Adam Drew

There are some people that exist in this world that need to be heard for their insights and points of view. Just like we brought you the CINGED interview this week on SBS Live – we’re also super STOKED to show off this tremdous solo performer with something to say musically and through his words here – ADAM DREW. He has literally trained himself from the ground up from everything to programming the music, mastering it for production and of course playing it – again, completely on his OWN. So mad respect from us at SBS – we’re completely as dedicated and as self-taught as Adam here is himself.

So – very, very happy to have had this opportunity to speak with him and I know you’re going to love what this guy has to say. We’ve yet to really express our interest in electro (all forms) through SBS and as we’re all about the idea of music crossing all kinds of genre barriers. Adam has the same core values that we truly believe are important and pertinent to success – that they are self-defined – and he’s just as hard to satisfy for quality as we are ourselves making him among our top acts that we will certainly be keeping an eye on and letting you know about in the future of SBS as well….or at least we hope!

Adam Drew – it is truly our pleasure to introduce your music to our fans and followers and we wish you all the success your music truly deserves – which in my humble “musical expert’s” opinion – is a literal ton. Over this passage of time here this floating rock we have come to know and love as Earth it’s rare, honestly, truly rare to find someone with the passion and dedication to their craft that I would consider a match for my own. You have that drive Adam – keep this music alive and let’s get it to the people.

Interview with Adam Drew

SBS: Adam, when we set this interview up – you mention you’ve been doing this since you were a kid – how much of your playing/recording is self-taught and how much of it was taught to you professionally?

Adam: All self taught. I started making music with computers probably around 94 or 95 with mod trackers. If I remember correctly we used a program called Impulse Tracker, and another called Scream Tracker, on PCs running DOS. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen a tracker but it is like the least musical thing in the world; it’s like making music with a spreadsheet. Really arcane stuff. From there I just kept up with technology. I switched to Windows 95 and trackers on that when that all happened. Then FL Studio (Fruity Loops back then) came out, and stuff like ReBirth. I switched to the Mac probably about 2002 or 2003 and started using GarageBand and Logic from there. Over time I learned to play guitar, bass, keyboard, and to sing and yell enough to get by. When it started it was just kind of like “cool, I can make my computer play drum sounds” but over the years it kind of steamrolled into me playing all these instruments and doing engineering and what not.

SBS: I’m a huge fan of the electronic genre. I certainly love to edit videos as well – if you’ve seen our show SBS Live This Week then you’ve seen what I’m saying. I LOVE that stuff. It’s like putting a puzzle together. For audio recording, we’ve got our trusty multichannel pro-tools unit, use programs like Reason for drum beats if we want’em…..that kinda thing……I want to know what you’re using to record, and tell me just how long you’re spending in there obsessing over editing and mastering a track.

Adam: I use a lot of different stuff depending on the job. For years GarageBand was my main tool. It comes free with every Mac so people sort of ignore it or think it’s a toy but it is a really powerful tool. The album I released last year, “The Demonomicron” was all recorded in GarageBand. I mean, everything: the guitar tones, the drums – it was all GarageBand. After “The Demonomicron” I decided I wanted to go up a notch so I bought Logic Pro, so I’m using that as my work horse now. I also use a lot of iPad apps.

The whole idea of having these super powerful real-time music apps on a touch screen device just really blows me away so I find myself leveraging that a lot now. iPad apps like Nano Studio, FL Studio, 76, ReBirth and others are indispensable to me now. All of the music on my most recent album “The American” was completely written and performed with ReBirth on an iPad. Writing a whole album on a tablet really feels like “The Future,” you know?

And then of course there’s all the hardware. I use Ibanez and ESP guitars and basses. I do a lot of 7 string guitar / 5 string bass stuff. I’ve got a couple of Korg synths from the 80s but I don’t break them out nearly as much these days. My MacBook Pro of course; couldn’t live without the thing. A whole bunch of USB MIDI and audio stuff.

