Barry Adamson details original score for ‘SCALA!!!’ – out January 16, 2026 via Mute
Barry Adamson
Barry Adamson, the English composer and former Magazine/Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds bassist, announces “SCALA!!! (Original Music by Barry Adamson)”, a 22-track score to the documentary about London’s legendary repertory cinema. The album will be released by Mute on January 16, 2026 on limited edition “banned blood” vinyl, CD, and digital formats.
Below is a first teaser with “Scala Posters (Mondo Bongo)”.
The film – directed by Jane Giles and Ali Catterall – charts the rise and fall of the Scala cinema (1973–1993) and features interviews with John Waters, Mark Moore, Ben Wheatley, and Adamson himself. The documentary carries an original score by Adamson.
Adamson’s music mirrors the venue’s notorious late-night programming and counter-cultural spirit, referencing titles and moments associated with the Scala’s all-nighters, its resident cats, and the obscenity case that precipitated the cinema’s closure. The “obscenity case”was the legal action over Scala’s illegal screening of Stanley Kubrick’s “A Clockwork Orange” in 1992–1993. Warner Bros (at Kubrick’s insistence) pursued a copyright case – not an obscenity prosecution – which Scala lost, contributing to the cinema’s closure in 1993.
About Barry Adamson
Born in Manchester (1958), Adamson first came to prominence as the bassist for post-punk band Magazine. After sessions with The Birthday Party and a three-year stint with Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, he launched a solo career with “Moss Side Story” (1989, Mute), a conceptual soundtrack to an “imaginary film.”
Subsequent releases include “Soul Murder” (1992), which was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize, and “Oedipus Schmoedipus” (1996). His film work spans collaborations with Derek Jarman, David Lynch, Oliver Stone, and Danny Boyle. In 2024, he released the studio album “Cut To Black.”
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