PUM

Lets set the record straight; Adair do not sound like Story of the Year, nor do they claim to. About the only thing Adair have in common with SOTY is the both call St. Louis home. Adair is one of those bands you may not be all too familiar with, but that’s probably going to change soon. They were recently labeled by Alternative Press as one of the “100 Bands You Need to Know in 2006,” they’ve just released their full-length album The Destruction of Everything is the Beginning of Something New and it’s obvious nothing short of Armageddon is going to hold these guys back.

Popular Underground caught up with Adair in Chicago, just after their energetic set on the Taste of Chaos Tour. As we talk in the band’s RV, it becomes clear that Adair are in this for the long haul and they’re quite passionate about what they do.

PUM: If you could, please start off with your name and what instrument you play or whatever.

Rob: I'm Rob, I sing.

Patrick: Patrick, I play guitar.

Josh: Josh, I play guitar.

Matt: Matt the drummer.

Jeff: Jeff on bass.

PUM: How has Taste of Chaos been so far for you guys?

Rob: Oh, it's been awesome. We're one of the smaller bands on the tour, but it's been great given the opportunity to play to so many people [and] the opportunity to make so many fans every night.

Josh: I was actually just talking to the drummer of the opening band. I think all of the side stage bands have to work like 10 times harder to prove it.

PUM: For as early as you played, I saw a lot of energy. Do you always play that early?

Rob: No it revolves. We played in St. Louis yesterday, our hometown, so we had the last spot on our stage. Today was kind of like payback for that I guess.

PUM: I read somewhere that you guys played just before the Deftones one night.

Rob: One show we did, that was down in Texas. Since then Street Drum Corps plays before them everything because they play with the Deftones on one of their songs so it's just easier. And Deftones fans aren't always the kindest to bands that go on before the Deftones so I think pretty much all of the othe rbands are fine with Street Drum Corps [going on before the Deftones]. They're doing a little bit of a different thing. It's a good way to mix it up before Thrice and Deftones.

PUM: What were some of your influences growing up that got you into music?

Rob: I'm going to go with Bjork and Radiohead.

Patrick: I'm going to go with Death Cab for Cutie and Converge.

Josh: Tom Jones... I guess... I don't know.

Jeff: Uhh, Soundgarden and Sick of it All.

Matt: Are we saying right now or when we were younger?

PUM: When you were younger.

Matt: Poison and Motley Crue.

Rob: I was listening to Boys II Men at that time.

PUM: What are some bands that you're into now?

Rob: Death Cab for Cutie is one.

Josh: I'm going to be a dork and say The Receiving End of Sirens.

Rob: Every time I drive...Laughter fills the RV because of the close connotation to Every Time I Die. That's an album I know I'm going to play. I usually drive for a while.

PUM: How long have you guys been a band?

Rob: With this line up, probably six months. Patrick joined the band and Matt joined the band like right before we recorded our record. The three of us [Rob, Jeff and Josh] have been in the band for a couple years together and we had member changes right as we were writing our record. We've all played in bands for probably the last 10 years. I always feel like people get the wrong impression, like, "Oh, [you've] only been playing together for six months." We've all worked really really hard to get where we are right now. It's not like we just started a band and got signed right away.

PUM: So everything came together pretty easily with member changes?

Rob: Yeah, it was actually pretty amazing. Like I said, we were writing, we had material going into pre-production for our record, like we had written with the former members and we only used four of those songs. We had a whole album written. We ended up, in the three or four weeks that Patrick was in the band before we recorded, we ended up writing half of the material and it's like the best stuff on the album. There was just a lot of [musical] energy. It was really cool.

PUM: Do you guys have a common goal or a mission you're trying to achieve?

Patrick: World domination.

Rob: Take over the world. First and foremost we want to just tour as much as possible and play to as many people as possible. Just keep growing as a band and one album at a time. I think we're already looking toward the next album and ours just came out. We want to do this for a living you know?

PUM: What was it like being one of the bands you need to know in 2006 for Alternative Press?

Rob: That was cool. I don't even know how that came about. It's really nice to be included. There's a lot of really, really good bands. Hopefully people pay attention to it. It's just one of those things that's an honor to be a part of.

PUM: They compared you to Story of the Year, Letter Kills and Story of the Year; how do you feel about that?

Rob: Yeah Laughter again erupts. We were like what? I don't think they pinned that down very well. In every interview we do, there's always a question about Story of the Year just cause we're from the same town. I could see where that one came from. Letter Kills, we've toured with before, I don't think we really sound like them at all and Chevelle, I have no idea where that came from. I think they're a good band and I've heard a lot of good bands, but I think there was like a 100 bands I would have said before Chevelle.

PUM: What would you say you sound like?

Matt: I have one that I always say and I don't know if everyone agrees with me, but I would say Neurosis and Shadows Fall.

Patrick: No, I would say it's a cross between Glassjaw and Death Cab.

Rob: We definitely have our moments where it's like indie and then we definitely have heavier extremes and really melodic parts too. And then the whole screamo thing, that's like, whatever. I only scream in four songs. I think there's a lot of energy and people refer to that as screamo.

PUM: Now also in that AP article it said something about you guys going to a party at Dennis Rodman's place.

Rob: I don't know, it was just one of those weird things. When we went to California, literally we had just moved there. We were going to this bar and it happened to be hosted by Dennis Rodman that night.

PUM: You guys are from St. Louis and you mentioned you moved to California. Was that a difficult transition?

Rob: It was one of those things were we all just kind of dropped everything and moved to California and worked out there really hard for a year. We just played as many shows as we could and spread the name as much as possible and made some contacts with people out there that helped us along the way. It was heard, I loved it. The weather's great. There's a lot of cool people out there. It's definitely a different place from St. Louis, Missouri.

PUM: What do you guys do when you're bored?

Rob: We watch movies. They have their PSP's they're on all the time.

Jeff: I just brought in the Xbox, but we haven't gotten to do anything with that.

Rob: I'm taken up reading lately.

Patrick: HA HA, reading!

PUM: Do you have any advice for bands that are just starting out?

Rob: Play, play, play. Play as much as possible, write as much as possible, play as many shows as possible. Just getting out there is the most important thing I think.

PUM: You mentioned rough tours. Give me an example of one of the more rougher tours.

Rob: There's been tours where we'd play basically for merch money, like we didn't have a guarantee, which is cool if you're going to be playing with a bigger name act and you're selling enough merch to get by. We've done that where like 10 people showed up. We've definitely played to some empty rooms before. It's discouraging, but you've gotta play your way through it and play whether there's 10 people or 1000 people, give it everything you have.

PUM: If someone walks up to you and gives you $50 in cash, what would you do with the money and you can't give it back?

Rob: I'd probably pay some bills that I owe money on.

Patrick: I'd use it on alcohol.

Josh: Catsup flavored Pringles!

Rob: Josh, if he sees a new flavor of anything, he has to buy it. If we're somewhere and he sees a new flavor of Pringles or a new flavor of Pop Tart or energy drink he has to get it. I'll be like, "Josh have you seen this before? Triscuit flavored Pringles." And he'll get them.

PUM: Did you ever have the green catsup that they had back in the day?

Josh: I think I have.

PUM: That stuff was horrible.

Rob: We had the green chocolate when the Hulk movie came out. We had the green Hershey's syrup. It was when we lived in California and the whole house was drinking chocolate milk and we didn't want to all reveal that our poop had been green for a while and none of could figure out why. Then we were looking in the fridge and we're like it's that green syrup.

For more Pictures of Adair, click HERE

By: Adam Karol - Senior Editor / Founder