As far as how long I spend on stuff, again it totally depends on the job. “The Demonomicron” took me the better part of a year to write and record. I recorded the original demos, spend months studying those and practicing, then spent another month or two recording, then more time mixing and tweaking, then spent time at a studio recording vocals, etc, etc. It was like 8 months. Contrast that to “The American” which went from concept to finished album in like 9 days.

SBS: I like the big sounds you choose and the dark brooding pulse of the music overall found in The American album you put out. A lot of people are really into “dubstep” electronic music now – can your music appeal to the people that like to get that specific within the genre? Or what about the rockers – is there a way for music like yours to reach them?

Adam: I don’t know man. Fads come and go. Dubstep is a big thing right now. You go on Soundcloud and it’s pretty much just all bedroom dubstep. In 5 years everyone will be like “Ugh, remember dub step?” It’s like Acid in the 90s. Acid ruled the world in the late 90s and now people will have to Wikipedia it to see what I’m talking about. 20 years ago Acid was this unstoppable force and radio rock bands all had to have their requisite Acid remix, or incorporate Acid into their sound some how. I see exactly the same thing playing out with Dubstep and I kind of chuckle at how short people’s memories are.

If someone only listens to one genre of music, or is only into a genre of music because that’s what the people around them are into, or that’s “in” or whatever, then no they probably wouldn’t be into what I’m doing. I don’t really try to do “genre” music, and I don’t really care much for adopting whatever fads are floating around to get more digital pats on the back. It’s like, “The Demonomicron” was ostensibly a metal album, but it was all recorded by one guy, and was all electronically produced. Who does that appeal to? Metal heads call it industrial. Electronic music fans call it metal. I don’t know. And there’s no fad stuff like “djent” or “metal core” or anything in it so it’s not on the radar. Same thing with “The American” it’s all electronic but it’s using 20 year old software and production techniques so it doesn’t sound modern, and then it has vocals over it and pop song structure, and you’d be hard pressed to dance to it. Who does that appeal to? Other than me? Don’t know.

SBS: So Adam, not only did you mention you started playing music as a kid, but you’ve only started bringing your music out in these past couple years you say. You also seem extremely pumped up about getting your music out there now – which is AWESOME – cause I’d listen to this no problem for all kinds of reasons. Why is NOW the right time to really get this out there?

Adam: That’s a tough question. A lot of it comes down to fear and anxiety. I have probably close to 5 or 6 albums worth of material that no one except my closest friends have ever heard. I would record these songs but I could never bring myself to write or record vocals. I thought I sounded shitty, and I couldn’t figure out how to write lyrics. The music would pour out of me but the lyrics would never come. The problem is I’m not super into instrumental music. I’d write the songs in verse-chorus-verse format. So I’d have these songs written for vocals, but no vocals. It put me into like a 10 year tailspin of depression and anxiety about music. Sometimes I’d go on writing sprees and then the music would just get buried when I couldn’t do vocals. Sometimes I’d try to give up music all together. What changed is that I finally realized that the only thing holding me back was me. About 2 years ago I decided to just embrace the fear, embrace the anxiety, and just do the best I can. I’m still scared to death, but my desire to get my music out there and to be heard trumps that.

SBS: Now, I’m a bio-hound. I read them like I’m getting paid $100 by the word to memorize them. And of course I’ve got all kinds of info and screens open while I write these and do the research we need to do to give you and your music the respect it deserves – BUT – I do read these bios carefully and I am VERY curious about one spot in particular……there’s three concepts you claim the album to be based around – the passage of time, unintended consequences and regrets. First of all – that’s heavy stuff man! Secondly though – if we’re all made up of the things we’ve done and our experiences, and you’re going forward and you’re LEARNING – what else can be done to get past regret other than acknowledge a mistake, learn from it and try to simply do better?

Adam: Yeah, “The American” is a pretty heavy album conceptually, and a lot of it comes from some real personal places. It’s the first time I’ve really put myself out on display like that. “The Demonomicron” was more like “I’m going to write some songs about robots and nazis and vampires and it’s going to kick you in the face.” But “The American?” Yeah, that’s a bit darker and more serious.

