The band's drummer, Kris Kohls, wears no marks of smugness, rather, he's an outgoing conversationalist who likens himself to the Generation X comedian, Jaimie Kennedy. On a sunny afternoon, not so long ago, Kris and I sat down to discuss Adema, Linkin Park, touring, and bad bus habits. Enjoy!

Jeanne: The other day I went and surfed the Internet to try and find out a little bit more about the band, and couldn't really find a lot of information; it's all kind-of the same thing over and over again. So what I wanted to ask you, is what do you think it's important for people to know about the band?
Kris: I think it's important for them to know that we just love playing music, and we love performing and getting up there and doing our thing; playing the songs that we wrote for people, and that we're passionate about that. I think that's important for people. And really the only way to know that is to come to a show and come see us, and hang out with us. I guess there wouldn't be much you could find out on the Internet as far as that, you know. I really think people have to see us play live to truly understand the band.

Jeanne: What has the road to success been like?
Kris: Um, it's...been long! (both laugh) But it's been great. I mean, everybody in this band, prior to this band, was in other bands. We've all been trying to do what we're doing now for a long time, and now that it's clicking and we're having some success, it's great, you know! Can't complain.

Jeanne: I'm gonna try not to ask you about Korn. Are you sick and tired of being asked?
Kris: No, 'cause I really don't get asked that much about it. Our singer might be. A little bit tired of it. (laughs) But no, actually I don't even think he is, it's whatever. That question doesn't bother us.
Jeanne: Do you read the reviews that the band gets?
Kris: Sometimes, yeah. Some of 'em.
Jeanne: And have they been positive?
Kris: Uh...yeah! I mean, I've read positive and negative ones.
Jeanne: Right. 'Cause I have one in front of me that was in your press kit. I can read it to you if you want, but to just basically summarize, [the publication] more or less said that you guys succeeded because of the connection to Korn, and that you're just 'pretty guys.'
Kris: Yeah, you know, that's pretty crazy. That shows how little they know about the band and how much research they did. (laughs) Korn had nothing to do with us getting a record deal, not one inch. They had nothing to do with the songs we wrote that got us a record deal...they had nothing to do with any of it. Happened to be good friends of ours, you know, and family through our singer, and whatever. It's just, they're just another band. We got here because we did it; we were a band and we got together and we wrote songs. We got our record deal, they didn't help us at all. They didn't make any calls for us, or do anything. They are an influence, as far as musically, but I think they're an influence on pretty much every band nowadays.

Jeanne: So you signed with Arista.
Kris: Yup.
Jeanne: Why did you choose them?
Kris: I think they just showed us that they were the most passionate about our band. They were really attentive towards us, and made us feel like we were gonna be priority and they didn't have a lot of other rock bands. In fact, they only had one other rock band, I think, at the time. And we just felt like we were really gonna get a lot of attention. It's hard, when you sign with a label that has a lot of bands, rock bands or bands that are already successful. It's not as special, you know. It's like, when our band succeeds, it's really special to them because they don't have another rock band. We get a lot of special attention, and they truly love the music. Everything they've said they were gonna do for the band in the beginning, they've done. And then some. It's really cool, we totally feel like we made the right decision.

Jeanne: I'm not going to ask you for a favorite song, but is there one song, that if somebody hasn't heard Adema yet, that you would say most captures the feel of the band?
Kris: Ahh, that's a good question. Um...maybe "Freakin' Out."
Jeanne: That's one of my favorites.
Kris: Yeah, maybe that one. Or, I think maybe "Blow It Away" and "Everyone" too. They have the heaviness to 'em, and the big guitar riffs, but with the melody, too. I think, actually...yeah, "Everyone" and "Blow It Away" capture the band pretty good.

Jeanne: Are you gonna release another single?
Kris: I'm sure we will, I don't know what it's gonna be yet. Right now we're still focusing on "The Way You Like It." That's the new single that's out right now. Have you seen the video for that yet?
Jeanne: No, I haven't. I've only seen the video for "Giving In."
Kris: Oh, okay. "The Way You Like It" came out really cool, it's a good video.
Jeanne: Is MTV actually playing it? (laughs)
Kris: Uh, M2's playing the hell out of it, yeah. I think MTV is gonna start playing it here pretty quick, hopefully.
Jeanne: Cause MTV you have to stay up 'til four am to actually see a video.
Kris: Exactly.

Jeanne: I'm gonna ask you a couple questions about you. For somebody who's reading this interview, and doesn't know anything about the band, or anything about you, what would you want them to know about you, and how would you describe yourself?
Kris: (laughs) Wow. How would I describe myself...I think I'd say I'm your average American rock drummer. (both laugh) I don't know, I love touring and playing music and hangihg out with my friends. My band is...they're my best friends. We do the normal stuff, play video games and drink beer. (both laugh again) Go see movies and play rock shows every night. I think that's what you need to know about me. And I love playing drums.

Jeanne: And if I could look into your CD collection right now, what would I find?
Kris: You'd find a lot of CDs. (laughs) You'd find, probably like...I think I have probably 5,000 CDs, something like that.
Jeanne: Oh my god, and I thought I was bad.
Kris: Yeah, I have a lot. Any...I just, I love rock. Anything from old rock to new rock. Bands like Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jane's Addiction, Stone Temple Pilots. Um, early Motley Crue, I'm a big Tommy Lee fan.I'm just, I'm a huge fan of his drumming. I mean, he was an influence on me from a young age. Definitely, I think he's a great drummer.
Jeanne: Have you met him?
Kris: Yes, I have. Yes. And he's very, very cool. He actually gave me a bass drum head he'd used on the Shout at the Devil tour. It's a red bass drum head with white pentagrams? With the white pentagram on it? And he signed it for me, and I actually have it on my wall at my house. It's pretty cool.

