Speaker 1: That is back from me, and that is Jack Adamant
and the name of the album, which is I want
to make sure I get it right Helium and low
voltage wiring. Like I said, it's a mouthful, but I
think we've got Jack on the line with us. Hi, Jack,
are you there him? I'm here, Hey, welcome to the show.
I love your sound. I want to tell you that
right up front, really really good. So it's great to
have you on.
Speaker 2: Thanks, thanks, thanks for having me absolutely absolutely.
Speaker 1: Now where are you joining us from? Are you in Stockholm?
Is that correct?
Speaker 2: That's correct?
Speaker 1: Okay? And then so you're originally from Italy? Yeah, yeah, yeah, excellent, excellent.
So what what what took you to Stockholm?
Speaker 2: I think it was music related? Oh really, yeah, it
was because of my previous band.
Speaker 1: Oh okay.
Speaker 2: One of the members of the band he moved here
before me.
Speaker 1: Oh okay, so then you moved you moved there for
the band?
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, that's correct.
Speaker 1: Interesting. Well, obviously you must like it there because you're
now you're doing a solo thing. But but you're still there,
so is it Is it a great place to live?
Speaker 2: I think so? Yeah? Cold? Now he's getting like dark
and cold.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, same here. Yeah, I can relate. Yeah, absolutely absolutely.
How long have you lived in Stockholm?
Speaker 2: It's more than ten years now, Oh.
Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, so you're used to the dark and cold
by now. I would imagine if so, if you ever
truly get used to it, you know, it gets dark
and cold here and and uh where right where we
live where we live where in that time of year
where it's dark at four o'clock in the afternoon, and
it's like, uh, we never quite get used to it.
But but uh, I feel your pain. How cold does
it get there? I must get pretty cold?
Speaker 2: Right this week is getting a little bit warmer, as
you say, but it's been minus last week snow. Oh yeah,
well it's pretty fine. Yeah, it's fine.
Speaker 1: But at least you're yeah, well you're making some great
music from there, and that's that's wonderful. Can you tell
us about so I'm really curious about the title. Like
I said, it's a mouthful the title of the album
helium in low voltage wiring. What does that mean? I'm
super curious.
Speaker 2: It came pretty quick. I think we had a list
with my drummer Jed and the bass player Vicks, both
of them there still based in Italy, okay, And we
were discussing about the title this new album, and we
wanted to make a list, and on the top of
the list there was this one okay Helium think Yeah.
In the beginning was just Helium okay. And it was
more like I was dreaming and all of a suddens
like I woke up and I was back to reality,
and I was trying to describe that kind of feeling
of dreaming and uh, you know it's like weightless. Yeah,
you feel light and there are no rules and you
can dream about anything limitations, and then all of a
sudden you woke up and the reality like put you down.
But I think Ilium it was more like the contrast
between something that is like floading and electric wires that's
like ground that we know, that's like it doesn't belong
to any wires, to any kind of restriction. It was
that kind of imagery or the picture of something floading
being ground that there was like weird and at the
same time was the right fit for the weirdness of
this album.
Speaker 1: Okay, No, I like it. I like it. I was
reading about you, so is now is this true that
you you started playing guitar when you were twelve and
you began writing when you you were learning to mix
on a on a tape recorder that you wanted a
street raffle. Is that true?
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's true, that's true. Oh wow, funny memories.
Speaker 1: Do you think you would have me? I mean, had
that had you not won that recorder in the street raffle,
do you think you would have you would have gone
forward with your I mean that was literally the start
of your recording career, right, Like, do you think that?
Do you think you still would have found your way
there to doing what you're doing now? Because it's so
interesting now. Sometimes these little moments you know that happened
when we're kids, You know, they can they can set
a series of events in motion that that shape your
whole life and career.
Speaker 2: My parents they didn't really want me to buy a guitar,
so I was already struggling there to find a way
to either to buy a new guitar, to buy a
guitar that was my my first, or to build my
own guitar. Yea, so I remember that I was like
carving a hole in a biscuits, uh thin, Yeah, And
I was trying to make my own, my own guitar.
But it was a kind of a failure. It didn't
work out. So the the easiest way was just to
bag my parents. It's like, please, I'm gonna I'm gonna
behave at school, I'm gonna do whatever you asked me for,
but just buy me a guitar. They were a little
bit skeptical because you don't know how to play guitar.
You what you have to do with your guitar. It's
just yeah, it's just my way to start learning and
and not being distracted, but to do something new.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, so they so obviously they ultimately relented, and
I'm sure looking back they're very glad that they did,
or at least I would hope so right without so yeah, yeah,
So and then did you like growing up, did you
kind of dabble in different genres or because I hear
a I definitely hear a mix of influences in your music.
I'm really curious about about your you know, the process
of you know, learning the guitar, and then like what
did you get into musically, what were some of your
influences growing up and while you were learning.