As I’ve gotten older I’ve become more cognizant of what role the passage of time has in shaping not only who we are but who we are capable of being. Every choice we make is also the choice NOT to choose the infinite array of other possible outcomes. People are comfortable with the idea that their past affects who they are now, but people are less comfortable with the idea that the past limits your future. The more time that passes the more limited the likely set of possible futures you have. I mean, if that doesn’t get you thinking dark thoughts you aren’t hooked up right.

So “The American” sort of plays with that concept. What are some things where past actions eliminate, or dictate, future actions? And what are some things where current actions are undoing or working against the influence of the past to make new possible futures?

Now, to make it even more complicated I’ve taken these ideas, and these concepts and experiences from my own life, and bundled that into a conceptual narrative about changing the past and what that would be like. It’s sort of a sci-fi concept album thing. I don’t go into detail about it, but I encourage the listener to check out the album art, and listen to the songs, and see how it comes together to them.

SBS: Big fan of your song “Sequence 2,” that’s pretty much where I’m right at a lot of the time musically. But give our readers some REAL insight to doing something like that track completely on your own. We asked you about editing before yeah, but what I want you to explain to these readers and followers is…..well…..I guess straight up man, how long from concept to master does a song only 2:25 take to bring to LIFE in the electronic world? A lot of people don’t realize how many hours can go into something like that, or what the different stages in the process would even be – can you describe?

Adam: Well, this album is really weird because like I said I did it all on this app ReBirth. The version of ReBirth I used is a re-release on the iPad, but the original ReBirth software was available for like Windows 98 and classic Mac OS. This is old software. So the entire workflow and how I went about things was really weird and archaic.

Sequence 1 and Sequence 2 were conceived of as tracks to convey the passage of time. Sequence 1 marks a point in the narrative where time shifts back 20 years to 1993. I specifically tried to pick a rhythm and a bass tone that had kind of a 90s sound, like something from “Songs of Faith and Devotion” by Depeche Mode. Sequence 2 marks a shift to 2003 so I tried to pick something that would have sounded more at home around then, like something from some of “The Fragile” remixes on “Things Falling Apart” or oHGr’s “Welt” album. So even though these are like 2.5 minute tracks I put a lot of thought into how or why they should sound the way they do in service to the concept and theme.

Musically I’d spend hours programming bass lines and drum parts and arranging them together to see what I liked. I’d throw 10 things away for every one I’d keep. The way ReBirth works is you step sequence these short 1 bar patterns and then you record yourself triggering these patterns in sequence. So I’d spend all this time coming up with drum parts, and synth parts, and effects. Then I’d record myself improvising the sequence that the parts occur in. All of the tracks on “The American” use this weird hybrid of step sequencing and improv. Everything was very off the cuff and organic — there were no second takes. Then I’d record myself tweaking all these effects: so I’d record a take of myself messing with the cutoff frequency for the filter on one 303, then a take of the resonance, then a take of the next 303, then a take of the delay, and on and on. Each of these was just improv off the top of my head single takes. The end result is what you hear. It was a really strange, and really fun, way to work.

SBS: As a solo artist – how do you KNOW when your tracks are “finished?” There’s no one else around to cut you off – so do you seek out feedback now? Or is that up to you completely?

Adam: You know, I have no fucking clue. In all honesty I’ve never given it any thought. I mean, it’s just kind of done when it’s done. I guess it’s done when I’m listening to it and I say “Yeah, I’d listen to that. I like that.” I don’t know how objective you can be with your own art, but I try to be to whatever degree I can be, and I listen to something I write and I ask myself “Would I buy this? Would I listen to this? Is this good on it’s own merit?” Am I successful at that? I don’t know, but I try. I have no problem throwing something away, or starting from scratch, if I think something sucks.