Jeanne: Okay, and you're on the road with Linkin Park?
Kris: No, we're on the road with ourselves right now, we're just headlining. Doing headlining shows. And we start Linkin Park and Cypress Hill...the 29th, I believe, is our first show.
Jeanne: Okay, well, how are the shows going now?
Kris: They're going great! They've all been sold out, and kids are singing the songs. It's really cool when they sing...you know, like you can see kids singing songs that aren't singles, too. You know what I mean? You know they know the record, and I think that's really...I like that.
Jeanne: What kind of draw are you getting, as far as, like, ages? Is it a lot of very young kids?
Kris: We're just playing in clubs right now, and it's all ages, and we're doing probably 300 to 700 type clubs.

Jeanne: Do you have a favorite Linkin Park song?
Kris: Man, I like all their songs, I really do. That whole album...every single song, that album really grew on me. I mean, we started listening to it when it first came out, and we were writing our record. Actually, I think we got a copy of it when it wasn't even out yet, and it was just amazing. It really grew on me. But I don't know, "Papercut" is good. They're all good, I don't really have a favorite, I like every Linkin Park song. I really like that "December" song, have you heard that?
Jeanne: "My December"?
Kris: Yeah! "My December." That's really cool. That's not on that album, right?
Jeanne: I don't think so, but it's up on mp3.com. That's how I found it.
Kris: That's a cool one. That reminds me of, like, old Depeche Mode or something. Really cool.

Jeanne: Do you have any fun road stories, that you can share?
Kris: Um....yeah, I have...(laughs)...I have quite a few. I don't know if I can share 'em. (laughs again) Let me think...one night when we were in London, we were going to the BMG offices over there, the record company over there. We all got in this elevator, this little, tiny, rickety elevator and we had a meeting to go to. And we're going up, we're supposed to go to the fourth floor, and it goes one..two...and then it hits three, and then all of a sudden we hear something snap, and the elevator just falls, like five feet down, and then just locks, and catches. So we're all trapped in this elevator, with like two record company people, and this other person. The whole band, and our manager too, was in there. And it's this little tiny space. And we were just flipping out, it was totally clausterphobic in there. And it was a weird time, anyway, cause the September 11th thing had just happened. We were in Europe, we were all missing home, we had just got there. I think this was, like, September 13th that this happened. So anyway, our nerves were really shot anyway, and, finally we heard this guy, like yelling from some shaft way above, "Is anybody in there?" Finally we got out of it, but we were in there, trapped in this elevator, for like twenty minutes. It was horrible. I don't know, I think that's a pretty...safe story to tell ya.
Jeanne: Yeah, thank you, now I'll be afraid of elevators for a while.

Kris: So what's your favorite Linkin Park song?
Jeanne: Oh, gosh...I don't know, probably "Papercut," cause it's not something that you hear all the time.
Kris: Yeah.
Jeanne: But I love that whole CD.
Kris: Yeah, me too.
Jeanne: They're a really great band.

Jeanne: This is from one of the other girls that I work with...she wanted to know, who's the worst bus-mate in the band?
Kris: (laughs) We all have our little flaws, but some of the guys might say me, because I've quit smoking. So I chew Nicorette, you know, it's like the nicotine gum? And I leave my wrappers everywhere. The little gum wrappers, I just kind of throw 'em everywhere on the bus. So sometimes that irritates the other guys. But we're all pretty
easy...we get along very well, surprisingly. It's good.

Jeanne: How involved are you with your website?
Kris: We're pretty involved, as a band. I mean Mikey, our guitar player, handles a lot of that. Like checks with it, and we've been checking on it more lately. But we're on the road all the time, so it's like, we can't do much about it, other than get on the guy that does it. And have him update it and all that stuff. You know what I mean? But I mean, we all go on the Internet all the time, and talk to kids and stuff, and check out our website and other bands' websites. We're online all the time. I'd say we're pretty involved.
Jeanne: Now, I went looking and couldn't find any. Do you have any fan websites, that you know of?
Kris: Uh, yeah, there's quite a bit. Just go to google search and put Adema in, or use a search engine, there's lots of em. Ours is ademaonline.com...
Jeanne: Right.
Kris: There's a really good one, there's a really good fan site. I'm totally spacing the name right now, but yeah, there's quite a few. There's some really....Adema World! That's a good one. Adema World. And then there's a few other ones, that I'm totally spacing, but there's some good ones.

Jeanne: And what do you think of the Internet, in general?
Kris: I think it's cool! You know, you can lose yourself for hours on there. (laughs) You know?
Jeanne: Yeah.
Kris: You think it's only been a few minutes, and you've been on there for two hours. But yeah, I think the Internet's cool. It's a good way to get your music out there, too. Get kids to know about the band and stuff. We used the Intnernet BIG time before our record came out to get people aware of our band. And I think it's a good thing.
Jeanne: Thats cool. A lot of people are becoming afraid of it, 'cause of gossip and...
Kris: Yeah, I mean, it has its downsides, too. But I think there's way more pros than there is cons. But yeah, it does have your downfalls, definitely. People printing false things about you, and whatever. People finding out your screen name! (laughs)

Jeanne: Okay, is there anything else that you'd like to add?
Kris: Um, just you know, if you haven't heard the record or seen the band...go buy the record or come see our band! How's that?
Jeanne: (laughs) That's good.
Kris: Nice!