Speaker 2: We say, in my previous band, I was playing bass
and singing, and it was more like a hard rock band,
but heavily inspired by bands like Diners or Junior, near
Vara and Mad Honey. I was saying, well, I always
like these songs that they really didn't fit the groove
of the nature of this band. So I was planning
to release them in a in some way or in
some format, and there was like the reason why I
started this solo project. And so the influences then changed
a little bit. I was more in liking to j
mask like solo acoustic project that he had beside then
besides times a Junior or a neutral Milk Hotel. This
kind of like the first release that I had, like
launch or twelve since s aty two and then we
were talking about twenty seventeen. The one was like a
kind of five songs stripped down. Yeah, and from there
it's like I felt, I fact, there was something missing,
Like I enjoyed the fact that like there was an
epy acoustic and very intimate, but I felt that it
was the sound was not really there was something new
to be able to be evolved a little bit more.
And then when you when again touch with my actual
drummer Judd and we started working on that on a
new sound and more like inspired by Smashing Pumpkins, moving
to into that kind of direction and we want to
have like more heavy guitars and drums, like reading in
front of everything. We always like play. We always joke
about like having the snare sound is at the same
level of a voice the vocals right right, kind of drastic.
So that was the Still like I think it's still
like grunge and alternative rock still like enjoy listening to
Dinas Junior, Sabadel or the Smashing Pumpkins and weud Nothings
can be like a good influence too, or the Get
Up Kids as well.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's definitely evocative of those bands. Yeah, I definitely
hear the Dinosaur Junior influence absolutely So. Now the so
the band you have now, are any of these members
from from the band you were in before you went solo,
any of the same people or.
Speaker 2: I think maybe they were. One of them was one
of the founders, but then he left the.
Speaker 1: Band okay later on, Okay.
Speaker 2: So the bass play of it. He was one of
the founders of the Ballyriana, my first like my first band,
gotcha and they're still in Italy, So the only time
that we actually have time to gig and to record
and rehearse together is like when we are all like
in the same place and this usual ups upends like
three four times a year. But yeah, we have managed far.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, you know, we live in a time
obviously too where you know you can as far as recording,
you know, you can send tracks back and forth and whatnot.
But do you restrict that to when those few times
that you're actually able to get together or do you
ever do you record remotely where you're sending tracks back
and forth via dropbox or anything like that.
Speaker 2: Yes, changed a little bit, it's not the same anymore.
But I'll say we try to do everything when we
are together, so it is more like the idea of
the band and working together on the same on the
same thing right after that we have released this new record.
Now it's just the goal is mainly like rehearsing and
play live.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, Now as far as playing live, because you know,
because they're in Italy, I mean, do you do solo
acoustics shows or do you play with another band or
how does that work? I mean, are you actively playing
live shows without the rest of the guys or how
does that? How does that work?
Speaker 2: Yeah? I enjoy doing doing both.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: So it's like when when I'm there with them, then
it's like it's the perfect time to play together. When
when I'm one my own, then if there is any
chance of playing live, then I can. I can do
like a striped down version of those songs, and he
works as well.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, I would imagine that these songs work well
if you're just doing a solo acoustic uh presentation. I
would imagine. I mean, when you're writing these, do you?
I assume you start out as you and the guitar, right,
it can be different.
Speaker 2: I played bass, I play a little bit of ukulele.
Speaker 1: You do you play the ukulele? N interesting? Oh that's
interesting too, that you play the ukulele. That's wild.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I said, you can start from from any instrument.
I can play a little bit of piano too, Okay. Uh,
it's not really like exclusively playing like the first chords
on a guitar. So it can also be like humming
a melody and then start writing the lyrics. So I
don't really have I don't really have like a routine
or rule that I follow strictly every time. So it's
like if I have, yeah, I would say the most
important thing that I have a story or I heard
something from from from someone or it's me myself experiencing
like something that uh, there's a mark in me and uh,
and then I start from there. When when I usually
like start on a guitar, I usually experiment a little
bit with the with the tuning or staying away from
like the normal chord shapes or the shapes or any
chords can use like a cape or Yeah. But just
even if it sounds weird at the at the beginning,
I don't care. Just for me, it's important that doesn't
sound this sounds a little bit unusual. That's what I'm
looking for.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I get the impression that that's important to you is
to be able to experiment and and create different sounds,
different textures that you know that are maybe outside of
the mainstream or because you know, instead of just kind
of doing your standard sort of you know, three chord
rock or whatever. Not that there's anything wrong with that obviously,
but but but it does seem like it's important even
just listening to the album. You know, I listened to
the whole thing all the way through and and each
song has unique elements that make them stand out, but
they all form a very very much a cohesive listening experience,
which brings me to the question, is there is there
a theme to the album itself? I mean, you talked
about the title, but what about the album itself? I mean,
is there is there kind of a theme or a
story running through the album? Because I kind of feel
like there might be, but I'm not quite sure.
