When I first began researching information for this site I stumbled across Ted Adam’s photography web page.  I sent him an e-mail and he responded the same day.  Other than my phone calls to Kim Cascone, Ted was my first contact with a Silent artist.  It was also the first time I realized that things at Silent weren’t always perfect, as well as the first time I realized that an artist might not even own an original copy of his work!

Before Mild Seven International came about, Ted Adams wrote and played for a number of rock, punk-a-billy, and experimental noise projects.  One of these projects (The Adonis Brothers) included Mark Ibold of Pavement.  In 1992, Ted released a 4 song EP of house music under the name Mild Seven International.

Mild Seven International borrowed its name from a brand of Japanese cigarettes.  Ted Adams saw a poster in Philly’s Chinatown advertising the cigarettes and the name stuck.  Ted sent Mild Seven tape in to the Silent Records office and Silent released it under the Pulse Soniq imprint.  Interestingly, this is the only CD Silent released that carried a ‘PS’ catalog number rather than the standard ‘SR’.  Surprisingly, the album was advertised in a few alternative rock magazines (rather than magazines that catered to dance music) then dropped. 

A couple years passed and Ted had completely forgotten about Mild Seven when he received a royalty check from Japan where the album had been receiving airplay.

Ted released a couple “jazzy atmospheric house music” 12” singles under the name 10” Sunshine, followed by a semi-rock album under the name Smoke Filled Men.  Although Shimmy Disk declined to release the Smoke Filled Men album, Ted and the band did get a chance to play at the Coney Island Freak Show before Ted finally decided to stop doing music.

Ted Adams now works in the editorial department at the Philadelphia Inquirer. His artwork is permanently on display in his home gallery in South Philadelphia.  You can also view his photography and “photopainting” techniques on the missioncrep.com website.