Interview with Adema bassist Dave De Roo
March 2005
by John Haseltine
Adema are back and ready to take the world by the balls with it’s upcoming release, ‘Planets’. The album is slated for an April 5th release, and according to bassist Dave De Roo, it’s an album you won’t be expecting from the band. He also talks with us about their new label, Earache Records and new vocalist Luke Caraccioli. As well as a few other things you may or may not want to know.
JH: First off, give us a brief history of the band.
DDR: Well, let’s see. Adema started playing back in ‘98, actually they’d been playing for sometime with Mike Ransom and Mark Chavez and some guys. I’ve benn playing with them since ‘99, and Tim Fluckey and I have been playing together for about eight years. We were in another band before this called Juice, you know just playing around locally around L.A. and the Orange county area. Basically we all came together, got Kris Kohls in the band and signed a deal with Arista in 2000. We put out two lps and one ep on that label. Basically when that whole label thing fell apart, last year when everyone was getting fired from all these labels and L.A. Reed actually got fired and left and went to Island/Def Jam. When he left , well he was the one one who signed us personally and when he left, no one at the label knew what to do with us so they dropped us from Arista. We got done touring behind our last record ‘Unstable’ in December of 2003, and we took about a month off and then started writing again for this new record. We basically had about twelve songs written musically, and Marky really didn’t have any lyrics. Just some half assed lyrics. We played a few shows in that time. We’d fly out and do a show here and there. It was then that it became apparent to us that he didn’t want to be in the band anymore. He didn’t have any interest in touring. He didn’t want to tour if he had to tour in a van, shit like that. He wasn’t writing any lyrics and also had some personal problems.so he basically left the band and right after we signed a new deal with Earache Records, we had all these songs written musically and were like, what the hell are we gonna do now, do we pack it up? Start a whole new project or band? But we felt like we’d been here, we made the band, the three of us had always been the core of the band anyways and so we wrote lyrics for the songs we had done and the phone calls started coming in. We had about 40 singers that had auditioned. We basically spent all of 2004 looking for a singer. And we got the guy. So we’ve recorded the new record ‘Planets’, it’s coming out on April 5th, and ha, ha, that’s the history of the band. In a nutshell.
JH: Wow. You just answered a few of the other questions I was going to ask. You keep that up you’re going to leave me with nothing.
DDR: (laughing)
JH: So, now that I’m a little lost on the questions, tell us the meaning behind the new album titled ‘Planets’.
DDR: Well, actually the track ‘Planets’ is a pretty heavy song, the title ‘Planets’ has kind of a different meaning than the song. The song is actually about, well there are a couple of different meanings, but, there’s a guy that’s contemplating , well ending his life. If you listen to the different verses , he’s basically at the end of his rope and does not want to continue on. But for the title, I guess it’s sort of a symbolism for the way we were feeling at the time. Career wise we were like, hey what are we going to do here and then Luke came into the picture and it was like , you know, some of us were pessimistic and we were like are we ever going to find a singer and Luke came along and basically saved this band. We’re having fun playing music again and it was all the planets were aligned for us. Now we have all the right tools. All the puzzle pieces are in place.
JH: I was suppose to receive a copy of ’Planets’ for review and for this interview, so…
DDR: Ahh man!
JH: Oh I’ll probably get it in a couple days. Anyways, can you tell us a bit about the overall sound of the album?
DDR: It’s definitely going to be surprising for the older fans of the band, just a different voice alone representing the band is a huge difference. His vocal range and the way he comes across in his lyrics and in his writing, is a lot more versatile than stuff we’ve done in the past. I think we might have been somewhat pigeon-holed by Marky and the way we sounded before. I think we definitely took some chances on this record. I can say it’s the most adventurous record we’ve ever done, 16 songs and it’s over an hour long. Like an hour and ten minutes long. It’s a ton of music that we wanted to get to our fans. We’d been away for so long and there were people saying like, hey why don’t you guys just put out 12 songs and have some extra songs for b-sides a such? We wanted to give our fans their moneys worth. Everyone’s getting albums free on the net. We wanted to give them some quality. Plus we felt that these were the strongest songs we’ve ever done. We recorded them in our hometown of Bakersfield, California in a recording studio that Buck Owens, a big country music guy, his studio. If felt as if it were a homecoming. So it was cool for us to do the record here. This record is not over produced. It’s not glossy. It just sounds like Adema. We’ve always been told that we’re a heavier band live than we are in the studio. Even for people that were a little dismissive with the band, think that hey these guys are alright. But after they’d see us live they’d be like hey you guys fucking rock. So this record was recorded with playing live in mind. It’s definitely diverse. There are some things that are heavier than we’ve done before, plus there’s some shit that’s a lot more melodic. Some things that maybe we’re taking some chances on.
