ADEMA Interview

Bakersfield's Adema is back with a new singer, a new record label and most importantly a new sound that moves into more of a rock direction, showing that the group can be diverse in their musical styling as they take a journey on "Planets" that aims for distant frontiers. The band's record is set for release on April 5th and Erin Fox caught up with drummer Kris Kohls to speak about the band's journey to the Middle East, the new vocalist and the band's new record�

The Gauntlet: That's a hell of an interesting album that you guys have managed to come up with. Now, Adema are getting ready to hit the road, what are your plans to support "Planets"?

Kris Kohls: Yeah we are getting ready to hit the road actually. I'm actually in Bakersfield, where we're from, right now and I'm getting ready to head to L.A. this weekend for a jujitisu tournament. Yeah, then Monday, we start practicing up again. We're going to Iraq to play for the troops and then we're touring. Got some dates lined up in April and then June is when we're really gonna hit it hard, you know, we're just gonna go out and play anywhere and everywhere that we can.

The Gauntlet: Going to Iraq to entertain the troops must be something you are really excited about. What do you think that experience will be like for the band?

Kris Kohls: Actually at this point, I don't know. We have no idea any of the logstics or anything, we just know that we're going and we're excited to be doing it. Luke is a marine and he's actually got buddyies over there and you know, it's gonna be fun. We're just gonna play some shows for the troops and we're excited about it.

The Gauntlet: Is this going to be a show in conjunction with U.S.O.? Will the event be U.S. military personel only?

Kris Kohls: Exactly, it's U.S.O., that's the organization that's bringing us over there, and we're looking forward to it.

The Gauntlet: What are you going to be doing over there, a full headlining set?

Kris Kohls: Yeah, we're gonna be playing, I'd assume, an hour, you know? Something like that.

The Gauntlet: Do you know if the event will be held on the ground or will you get a chance to play on an aircraft carrier?

Kris Kohls: You know, I'm not sure about that, but I think it's gonna be on the ground. There are a couple different shows. There are a few different shows, actually. To tell you the truth, I don't know any specific details at this point. I just know that we're going and we're ready.

The Gauntlet: Tell me a little bit about what it was like to make your new album, "Planets". Obviously, things are a bit different with Luke fronting the band...

Kris Kohls: Exactly. When we got Luke in the band, that's when everything kind of started for us and we wanted to do something different, we wanted to have no boundaries musically. We wanted to do something musically that was the best we've ever done. We wanted to put our whole heart and souls into making the music. Adema in making this record was number one. There were no other distractions for us. This was the priority to us to make a record that we could feel was the best art that we could possibly do, you know? Giving our best and that's what we wanted to do. The thing was, when our old singer left and Earache was completely behind us finding a new singer. Not for one second did they have any doubts or anything, they just said go do it, go find the guy. That made us a hundred times more pumped up, you know, that they believed in us. So once we got Luke, everything just fell into place. There was a three month period there, where we were searching for him. We tried out about forty guys through phone calls and e-mail and bringing guys into the studio and once we got Luke, it's funny, because the reason we called the album Planets is that, you know it was like this cosmic, magical thing where the planets just aligned. When he got in the group, everything just seems like destiny, you know, and we believe in destiny more than ever now. It's like, if you believe it, and you stick to it, it will happen. You've just got to believe in yourself and believe in what you're trying to accomplish and basically we wanted to make a rock record that had no musical boundaries and something that had our heart and souls and passion in it too. I mean, we felt our last record was very cookie cutter, it was very stock, it wasn't really that passionate and we didn't want to do that again. We wanted to make something, we got categorized in that whole Nu Metal thing, which we don't feel like we're a Nu Metal band, we feel like we're a rock band, and rock is such a broad word. I mean, to me everything from Zeppelin to The Cure to Green Day, you know, Velvet Revolver, Guns N' Roses, its all rock. We wanted to do something in the rock genre. We didn't want to be pigeonholed like "Oh, they did another Nu Metal record" or "It sounds the same, they just got a different singer", we wanted to do something that was special and we feel that we did that you know? We put our heart and souls in this record and we made it from completely...there were no outside producers, we produced the record and it's truly...we love it, you know? We really like it and of course you want other people to like it as well but there was none of that going into the studio, like "Oh, we have to write a record like this because so and so says that's what's popular at the moment" or "these kind of people like this kind of sound" or whatever. We didn't care about any of that. We basically sat down and said "OK, what's our vision of a dream record? If we could make a perfect record as a band, what would it be?" "Planets" is that record.