Speaker 2: For so, Matta, I appreciate the commitment in going through
the old albums, Yeah, I appreciate it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I love it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but for sure there is like a team. And uh,
when I'm I'm writing, I'm mean it's my meme mainly
that he is writing the songs. And I always like
having mind the idea of writing a full album, full record.
So when I start writing a few lines or the
few chords for songs and the many the structure of songs,
I always keep in mind like, Okay, this is going
to end up in the record. So also it's like
if the team is like depression or anxiety. So I
already touched this theme on my in my previous songs.
For considering that it's gonna be in the in the
same record. The next team is gonna be different and
the same. With the structure of the songs, It's like,
if I have already songs starting with the with the
intro with a verse, then I try to have the
kind of variety so that it doesn't follow the same structure,
and when someone goes to the the full record, it
doesn't feel like, Okay, now it's the same song over
and over again. It just is boring, you know what
I mean?
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, that makes sense, that makes sense. Now, what
what's kind of the future trajectory for you? You know,
the album is great. I imagine you're you're focused on
promoting the current album, But I'm curious, I mean, do
you already have because you strike me as someone who's
probably constantly writing. I'm sure you've got a lot of
ideas for the next for the next album or the
next EP already. Are you? Are you already thinking that
far ahead? Are you kind of focused on the moment
or what's what's kind of the short term or even
the long term future for you?
Speaker 2: Actually, we were discussing with the with the other guys
about the promotion on this record, and now we are
releasing like an acoustic version of Touching Nothing because as
we as we said, some songs they were born like
on an acoustic guitar, so it's nice to share also
how they sounded in the in the very beginning we're
being produced and uh, then we have a lot of
B sides as well. It's like we usually don't restrict
ourselves and writing only ten songs for the record, and
then you you're going to release the record, there's something
missing or you need to change a song, and then
you have to write like a last minute song. It's
always good for us to have like plenty of songs
for the record and then deciding which one they will
be in there in the in the in the record, right,
so all those songs that they've been left behind, so
we want to release them in like a kind of
B side album in the future. Cool. So that's yeah,
that would be.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's that's very cool. That's very cool. By the way, Jack,
how do you say your last name because I don't
know if I'm saying it? Is it adamant edamind?
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's correct, mt okay good.
Speaker 1: I just want to make sure I was saying it correctly.
Very good, very good. Well where should people go to
keep up with everything that you're doing? Where's the best
place for people to go online to keep up with
everything that Jack Adamant is doing.
Speaker 2: We try to be a little bit everywhere because we
never know where people can be more active. So we
are on Instagram, we are like on Twitter, we are
on Facebook of course, Spotify, YouTube or Apple Music, a
little bit everywhere. So yeah, we use like we have
a distributor, so every time that we upload our music,
at least we hope that you will ended up in
as many platforms as possible so that people can easily
find us and listen to every music. Right.
Speaker 1: Absolutely. You know, there's there's a term that I like
to use, discoverability. It's so important to have your music
everywhere so that people can discover it. Absolutely that that's
that's really the key. Uh Well, well, Jack, thank you
so much. This has been wonderful to talk with you.
Like I said, I do love the album, and I'm
also going to I haven't had a chance yet to
listen to your your earlier work, but I am going to.
It's all on band camp, which is very convenient. But
I do but I do encourage everyone to check out
Helium and Low Voltage Wiring. Great great album. Listen to
it all the way through it really it's just really good.
And like I said, each individual song, you know, it's
it comes together. It forms a cohesive listening experience, but
each song also has its own unique elements that I love,
and it's just it's a great listen So I encourage
everybody to check it out. But and I really appreciate
you joining us, Jack, and we will definitely do this
again in the future as soon as you have something new.
We absolutely need to have you back because we really
love what you're doing.
Speaker 2: Thanks at very appreciated.
Speaker 1: Absolutely. I think I'm going to close out our segment
with this track Taught You Nothing. This is another favorite
of mine from the album. Anything we should know about
this song before before we play it.
Speaker 2: Oh, that's a story of one of my best friends
who moved to Sydney and uh oh yeah, he always
had like such interesting stories about his life and tattoos
and yeah, so.
Speaker 1: So he moved to Sydney, Australia. That's a that's a
that's a long way. Well, very good. Yeah, so we'll
we'll we'll close out the segment with this and uh,
but we'll let you go, Jack Adamant again, thank you
so much, and we will talk to you again soon,
I'm sure. Yeah bye now, all right, bye bye, all right.
That is Jack Adamant. Make sure you check out his
album Helium and Low Voltage Wiring. And uh, let's play
this again. This is another one of my favorites from
the album. This is called Taught You Nothing