovely” single Sparkling Bootz, particularly his “acoustic plinks, shronky Steptoe and Son swagger and feather-soft croon”, the Milton Keynes-born muso insists he’s not looking to hit the big time with Roses Kings Castles.

“I don’t want huge commercial success, to be honest,” he says. “For me, this is an open door into my growth as a songwriter and performer. I strive to just make good music and earn an honest living from it.”

Besides which, he doesn’t believe in making music solely for the masses.

“I don’t think you should ever try to be a big commercial success, because as soon as you do that you dilute what you do as a musician,” adds Adam. “You’re not giving your art the truth and sincerity it deserves.”

He’s also ready to get back in the studio with Doherty and the rest of Babyshambles, a band which started in earnest after Kate Moss’ ex was kicked out of The Libertines for drug issues.

At the time, Adam and guitarist Patrick Walden’s own band The White Sport was also dissolving, and the four-piece “merged” from there.

“I knew Pete from kicking around the East London music scene,” recalls Adam, who has lived in the capital for roughly 15 years after studying music at Middlesex University. “He asked Patrick and me to help him out.”

The ramshackle rockers have released two LPs, 2005’s Down in Albion and 2007’s Shotter’s Nation, and are looking to up their game with album three.

“The plan is for all of us to decamp to Marlborough (in the English countryside where Doherty owns an estate), and put some time and energy into what has to be our biggest and best record to date,” he says.

Adam has a third musical passion though. He began DJing house music two decades ago, around the same time he started to learn the drums, then moved more into the indie sphere. Among his favourite artists to spin at the moment are Hot Chip, Late of the Pier and The Ting Tings.

So does Adam prefer being front and centre on stage, or pulling the rhythmic strings from the shadows?

“It’s different,” he responds. “Sometimes if I’m doing too many solo shows then I yearn for a bit of drumming on ‘Shambles stuff, then if I’m doing too much ‘Shambles drumming, it’s nice to get up front.

“I’m very lucky that all the three ventures take care of every creative element of me.”

Email: adam@khaleejtimes.com