The Gauntlet: Planets came off with a very smooth sound. It came out really polished, their production is really there and everything fits together pretty well. What did it take to achieve for the band to achieve this sound in the studio?

Kris Kohls: Well, like I said, it was the four members of the band that produced the record and Nick Farsulo, our engineer helped big time as well, he engineered the record. Basically, when we went in, musically we already had a vision of what we wanted to do. We were pretty confident of what we wanted it to sound like, but the thing is that musically, it was there. The arrangements you hear, we were ready with, and we were really tight. Musically, we were ready to go. The thing is, is that this record was different than anything I've ever done before and I think different than what most bands do, because we were in the studio recording and we didn't have a singer. So it's like we're making the record...we're recording, we're not in the rehearsal studio anymore, we're in the recording studio, making the record that you hear with no singer in the band. So that side of things, we're like "I wonder how the finished product is gonna sound". But once we got Luke in and his voice is just so smooth to us and everything that he sang on, it made it sound magical to us. It's like man, that's exactly how we wanted it to sound; it's how we wanted it to sound in the past. I think, we've been a little limited as far as the direction we wanted to go and as far as diversity and creativity; we don't have that problem anymore. It's like with Luke, he can do pretty much anything you want him to, he just had that voice that is really smooth and to me when he started singing on the record, that's what made it sound really smooth. Everything kind of just tied together/

The Gauntlet: Do you feel that Marky was holding you back, in a sense, while he was with the group?

Kris Kohls: Yeah, I do especially now more than ever as I listen to this record. You know, something I feel and I know that the band feels the same way is that this record blows away our first two records. We're proud of the work we did before and it's a part of us and it's our past, but this is the direction we want to go and this is the direction we want to stay in. The music, we're proud of, we're gonna be playing mostly new songs on the road, we might play one or two old songs. We're very proud of this new record and this is the sound, this is the true Adema sound. This is what we've always supposed to sound like and this is what we're gonna continue to sound like.

The Gauntlet: What do you think of the term Nu Metal anyway? Because to me, it's the stupidest term I have ever heard. What does it mean? That a band is new? Or does it mean they have a DJ? Most bands that get hit with that term don't even have DJ's and to me it's just a really bad term...

Kris Kohls: Let's find the guy that came up with that. It's silly, I don't know. I remember you know getting called this, like we're Nu Metal this and that and I don't know what's so new about metal, we have metal influences, of course and there's even metal influence on this record. We wanted to tie the two together, the metal and the rock and if you listen, there's even classical kind of rock sounds in there, the whole spectrum. But yeah, the Nu Metal thing, one of the reasons for this kind of diverse change in the music is that we wanted to make a record that someone could definitely say, oh, that's a new metal record. We wanted to get out of that and I believe we have accomplished that goal.

The Gauntlet: With "Planets", you certainly have a few songs that are easy picks to hit the airwaves. With this album I can see the group bringing in an even more diverse base of fans, but what do you think the older fans of the group will think of the album? Do you think that this record is going to be cool with those fans now that you are a little bit softer toned than you were in the past?

