Jack Adamant | Matt Connarton Unleashed

0:00 Speaker 1: That is back from me, and that is Jack Adamant

0:02 Speaker 1: and the name of the album, which is I want

0:05 Speaker 1: to make sure I get it right Helium and low

0:07 Speaker 1: voltage wiring. Like I said, it's a mouthful, but I

0:09 Speaker 1: think we've got Jack on the line with us. Hi, Jack,

0:11 Speaker 1: are you there him? I'm here, Hey, welcome to the show.

0:15 Speaker 1: I love your sound. I want to tell you that

0:17 Speaker 1: right up front, really really good. So it's great to

0:20 Speaker 1: have you on.

0:23 Speaker 2: Thanks, thanks, thanks for having me absolutely absolutely.

0:25 Speaker 1: Now where are you joining us from? Are you in Stockholm?

0:27 Speaker 1: Is that correct?

0:29 Speaker 2: That's correct?

0:30 Speaker 1: Okay? And then so you're originally from Italy? Yeah, yeah, yeah, excellent, excellent.

0:36 Speaker 1: So what what what took you to Stockholm?

0:40 Speaker 2: I think it was music related? Oh really, yeah, it

0:45 Speaker 2: was because of my previous band.

0:47 Speaker 1: Oh okay.

0:49 Speaker 2: One of the members of the band he moved here

0:52 Speaker 2: before me.

0:53 Speaker 1: Oh okay, so then you moved you moved there for

0:56 Speaker 1: the band?

0:58 Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, that's correct.

1:00 Speaker 1: Interesting. Well, obviously you must like it there because you're

1:02 Speaker 1: now you're doing a solo thing. But but you're still there,

1:05 Speaker 1: so is it Is it a great place to live?

1:10 Speaker 2: I think so? Yeah? Cold? Now he's getting like dark

1:12 Speaker 2: and cold.

1:14 Speaker 1: Yeah, well, same here. Yeah, I can relate. Yeah, absolutely absolutely.

1:19 Speaker 1: How long have you lived in Stockholm?

1:22 Speaker 2: It's more than ten years now, Oh.

1:24 Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, so you're used to the dark and cold

1:26 Speaker 1: by now. I would imagine if so, if you ever

1:32 Speaker 1: truly get used to it, you know, it gets dark

1:34 Speaker 1: and cold here and and uh where right where we

1:37 Speaker 1: live where we live where in that time of year

1:39 Speaker 1: where it's dark at four o'clock in the afternoon, and

1:41 Speaker 1: it's like, uh, we never quite get used to it.

1:44 Speaker 1: But but uh, I feel your pain. How cold does

1:47 Speaker 1: it get there? I must get pretty cold?

1:48 Speaker 2: Right this week is getting a little bit warmer, as

1:52 Speaker 2: you say, but it's been minus last week snow. Oh yeah,

1:58 Speaker 2: well it's pretty fine. Yeah, it's fine.

2:01 Speaker 1: But at least you're yeah, well you're making some great

2:03 Speaker 1: music from there, and that's that's wonderful. Can you tell

2:06 Speaker 1: us about so I'm really curious about the title. Like

2:08 Speaker 1: I said, it's a mouthful the title of the album

2:10 Speaker 1: helium in low voltage wiring. What does that mean? I'm

2:15 Speaker 1: super curious.

2:17 Speaker 2: It came pretty quick. I think we had a list

2:21 Speaker 2: with my drummer Jed and the bass player Vicks, both

2:28 Speaker 2: of them there still based in Italy, okay, And we

2:33 Speaker 2: were discussing about the title this new album, and we

2:36 Speaker 2: wanted to make a list, and on the top of

2:40 Speaker 2: the list there was this one okay Helium think Yeah.

2:46 Speaker 2: In the beginning was just Helium okay. And it was

2:50 Speaker 2: more like I was dreaming and all of a suddens

2:54 Speaker 2: like I woke up and I was back to reality,

2:59 Speaker 2: and I was trying to describe that kind of feeling

3:01 Speaker 2: of dreaming and uh, you know it's like weightless. Yeah,

3:09 Speaker 2: you feel light and there are no rules and you

3:13 Speaker 2: can dream about anything limitations, and then all of a

3:19 Speaker 2: sudden you woke up and the reality like put you down.

3:26 Speaker 2: But I think Ilium it was more like the contrast

3:29 Speaker 2: between something that is like floading and electric wires that's

3:36 Speaker 2: like ground that we know, that's like it doesn't belong

3:40 Speaker 2: to any wires, to any kind of restriction. It was

3:45 Speaker 2: that kind of imagery or the picture of something floading

3:51 Speaker 2: being ground that there was like weird and at the

3:54 Speaker 2: same time was the right fit for the weirdness of

3:58 Speaker 2: this album.