I don’t solicit too much feedback during the writing process. I kind of like to surprise people. I have some close friends who’s input I value greatly but even for them I usually try to keep it to “Here’s this finished product. Check it out.” The only exception really is my wife. I drag her into my project studio to listen to demos and to get her feedback. I consider her feedback important because she has a total outsider view. She doesn’t have the same taste in music as me at all, and she wouldn’t have any interest in my music if it wasn’t me, so if she says that a hook is good, or she likes a part, it makes me confident that there’s some appeal there.

SBS: Oh man are you EVER going to be able to spot WEAK journalism a mile away. Your albums – The Demonomicron and The American are so RADICALLY different – that’s like two totally different bands. A lot of freedom in being a solo artist I suppose eh? What dictates what direction you take the music every time you go to write a track?

Adam: I am a real album oriented person. As a kid I was exposed to all the great 70s and 80s album rock. Rush and Pink Floyd in my house growing up were like Jesus and sports in other house holds. And to this day what “does it” for me is really album oriented stuff like Nine Inch Nails, The Mars Volta, Coheed & Cambria, etc. So when I sit down to write I usually have a conceptual framework in mind. I don’t sit down to write tracks, I write albums.

Limits and restriction are integral to me as an artist. I express myself by seeing how far I can go within boundaries — how far I can push it. So when I want to start writing an album I’ll come up with a concept and some rules like “I’m only going to use this app to write all the music” or “I’m going to write all the songs on 7 string guitars” or something like that. For me the self imposed limits and the conceptual framework just sort of guide me. If you sit me down in front of Logic with 100 synth plugins and no direction I’ll come back to you with silence. Say “I dare you to write a whole album in this 5$ 4 track app” and I’ll come back with an album.

As far as what I’ll take on — speaking to your saying my two mot recent albums sound completely different — I use the fact that I’m an independent artist to my advantage. I think established bands can get kind of trapped in their sound. If they don’t do what the fans, or the label, or whoever expects they don’t get paid. My revenue comes from technology, not music, so I can do whatever I want. If I decide tomorrow that I want to do an entire album of ukulele and backwards chanting, well, if I like it, and I want to do it, I do it.

SBS: Alright – we all know what we LIKE about music. I already told you the songs of The American are right where I’m at – so you can probably imagine my surprise playing the older album for the first time. But a song like “The Man That Cannot Die” just SLAYS – you can’t deny the crunch there in the guitars, and from what I’ve heard vocally – this is a very convincing track for you – this sounds like you’re SUPPOSED to be there in that genre. But I am wondering just how comfortable you feel as a vocalist….

Adam: I’m pretty new to the whole vocals thing like I mentioned earlier. It’s only been about 2 years now that I’ve been doing vocals over music. “The Demonomicron” was my first time out as a vocalist and that’s why it’s all yelling and screaming. I was way too scared to do anything else. On “The American” I let my guard down and explored my voice more. Did it work? There are some moments on “The American” where the harmonies come together and I’m like “Yeah, that’s fucking dope.” And there are other times where I skip the track. I’m going to continue to learn, and grow, and explore what I can do vocally. It’s all pretty new to me.

SBS: Why so determined to do all this on your own? Or is it that the opportunity hasn’t presented itself in the form of other band members that would just fit in yet?

Adam: Working alone is a major factor in the creative process for me. I don’t know. It’s important to me. I write music alone, I develop software alone, it’s just how I feel comfortable. Part of it is not wanting to compromise my vision. I want to do my thing. I want to get my vision out there. I can’t do that if I’m compromising with someone else’s vision. I’d be down to collaborate with someone on a project if I was really in sync with that person on a specific concept, but my music has to come from me and me alone. The other problem is the way I work. I work so frantically and in such a haphazard and strange way that working with other people is difficult. I’m doing guitar takes, then 15 minutes later drums, then 20 minutes later, mixing, then back to guitars for another part. I run around like crazy; I’ll be doing keys takes with a guitar strapped to my back while operating the computer with one hand. To me there’s some kind of method to it that seems logical but when other people are involved it doesn’t work.

SBS: Are there any other art forms you connect to your music? How about your music – would you define it as art?