Kris Kohls: I think our fans are pretty open minded musically and so far the ones that I've heard from and talked to on the internet and things like that, they like it. They don't have a problem with it, they understand that it's still Adema, it's still us. We believe in the band and we were not about to give up on the band, you know and they are taking it for what it is and you know, honestly at first there were people close to the band that are fans on the internet that were unsure and what's it going to be like now and all that and once they're hearing the music, they're like "whoa, I like this music" and I think that a lot of our fans don't just listen to metal, they're music fans in general so, it's good. I think people are liking it and we see it as a positive change and hopefully everyone will see that and see that the direction we went in is much needed and now we're gonna continue to make records with much more creativity involved and like I said, no boundaries . I mean, our last record was called "Unstable" for a reason. We weren't the most stable bunch of guys and now we are. Everybody in this band, we respect each other, we let each other's creativity come out to it's full potential, no one's stepping on anybody's toes, there's no drama and it's all good. It's fun again, and that's what this is supposed to be, is fun again. It's a rock band.

The Gauntlet: How in the hell did Adema end up on Earache Records?

Kris Kohls: Well, we played a show, I guess it was last year, and a representative from the label flew out from New York and we were actually playing a show in town, where we're from, Bakersfield at a show called the Freak Fest, and he came out and hung out with us, I had spoke to him on the phone previously for a couple weeks and he expressed an interest in the band, he came out and hung out and he was super cool and at the time, when we signed with them, there was a lot of drama in the band and uncertainty and all that and once Marky left they were super cool with us continuing on and they were like "yeah, go do it, go find a new singer". That's when we really grew close to them as a label. We were like "You know what these guys are super cool as a label. They believe in us and they're treating us as people and not just numbers on a page." They're super cool. We just went out to Italy and did our new video for the new single "Tornado" and met a lot of the people at the label over there and everybody at the label is super cool. You can hang out and have a nice conversation with them, have a beer and it's all good. They understand what we're trying to do musically and as a label, they support it and that's really all you want in a label. That's the most important thing that they believe in what you're doing musically and support that and let you be you. This record would have never happened on a major label. It wouldn't have sounded this good. There would have been too many cooks in the kitchen, people trying to tell you "Write a song like this, or this is what's popular on the radio, so you have to do this or you have to do that." They knew what we wanted to do and we've been playing music all of our lives and the credentials are there, you know, as far as producing the record and having a vision, they trusted us and let us do it and planets is the finished product.

The Gauntlet: Was outside meddling a problem for you on your previous records?

Kris Krohls: You know, producers and two guys in the band, Mikey, who was our old guitar player who left because he couldn't stand Marky, he left and you know, during that time of recording "Unstable", they didn't even speak to each other and on the tour for like a year, there were two guys in the band that didn't even speak to each other. It was just hard. As far as this record, we were all in the studio 24-7. Every decision that was made, it was passed by all of us. It was like brainstorming together, going over things like that's cool, how can we make it better. It was a very positive experience. It's like, I've never made a record that was like this before and now I realize that all you need is your buddies in the band, the guys you get along with, the guys you're creating music with and an engineer a guy that can get good sounds and tones and believes in the band as well and understands what you're trying to do and that's it. Go in there and do it and record. You don't need all these runners and people going to get you coffee and cappuccino and producers telling you "You need to write the next radio smash" and who knows better what your music should sound like than you? So that's what we did, you know?

The Gauntlet: But do you think that it might make it a little rough that you changed singers and your sound but kept the same band name?

Kris Kohls: No, no I don't think so, look at Van Halen.

The Gauntlet: Well, if they would have called Audioslave Rage Against The Machine, I would have been like "No way, absolutely not!" Possibly for Adema, it's less of a stretch and much like Van Halen, this for Adema might signal a time where the addition of Luke to the lineup is even more defining of the band�

Kris Kohls: I agree, I totally agree with that. You know, we knew when we heard it, that it could still be called Adema, because it IS Adema and it felt right and it felt like, musically, the chemistry that me and Dave and Tim have, combined with Luke, just took it to a totally higher level than it ever had been before. Luke also writes, he plays guitar. He's also going to play guitar on a few songs live, which, we've never had that before. We've never had a singer that plays guitar, you know? He's a talented guy and we couldn't be more ecstatic to tell you the truth. It's fun again and for that, it's something that we're a hundred percent thankful for.