3:59 Speaker 1: Okay, No, I like it. I like it. I was

4:02 Speaker 1: reading about you, so is now is this true that

4:05 Speaker 1: you you started playing guitar when you were twelve and

4:08 Speaker 1: you began writing when you you were learning to mix

4:11 Speaker 1: on a on a tape recorder that you wanted a

4:14 Speaker 1: street raffle. Is that true?

4:16 Speaker 2: Yeah, that's true, that's true. Oh wow, funny memories.

4:21 Speaker 1: Do you think you would have me? I mean, had

4:23 Speaker 1: that had you not won that recorder in the street raffle,

4:25 Speaker 1: do you think you would have you would have gone

4:27 Speaker 1: forward with your I mean that was literally the start

4:29 Speaker 1: of your recording career, right, Like, do you think that?

4:32 Speaker 1: Do you think you still would have found your way

4:34 Speaker 1: there to doing what you're doing now? Because it's so

4:36 Speaker 1: interesting now. Sometimes these little moments you know that happened

4:39 Speaker 1: when we're kids, You know, they can they can set

4:41 Speaker 1: a series of events in motion that that shape your

4:44 Speaker 1: whole life and career.

4:49 Speaker 2: My parents they didn't really want me to buy a guitar,

4:52 Speaker 2: so I was already struggling there to find a way

4:55 Speaker 2: to either to buy a new guitar, to buy a

4:58 Speaker 2: guitar that was my my first, or to build my

5:02 Speaker 2: own guitar. Yea, so I remember that I was like

5:06 Speaker 2: carving a hole in a biscuits, uh thin, Yeah, And

5:13 Speaker 2: I was trying to make my own, my own guitar.

5:16 Speaker 2: But it was a kind of a failure. It didn't

5:20 Speaker 2: work out. So the the easiest way was just to

5:23 Speaker 2: bag my parents. It's like, please, I'm gonna I'm gonna

5:27 Speaker 2: behave at school, I'm gonna do whatever you asked me for,

5:31 Speaker 2: but just buy me a guitar. They were a little

5:34 Speaker 2: bit skeptical because you don't know how to play guitar.

5:37 Speaker 2: You what you have to do with your guitar. It's

5:40 Speaker 2: just yeah, it's just my way to start learning and

5:44 Speaker 2: and not being distracted, but to do something new.

5:48 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, so they so obviously they ultimately relented, and

5:51 Speaker 1: I'm sure looking back they're very glad that they did,

5:54 Speaker 1: or at least I would hope so right without so yeah, yeah,

6:00 Speaker 1: So and then did you like growing up, did you

6:05 Speaker 1: kind of dabble in different genres or because I hear

6:09 Speaker 1: a I definitely hear a mix of influences in your music.

6:12 Speaker 1: I'm really curious about about your you know, the process

6:15 Speaker 1: of you know, learning the guitar, and then like what

6:17 Speaker 1: did you get into musically, what were some of your

6:19 Speaker 1: influences growing up and while you were learning.

6:23 Speaker 2: We say, in my previous band, I was playing bass

6:26 Speaker 2: and singing, and it was more like a hard rock band,

6:30 Speaker 2: but heavily inspired by bands like Diners or Junior, near

6:36 Speaker 2: Vara and Mad Honey. I was saying, well, I always

6:42 Speaker 2: like these songs that they really didn't fit the groove

6:47 Speaker 2: of the nature of this band. So I was planning

6:50 Speaker 2: to release them in a in some way or in

6:53 Speaker 2: some format, and there was like the reason why I

6:58 Speaker 2: started this solo project. And so the influences then changed

7:03 Speaker 2: a little bit. I was more in liking to j

7:07 Speaker 2: mask like solo acoustic project that he had beside then

7:13 Speaker 2: besides times a Junior or a neutral Milk Hotel. This

7:18 Speaker 2: kind of like the first release that I had, like

7:23 Speaker 2: launch or twelve since s aty two and then we

7:26 Speaker 2: were talking about twenty seventeen. The one was like a

7:29 Speaker 2: kind of five songs stripped down. Yeah, and from there

7:37 Speaker 2: it's like I felt, I fact, there was something missing,

7:42 Speaker 2: Like I enjoyed the fact that like there was an

7:44 Speaker 2: epy acoustic and very intimate, but I felt that it

7:51 Speaker 2: was the sound was not really there was something new

7:55 Speaker 2: to be able to be evolved a little bit more.

