// ADEMA NET //

// GAVIN //

Arista newcomers Adema launch into the limelight.

Just a little over a year ago, Marky Chavez was bumming around the desolate, strip mall-infested town of Bakersfield, Calif., hopeful, but unaware that very shortly he would become the center of an all out major label frenzy. His band Adema, formed a year ago from the timely breakups of several CV (Central Valley) bands including Videodrone, Juice, and SexArt, produced a demo that eventually landed on the desk of Arista Records, resulting in a bidding frenzy. After signing with their initial pursuers, the quintet retreated to a cabin in Northern California to write songs that have lived up to the expectations, including the momentous single “Giving In.”

Now on their first tour with Staind, Chavez and fellow bandmates, guitarists Mike Ransom and Tim Fluckey, bassist Dave DeRoo, and drummer Kris Kohls are riding high on success and the possibilities of the future.

Gavin: So what was your initial idea in forming Adema?

Chavez: We just wanted to write melodic music so that’s what we did, we just started playing. It really started in my apartment. I had this recorder that I had bought, this pretty nice little digital recorder. After we got off work, we’d go to my apartment, drink beer, and record. We wrote some songs and then we needed a drummer so we called Kris to do the demos as a favor. He ended up hearing the music and was like, “Fuck this man, I’m quitting Videodrone.” So he quit Videodrone and we started Adema and three months later we were signed.

How did it all come together? How did you get signed?

Well, we made a demo and the guy that helped us with our demo, one of his associates was a PR radio rep for Arista Records. He got a hold of the demo, took it to them and then this big huge heat started when other labels found out about it. We had about two dozen labels after us in about three weeks. We flew to New York and met with a bunch of different people. It was cool.

So when you signed with Arista, did you already have songs laid out or did you have to write them?

We had about three songs written and it was funny because we kinda lied to the label, told them we had more songs. I told them, “Hey we need to get away from all this hype and get out of Los Angeles.” So there’s this little town that I used to go to as a kid up in Northern California and I picked that spot and the location to get away and write some more songs. We went up there and wrote about 20 songs in six weeks, that was the record, and then we went back to LA to track it and get it right.

Did you have a concept for the record? Is there a theme?

To me, I wanted to make the most personal thing I could so that people could be introduced to me and know me ‘cause the whole record is just a diary of what I’ve been through. It’s kinda like my own therapy. The last two years of my life was pretty rough. I went through almost having a baby with my fiancée and then having our relationship split up because of that and other things. It was just crazy, you know. Lost my house, all kinds of crazy things happened. So it was an emotional time and I wrote about it.

Can you talk a little bit about your single “Giving In”?

Yeah, “Giving In” is just like once I went into that big depression I started giving in to all kinds of things, like dating a bunch of different girls, doing a bunch of different drugs, fucking up, and that song is all about giving in to the worst things you can do in life. It’s like giving in to your personal demons and things that you know you shouldn’t be doing but you do anyway. The end’s positive—it’s just like it’s a therapy—get it over with.

Whose you’re biggest influence?

My biggest influence? Hmm. I’ll tell you a little bit about my home life. When I was a kid growing up my dad was spinning records all day so I was listening to everything from like Aretha Franklin to The Beach Boys, The Doors, Jimi Hendrix, Van Halen. I was listening to all this stuff. My brothers and sisters were all into New Wave and all that shit when it was coming up. I’m very, very seasoned when it came to what I listened to. So I have to say a bunch of different stuff. My dad was a really hip dude so we were always listening to cool stuff and it was just really good I had a family that listened to music.

What was it like growing up in Bakersfield and how did it influence your music?

What it did do was harden me. I mean, living out there is, it takes all creativity out of you. There’s nothing to do. They think the answer to everyone’s problem is to build more malls and more movie theaters. Everyone wants to put you down for everything you wanna do out there so I’m just glad and very happy and very fortunate to be able to live my dream. I mean, I’m looking outside of a window, looking at my tour bus and I’m stoked. I’m in Albany, New York. All the way across the country. So I’m very positive, very focused, and ready to take on the world.