Adam: I see the graphic design, the music, photography, all of it part of one whole. I spend almost as much time doing artwork, packaging, and graphics as I do on the music. I’ll spend a long time A/B testing fonts for album art. I do all of the graphics myself and I take a lot of pride in it. I think that is part of the vision. “The Demonomicron” came with a large format art book of photography and typography that I’m really proud of. “The American” comes with a smaller PDF but I’m really proud of how it came out. I work really hard on delivering a high quality total package to people.

I do consider my music art. I’m not much for defining what is or isn’t art though. It’s like what the US Supreme Court said about pornography “We can’t define it, but we know it when we see it.”

As far as other mediums, I’m a software developer. I write iPhone and iPad apps. I’m thinking about doing an “album as an app” at some point, but I haven’t got anything fleshed out yet.

SBS: When you are editing a track – what advice would you give to a person just sitting down to a freshly recorded song – where would you start? And how do YOU learn something when you don’t know how to do it in the programs you use personally?

Adam: My advice? I guess it would be “Be Flexible.” The software and hardware we have access to today is insane. Music production isn’t even a big ticket thing anymore. You could buy a 500$ Mac Mini, a 50$ MIDI controller, 100$ monitors, use GarageBand, and sound great if you’ve got some talent. Don’t be afraid to try stuff. It’s all non-destructive and non-linear. Who cares if something doesn’t work? Try something else. Put 1,000 effects on. Reverse it. Cut it up into 100 little pieces and put it back together again. Go crazy. See what happens.

SBS: Tell us about your fascination with time – cause there’s definitely something going on there with you and that theme. Not only is it referenced in the bio – but I’ve heard the theme of time come up in some of your songs as well. What’s going on there?

Adam: Well, I hate to admit it, but the whole panicky focus on time on “The American” probably stems from turning 30. Actively planning for your old age, or even your death, that’s something you just start to have to do and it kind of freaks you out. I look at my life 10 years ago and I look it it now and I see how decisions I made then are the structure of my life now. I look at things in my life and say “Well, thats the way it is now. No changing that.” And I look at other things and say “Shit, if I don’t change that now I’ll never change it.” So that’s where a lot of that comes from. It’s pretty personal stuff to put out there on a record, but that’s what I had to do. It was an exorcism. I don’t think time, and the passage of time, and regret are or will be a constant sources of anxiety for me; it’s just sort of, well, a “point in time” thing for me right now… kind of meta I guess.

SBS: Is there a relationship between time, spirituality and music? Not necessarily religion per say – spirituality. The theme of time runs so deep around these tracks that I’m wondering if you do consider yourself to be a spiritual being?

Adam: Deep question. Yeah, there’s an undercurrent of spirituality on “The American” that wasn’t there on “The Demonomicron” and I expect to explore that even more in the future. I don’t want to get into specifics but there was a “spiritual event” in my life in the past year that fundamentally changed a lot about who I am and what I believe. There’s a couple places on “The American” where I’m talking about changing long held ideas, or long held beliefs, and finding out your were wrong about things you were sure about; that’s a big deal in my life right now and I intend to go way deeper into that musically and thematically. I guess stay tuned on that…

SBS: You’ve said it’s time to get yourself out there. Other than interviews like these – what else have you got in your plan of attack for 2013?

Adam: Well I’m trying real hard to get my music in front of people as many places as I can online. I’m trying to play to my strengths, you know? I’m a software developer, and a web developer; I know technology. I’m trying to leverage that to the best of my ability with tools like Soundcloud, Bandcamp, ReverbNation, and less traditional things like networking with folks and discovering things on places like Fiverr. I put my music out there for free, or “pay what you want,” because I want people to take the plunge and just grab it. You know, I’d want someone – if they just liked a bit here or there – to grab the album, spend some time with it, and see what they think. What have you got to lose?

I’m also trying to network with more local artists and see what I can do about gigging-out, but I live in Raleigh, North Carolina, which is a bit of a barren wasteland if you play music that doesn’t fall squarely into a “scene.” The last two metal or hard music clubs in the area closed down last year so unless I start playing indie, or acoustic stuff at open mics, or DJing at clubs I don’t have a lot of options. Gigging is a real small part of it, more for vanity than anything. It’s getting my music onto people phones and computers that I care most about. I’m going to have more luck getting a fan in Scotland, or Maine, or New Delhi than I will in my own town I think.