7:58 Speaker 2: And then when you when again touch with my actual

8:02 Speaker 2: drummer Judd and we started working on that on a

8:06 Speaker 2: new sound and more like inspired by Smashing Pumpkins, moving

8:14 Speaker 2: to into that kind of direction and we want to

8:16 Speaker 2: have like more heavy guitars and drums, like reading in

8:21 Speaker 2: front of everything. We always like play. We always joke

8:27 Speaker 2: about like having the snare sound is at the same

8:31 Speaker 2: level of a voice the vocals right right, kind of drastic.

8:38 Speaker 2: So that was the Still like I think it's still

8:41 Speaker 2: like grunge and alternative rock still like enjoy listening to

8:46 Speaker 2: Dinas Junior, Sabadel or the Smashing Pumpkins and weud Nothings

8:52 Speaker 2: can be like a good influence too, or the Get

8:55 Speaker 2: Up Kids as well.

8:57 Speaker 1: Yeah, it's definitely evocative of those bands. Yeah, I definitely

9:01 Speaker 1: hear the Dinosaur Junior influence absolutely So. Now the so

9:06 Speaker 1: the band you have now, are any of these members

9:10 Speaker 1: from from the band you were in before you went solo,

9:15 Speaker 1: any of the same people or.

9:18 Speaker 2: I think maybe they were. One of them was one

9:21 Speaker 2: of the founders, but then he left the.

9:23 Speaker 1: Band okay later on, Okay.

9:25 Speaker 2: So the bass play of it. He was one of

9:29 Speaker 2: the founders of the Ballyriana, my first like my first band,

9:33 Speaker 2: gotcha and they're still in Italy, So the only time

9:37 Speaker 2: that we actually have time to gig and to record

9:41 Speaker 2: and rehearse together is like when we are all like

9:45 Speaker 2: in the same place and this usual ups upends like

9:50 Speaker 2: three four times a year. But yeah, we have managed far.

9:56 Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, you know, we live in a time

9:58 Speaker 1: obviously too where you know you can as far as recording,

10:02 Speaker 1: you know, you can send tracks back and forth and whatnot.

10:05 Speaker 1: But do you restrict that to when those few times

10:07 Speaker 1: that you're actually able to get together or do you

10:09 Speaker 1: ever do you record remotely where you're sending tracks back

10:12 Speaker 1: and forth via dropbox or anything like that.

10:15 Speaker 2: Yes, changed a little bit, it's not the same anymore.

10:18 Speaker 2: But I'll say we try to do everything when we

10:22 Speaker 2: are together, so it is more like the idea of

10:25 Speaker 2: the band and working together on the same on the

10:29 Speaker 2: same thing right after that we have released this new record.

10:34 Speaker 2: Now it's just the goal is mainly like rehearsing and

10:39 Speaker 2: play live.

10:40 Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, Now as far as playing live, because you know,

10:45 Speaker 1: because they're in Italy, I mean, do you do solo

10:47 Speaker 1: acoustics shows or do you play with another band or

10:50 Speaker 1: how does that work? I mean, are you actively playing

10:53 Speaker 1: live shows without the rest of the guys or how

10:56 Speaker 1: does that? How does that work?

10:58 Speaker 2: Yeah? I enjoy doing doing both.

11:00 Speaker 1: Yeah.

11:00 Speaker 2: So it's like when when I'm there with them, then

11:03 Speaker 2: it's like it's the perfect time to play together. When

11:06 Speaker 2: when I'm one my own, then if there is any

11:09 Speaker 2: chance of playing live, then I can. I can do

11:11 Speaker 2: like a striped down version of those songs, and he

11:13 Speaker 2: works as well.

11:15 Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, I would imagine that these songs work well

11:18 Speaker 1: if you're just doing a solo acoustic uh presentation. I

11:24 Speaker 1: would imagine. I mean, when you're writing these, do you?

11:28 Speaker 1: I assume you start out as you and the guitar, right,

11:34 Speaker 1: it can be different.

11:35 Speaker 2: I played bass, I play a little bit of ukulele.

11:38 Speaker 1: You do you play the ukulele? N interesting? Oh that's

11:43 Speaker 1: interesting too, that you play the ukulele. That's wild.

11:49 Speaker 2: Yeah, I said, you can start from from any instrument.

