When they finish the Projekt Revolution Tour, which also features Linkin Park, Cypress Hill and DJ Z-Trip, Adema will join Alien Ant Farm, Fenix TX, Glassjaw and others on the already-in-progress SnoCore Festival, which runs until March 30. After that, the band will likely tour on its own through the end of the year.
Some bands in such a position long for all those seemingly endless months to pass so they can get home and work on new material. Adema, however, plan to write their next record while they’re on the road, and they’ve already got three complete songs and dozens of solid ideas.
“The new record’s gonna be cool because we’re experimenting with different sounds,” frontman Marky Chavez said Friday. “A lot of it’s real deep, and we also have some crowd-getters, stuff that makes people bounce. There’s a new song that has a real Rage Against the Machine influence. I miss that band terribly.”
“I think our prior bands were learning grounds for all of us,” drummer Kris Kohls added, who was previously in Videodrone, the first band signed to Korn’s Elementree label. “But once we came together it felt like we had been together forever. And we work really well together. Writing songs for us is as easy as it can be. We’re constantly working and creating.”
The three newly finished Adema songs are all still untitled, and only one has lyrics. “It’s about a friend who really hurt herself and did some things that really screwed up her opportunities,” Chavez said. “When it comes out people will know what I’m talking about. I’ve worked really hard on it. I had to re-write the thing six or seven times.”
The other two songs have vocal melodies, but Chavez is taking his time with the actual verse. Unlike the songs on Adema’s self-titled debut, which were largely about alienation, non-conformity and substance abuse, Chavez wants the next disc to convey many of the things he’s learned since the band began its whirlwind tour.
“I’m trying to challenge myself to write really explicit, detailed stories so people really, really get what I’m saying,” he said. “When you’re on the road so much you start getting more in-depth about what you’re talking about and the things that you’re experiencing. So I think the second record is gonna show a lot of growth and a lot of maturing, and I think people will be able to relate to a lot of it.”
Although Adema recently had to leave the Projekt Revolution Tour because of an unspecified family emergency, the band will likely rejoin the jaunt February 16 in Little Rock, Arkansas. After all, the bandmembers had been having a blast up until they were forced to temporarily drop off.
“It’s just been excellent,” Chavez enthused. “I don’t think you can get a better lineup. The coolest thing about the tour is the positivity in the room. I see people leaving and they’re happy and they’re laughing and having a good time. And I think that’s what music’s about.”
“There are definitely no egos on this tour, which is one of the best things about it,” bassist Dave DeRoo added. “We’re having a great time. We’d already been good friends with Linkin Park, and they’re from the same area we’re from. And then we’ve really clicked with Cypress Hill.”
After Projekt Revolution ends on February 24 in San Diego, Adema head out on the SnoCore Tour. “It should be good,” Chavez said. “I think Alien Ant Farm fans will like
Adema music and it will be fun because we’ve known those guys. They played shows with us before we were both signed.”
“It’ll be good because it will be a different crowd for us,” added Kohls. “It’s gonna be little skater kids and snowboarders, which is cool. We’re up for playing to anybody. We play Bar Mitzvahs, parties. We do it all, we’re just gonna keep playing and making our fanbase grow. So SnoCore is just another notch on our bedposts.”
Currently, the band is still rockin’ its latest single, “The Way You Like It,” which will likely remain a priority cut for a while. But when Adema drop their next single, they’ll probably go with “Freaking Out.”
“We really like the way the crowd responds to it,” Chavez said. “It’s about feeling left out. I think everyone has that anxiety of being the new kid. I constantly was moved around in schools throughout my entire life. So I was always trying to make new friends and that whole thing sucked. I wrote about those experiences in the song and hopefully someone can get some peace out of listening to someone else who had to go through that.”