I’ve taken some steps in my personal life to give myself more time to work on music by cutting down my work hours and days. I’m hoping to have more output this year. Maybe another album in a couple of months. We’ll see.

SBS: Where would you like to point your fans and new fans to online to hear some of your music? How accessible are you Adam? Can a fan of your music easily reach you to let you know?

Adam: Well, in the future I’ll be turning it into a more full-fledged thing.

I love, love, love hearing from folks. There’s little in the world that’s better than getting an email or message from someone who likes my music. I’m totally happy for people to reach out to me. My contact info is on the website and I can be reached through Soundcloud and ReverbNation, etc.

Another thing I’d point out is that “The Demonomicron” is available as a physical CD if you want the highest quality release, or if you want to throw me a few bucks, and people can grab that through Bandcamp or Amazon if they want. Digitally it’s also available on iTunes, Google Play, Amazon MP3, etc, etc though I’d recommend grabbing it for free from my site. I’m also on Pandora if you dig that. “The American” will be coming to all of these outlets, and will have a really high quality CD release, very soon.

SBS: In your opinion – what’s the best move you think you can make as an independent artist looking to get their name out there? What’s the best tool they can use and why was it successful for you? How did you know that it WAS successful?

Adam: I’m trying to figure that out myself, when I know I’ll let you know! In all seriousness it’s a huge world out there. There are millions of other folks out there who care just as deeply about their music, and want it heard just as bad, as me. So that’s humbling, and scary, and confusing. I’m still trying to figure it out, but I’d say what works best is taking it one person at a time. Listening to people’s tracks, commenting, and then people check out yours. Talking to people online and getting involved with people and communities out there who are actively interested in independent and new media music, like SBS. To use a beleaguered phrase “think outside the box” and look for opportunities in places you might not expect. It’s a marathon, not a sprint; you take it one set of ears at a time. And remember what your goal is and make sure you are working towards that. Mine is getting my music to the people out there who would like it, but who don’t know me, and who I don’t know. So for me success is every download, every stream, every like, every follow, every email, whatever. Whenever my music ends up on someone’s phone or music player or whatever that’s victory, that’s success.

SBS: How committed to this are you? Now that you’ve decided to put your music out there for everyone to hear finally – is this an overall indication of you going for it? And if it IS going to be the rest of your life from this point – how do you think that you will be able to keep your music sounding fresh over the years – and not just repeating yourself as a solo artist?

Adam: Music is the longest unbroken chain in my life. I’ve been making music since I was 12 or 13. I’ve never stopped. There were lulls, or times when I didn’t know how to move forward, but I always did. No matter what I’m doing, or where I’m at in life, I know I’ll be putting music out. It’s like breathing, or waking up in the morning. I can’t help it. I don’t know why I do it. It’s surely not for money, or fame, or anything. I’m completely unknown, I lose money on everything I do musically, and the amount of people who have encouraged me or taken an interest in my music up to this point in my life could be counted on one hand. But I have to do it and I wont stop.

Will I ever make money from music? “Get a record deal” or something like that? I doubt it. I’m definitely not banking on it. But that doesn’t mean I’m not committed to my music. The world has changed. I don’t get down about that. I can record really high quality stuff in my own studio. My distribution channel, the internet, can potentially reach 5 billion people. I’ve learned to flip my thinking and look at the strengths rather than the weaknesses. You read about these signed artists who have no creative control. I have complete creative control. I do whatever I want, for whatever budget I can muster, whenever I want. And I never have to sleep on a bus with 4 other dudes or play to disinterested crowds as an opener in some no name town!

As far as how to keep it fresh? Just keep doing new things. I’m always discovering new music, or music that’s new to me at least. I hear something and say “How’s they do that? I want to do that!” I make a concerted effort not to repeat myself. It’s natural for me. There are stylistic or structural things that will probably always be there, but I take it one concept and theme at a time.

