FortWayneMusic: There was a considerable amount of hype surrounding you guys before your album was even made, accompanied by an all-out war among record labels who wanted to sign you. What made you go with Arista?

Mike Ransom: We felt that Arista was going to be a different record label under L.A. Reid. He was formerly a musician, and he's sold like 120 million albums or something like that; between things he's produced and things he's been involved with. When he told us that he wanted to break a rock act, we believed him. We felt like we would get the attention that we wanted, and that basically they would need us as much as we needed them. We thought that it would work out, and it has so far.

Once signed, you got started on your album. Now, when I think of big-name bands working on a record, I think of luxurious 1,000 square-foot buildings. You guys, however, made a lot of your record in a log cabin, is that right?

Well, that's where we wrote the album, so yeah. We went out there to get away from L.A., away from Bakersfield, and get away from our friends and stuff, you know what I mean? We wanted to get out there and focus and really concentrate on us a band, and just get to work. We actually recorded at Jim Hansen Studios, though.

Five guys in a log cabin; what was that like? It had to have driven you nuts.

For sure. (Laughs) It got kind of crazy there after awhile. We had nothing else to do but work on our music, and that's all we did. You'd wake up, and everybody individually would be doing their thing on their own little recorder, or maybe a couple people would team up and work on something. We also had a production room where we could kind of put songs together with our producers. At some point in the day, usually in early evening, we would all jam together and try to come up with stuff there, and work on ideas that were just starting, you know? Sometimes it's easier to work on arrangement when everybody's there together.

Immediate feedback.

Exactly. You can change things fast. You can stop right now and go, "Hey, wait a second. Let's do this; Let's try that; Let's see what that sounds like." Anyone who has an idea gets a shot at it, no matter how lame it sounds.

You just mentioned your producers. Something that completely caught my attention was the fact that Wallflowers guitarist Tobi Miller co-produced your album. I would consider the Wallflowers to be somewhere near the opposite end of the musical spectrum from Adema. Was he able to help you guys out, and how so?

Tobi really helped us hone our arrangement. He was really good at flushing out any possible way you could arrange something. He would literally go through every single possibility, and like I said, no matter how dumb it seemed, we would do it. We literally tried everything; sometimes we maybe tried a little too many things, but we ended up doing what was best. He really helped us focus in that way, and made it a process, as opposed to "We'll just kind of do our thing." He also helped us keep the whole songwriting thing as an organized process, and that really helped us out a lot. Sometimes you need a referee, so it was cool.

You broke out with the song, "Giving In", which sounds like a battle with alcoholism or some sort of substance abuse. Where were you guys going with that song?

That was actually the first song that all five of us wrote together. The riff came out of just jamming, and nothing more. We wrote the song pretty fast as far as the music went, like maybe an hour. And we pretty much jammed it just the way you hear it now, which is pretty crazy. Mark wrote the lyrics while we were up in the mountains, like we talked about, and there was nothing to do. We were all taking pills and drinking everyday. So, it's about giving in to excess more than anything else. But, he left it open-ended so it could be about any kind of…any kind of hopelessness really; anything negative; just giving into that.

One thing that gets brought up a lot when people talk about Adema is Mark [Chavez, vocalist]'s relation to Jonathan Davis [of Korn]. How has that helped or hindered you guys?

I wouldn't say it's hurt us at all. In terms of helping, it definitely stirred up a lot of press for us. It probably initially peaked the record companies' interest in us, and made them more willing to hear our demo before we had signed our contract. In the end, you don't have a bidding war over someone's brother, you know? You have it over the music. I think that initial recognition might have made some fans willing to check it out because of the hype alone. Another thing that was cool was that people thought we were going to sound like Korn and when we didn't, but still sounded really good, that did a lot for us.

Your hometown of Bakersfield; there doesn't seem to be much to it. It seems like an average-sized town; nothing too special. But, in the last 5 or 6 years, we've seen quite a few bands come out of there; Korn and Orgy just to name a couple. Why do you think so many bands have emerged from the town? What was your personal experience when you were up-and-coming?

I think living in Bakersfield provides a certain amount of motivation because you want to get out of there as quickly as possible. (Laughs) I mean, I don't want to slam my hometown. You either work in the oil fields, or you become Mr. Middleclass; "I mow my lawn and take my kids to school." That was never my kind of lifestyle. But, we were near enough to L.A.; close enough to go play shows there and see where the underground rock scene was headed…

And where you guys could be if things should happen to work out?

Exactly; and you're close enough to where a lot of shows are, too. So, you're able to see real rock acts do their thing and find out what the scene's all about. You have access to all of that, but you have to be motivated to go and get it. Bakersfield, culturally, is pretty diverse. It's known mainly for Country. A lot of Country artists have come out of there like Buck Owens, Merle Haggard, and a lot of others. And there's also a lot of respect for Jazz. So, there's this kind of weird mesh; just having all of that around you. It's just different ways of thinking of things. That adds to a certain open-minded atmosphere for music, and it allows people to come up with something original.

Once the album was finished and released, it got mixed reviews. Rolling Stone described it as "nothing a little Paxil couldn't fix." The reason I bring that up is, out of everyone out there that picks up a copy and checks it out, you're going to have your critics and naysayers. How much attention did you, or do you, pay to all of that?

Well we're playing for fans, not for critics, you know what I mean? We're not a band like Radiohead that's really artsy-fartsy that critics tend to cater to. We're a straightforward hard-rock band, and that's what we do. We play for our fans. They love it, and we love it, so that's why we do it. And, you know, I read the articles. At first it would get me down, but now I don't even care. I actually think it's cool. I like any kind of press about us. I don't care what it is. I think it's good for our band, so I appreciate that they would print something about us. You know, at the end of the day, what matters is that kids are buying your albums and going to your shows. That's the real feedback right there. When every night you're talking to fans telling you that you're their favorite band. You know, no one ever has to say that to you. When you hear people every day tell you how much your music means to them and how it's changed their life, that's the real feedback.