JH: So the official release date is on April 5th? The single ‘Tornado’ is set for the 21st of March.
DDR: We actually just shot a video for that song.
JH: Yes, now you shot that in Italy? How did that go?
DDR: That was killer man. It went great. We have actually never been to Italy before. We have toured Europe before , but never managed to play in Italy. To be able to go to Italy just to make the video was awesome. The director Paolo Doppieri, did a great job. We were stoked on it.
JH: On the single, there is a cover version of Metallica’s ‘The Thing That Should Not Be’. Is Metallica a big influence to the band?
DDR: Yes, definitely. I think they’re a big influence on anyone who plays the guitar. If you say you’ve never listened to Metallica, it’s like saying you’ve never seen a StarWars. Or never had a Christmas. You know it was funny, we always fuck around in the studio and just jam on some covers or whatever, and we were just fartin’ around with that song. We were joking like we should maybe put that song on the record. We thought if we had the time than we’d do it. We were recording one day and just busted it out live in the studio. We kind of did it just to amuse ourselves, but it turned out sounding really cool.
JH: Who are some of your personal influences or heroes?
DDR: You know I probably picked up the guitar in the first place because of Metallica. Cliff Burton was a big influence on me. And Flea from the Chili Peppers. Guns and Roses, Van Halen. Jane’s Addiction. I think initially those are the bands who got me interested in music. But I listen to everything from Bob Marlay and Gregory Issacs reggae to The Cure or Depeche Mode. Radiohead. Muse is one of my new favorite new bands.
JH: When do you plan on touring?
DDR: We’re leaving here in a couple weeks. Sometime in April. We’re going to do a USO tour. So we get to go to Iraq.
JH: Cool. How extensive is the tour going to be for the album?
DDR: I’m not sure how long it’s going to be. They don’t tell us too much because it’s the military and it’s like top secret and stuff. It could be anywhere from four shows to ten shows.
JH: So then you’ll start touring for the album after that?
DDR: So we’ll come back here and do a few dates through the end of April, take about a month off ,‘cause Tim, our guitar player is going to have a baby. So basically we’re going to start off in June. Go all over. To the ends of the earth.
JH: So how was it that you guys came to sign a deal with Earache Records?
DDR: We got a hold of Al Dawson, the U.S. head of…… he got a hold of Kris, asked what we were doing as they were interested in the band. About this time last year he flew out here and met with us. Came out and checked out one of our shows. It was a festival called The Freakfest. It’s an annual thing out here in Bakersfield. Which we are also getting ready to play here in April. You know Al flew out and checked out the show and stayed in contact with us. We were talking with a few labels, but Earache just seemed to be the right place to go. They’ve been very supportive and really cool. It’s very refreshing to be with a label where you can actually get a hold of somebody. You can always talk with someone at the label. You don’t have to email them and wait five days for an answer.
JH: Earache is known mainly for their extreme and death metal artists. How does a band like Adema fit into the picture? Is this something new they’re branching out on?
DDR: That’s a really good question. I asked the exact same thing. I’m a big fan of a lot of their artists. Morbid Angel, Deicide you know I’ve always bought shit from Earache’s bands. I was tripping. I was like hey guys, have you even heard our band. Like I really appreciate it you know but we were all a bit surprised. The thing with Earache is they kind of just let bands be themselves and lets them take chances. Which is what we want. You know we’re taking chances too. Why stagnate and just do the same things. It’s really a testament to how cool they are as a label and to work with. We’re all excited about it.
JH: What are some of the bands long term goals?
DDR: Pretty much the same thing it has always been. You know we’re not trying to save the world. There are no heavy messages or anything. This is definitely our most versatile record. We’re writing about some real shit that’s happening in our lives. There’s a song on there about Kris’s daughter, one about my mom who just pasted away recently. This is a very personal record for us. But we just want to tour, play the music and spread it to as many people as possible. We’ve been home for over a year so we’re anxious to get back out there. This has been the longest time I’ve spent at home in the past six years. I can speak on behalf of the whole band on that one. We’re all anxious to get the fuck outta here.
JH: I bet.
DDR: Well we’re definitely a touring band. We were out behind the first record for over a year and a half. We like to keep busy. And playing.
JH: Well that’s about all I’ve got for now. Is there anything else you’d like to add?
DDR: I’d like to say thanks to you for the interview and interest in Adema, and for everyone to come check out a show when we roll through town and go pick up ’Planets’. April 11th the planets will align.
JH: Will do Dave. Thanks for you time, good luck and fun over there in Iraq.
DDR: Right on.