SBS: Tell me about the first time you heard a track you recorded being played. What was the song, your reaction, what was the mix like, how did you record it…..awww man, just tell us everything. Had to be cool no matter what right?

Adam: It’s the little things, you know. I remember when I was younger I played bass in this band and I engineered and mixed the album. I remember going to a party and hearing one of our tracks on – and it hadn’t been put on for me, there were people there and I’d just got there – that was cool. Or I’ll get in a friend’s car and one of my tracks comes on, that’s always fun. Or I’ll look at my Soundcloud or Bandcamp stats and see that for some reason 20 people in Russia really like one of my tracks, or last Tuesday I had 100 album downloads out of nowhere. Or one I really like: checking out what people have created stations based on my music on Pandora. I don’t know who they are, or why they are listening, but it’s a rush.

SBS: Who do you look up to in life? Why are these people as important as they are to you? Have any of their styles or ideals found their way into your music?

Adam: Musically? I have some “musical heroes” I guess. I’m inspired by these people, or their music really connects with me, but I don’t idolize them as people or anything. Trent Reznor is probably the big one. I was this little 12 year old computer nerd when “The Downward Spiral” came out. When I heard Reznor used computers to make the music it was like a revolution to me. I hate to admit the impact Reznor has had on me, because you can go back and hear it all over my music, but I probably wouldn’t have started playing music if it wasn’t for him. Another big one are the guys in Rush. Musically I couldn’t be farther from those guys; I mean, they’re likely the best players at their respective instruments in the world and I have to tune drop to play power chords, but their whole attitude of being real and not putting on a fake persona has really effected me. It’s why I don’t use a fake band name, or dress all goth or whatever. I’m just a guy making the music I love and Rush is the ultimate example of that. The list could go on: David Bowie, Type O Negative, Pink Floyd, The Mars Volta, Coheed and Cambria, The Cure, IAMX, Mastodon, Ministry, Nick Cave, Norma Jean, Portishead – really I could go on and on. Music is just everything to me. All of these folks, and way more, have had profound impacts on me.

SBS: What will determine whether or not you continue to make music in the future? Is there anything that can stop you now that you’re ready to get your music heard by the people?

Adam: I’ll make music as long as I’m waking up in the morning and breathing. I did it for years in complete obscurity and solitude. I see no reason to stop, ever. It’s a compulsion.

SBS: Ok Adam – open floor here man – our only real tradition here at SBS. We like to give you this opportunity to say what you like to your fans or include anything you feel like you wanted to say that we somehow missed! Have at it! And thank you so much for becoming part of our experience and musical journey through SBS.

Adam: I just want to thank everyone who checks out my music, whether you dig it or not. And SBS for giving me this opportunity to put a bit of myself out there; it gives context to the music. I’d encourage people to download my stuff, check it out, pass it on to others who may be interested, and feel free to reach out. I’m thankful for every person who spends even a single second of their time checking out my work. It means everything to me.

SBS: Once again I’d just like to thank Adam personally for being with us through this printed interview at SBS. Every single opportunity I have to learn about new music is a brand new and exciting experience for me and every one memorable for different reasons. There is ALWAYS a huge difference when you can see that the artist cares about what they do more than anything else, and always a big difference once you find out the story behind the music is genuine and REAL. Adam Drew straight up – is one of the most REAL personalities I’ve met through this experience. His messages through his music were received instantly in my brain – and I was completely honored in this experience getting to know him – almost slightly embarrassed that I hadn’t found this fantastic music before. But – we will NOT dwell on the negatives – we HAVE found both Adam and his music now. His album, The American – is still playing in full rotation here at SBS and I’m sure will continue on that way through this passing of time.

Cheers Adam. You left nothing off the page man. On behalf of SBS and especially your fans – thank you for your honesty in this interview and really letting us all get to know the YOU behind your music. I look forward to hearing everything you come up with – please keep in touch.

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