11:53 Speaker 2: I can play a little bit of piano too, Okay. Uh,

11:56 Speaker 2: it's not really like exclusively playing like the first chords

12:00 Speaker 2: on a guitar. So it can also be like humming

12:04 Speaker 2: a melody and then start writing the lyrics. So I

12:07 Speaker 2: don't really have I don't really have like a routine

12:10 Speaker 2: or rule that I follow strictly every time. So it's

12:15 Speaker 2: like if I have, yeah, I would say the most

12:18 Speaker 2: important thing that I have a story or I heard

12:21 Speaker 2: something from from from someone or it's me myself experiencing

12:26 Speaker 2: like something that uh, there's a mark in me and uh,

12:32 Speaker 2: and then I start from there. When when I usually

12:35 Speaker 2: like start on a guitar, I usually experiment a little

12:39 Speaker 2: bit with the with the tuning or staying away from

12:43 Speaker 2: like the normal chord shapes or the shapes or any

12:48 Speaker 2: chords can use like a cape or Yeah. But just

12:52 Speaker 2: even if it sounds weird at the at the beginning,

12:55 Speaker 2: I don't care. Just for me, it's important that doesn't

12:58 Speaker 2: sound this sounds a little bit unusual. That's what I'm

13:04 Speaker 2: looking for.

13:05 Speaker 1: Yeah, I get the impression that that's important to you is

13:08 Speaker 1: to be able to experiment and and create different sounds,

13:11 Speaker 1: different textures that you know that are maybe outside of

13:15 Speaker 1: the mainstream or because you know, instead of just kind

13:19 Speaker 1: of doing your standard sort of you know, three chord

13:21 Speaker 1: rock or whatever. Not that there's anything wrong with that obviously,

13:24 Speaker 1: but but but it does seem like it's important even

13:27 Speaker 1: just listening to the album. You know, I listened to

13:29 Speaker 1: the whole thing all the way through and and each

13:32 Speaker 1: song has unique elements that make them stand out, but

13:35 Speaker 1: they all form a very very much a cohesive listening experience,

13:41 Speaker 1: which brings me to the question, is there is there

13:43 Speaker 1: a theme to the album itself? I mean, you talked

13:46 Speaker 1: about the title, but what about the album itself? I mean,

13:48 Speaker 1: is there is there kind of a theme or a

13:49 Speaker 1: story running through the album? Because I kind of feel

13:52 Speaker 1: like there might be, but I'm not quite sure.

13:56 Speaker 2: For so, Matta, I appreciate the commitment in going through

13:59 Speaker 2: the old albums, Yeah, I appreciate it.

14:02 Speaker 1: Yeah, I love it.

14:04 Speaker 2: Yeah, but for sure there is like a team. And uh,

14:09 Speaker 2: when I'm I'm writing, I'm mean it's my meme mainly

14:12 Speaker 2: that he is writing the songs. And I always like

14:16 Speaker 2: having mind the idea of writing a full album, full record.

14:21 Speaker 2: So when I start writing a few lines or the

14:26 Speaker 2: few chords for songs and the many the structure of songs,

14:30 Speaker 2: I always keep in mind like, Okay, this is going

14:32 Speaker 2: to end up in the record. So also it's like

14:36 Speaker 2: if the team is like depression or anxiety. So I

14:40 Speaker 2: already touched this theme on my in my previous songs.

14:43 Speaker 2: For considering that it's gonna be in the in the

14:47 Speaker 2: same record. The next team is gonna be different and

14:49 Speaker 2: the same. With the structure of the songs, It's like,

14:51 Speaker 2: if I have already songs starting with the with the

14:54 Speaker 2: intro with a verse, then I try to have the

14:58 Speaker 2: kind of variety so that it doesn't follow the same structure,

15:02 Speaker 2: and when someone goes to the the full record, it

15:07 Speaker 2: doesn't feel like, Okay, now it's the same song over

15:11 Speaker 2: and over again. It just is boring, you know what

15:13 Speaker 2: I mean?

15:14 Speaker 1: Yeah, no, that makes sense, that makes sense. Now, what

15:17 Speaker 1: what's kind of the future trajectory for you? You know,

15:19 Speaker 1: the album is great. I imagine you're you're focused on

15:25 Speaker 1: promoting the current album, But I'm curious, I mean, do

15:27 Speaker 1: you already have because you strike me as someone who's

15:29 Speaker 1: probably constantly writing. I'm sure you've got a lot of

15:32 Speaker 1: ideas for the next for the next album or the

15:34 Speaker 1: next EP already. Are you? Are you already thinking that

15:37 Speaker 1: far ahead? Are you kind of focused on the moment

15:39 Speaker 1: or what's what's kind of the short term or even

15:41 Speaker 1: the long term future for you?

15:44 Speaker 2: Actually, we were discussing with the with the other guys

15:46 Speaker 2: about the promotion on this record, and now we are

15:50 Speaker 2: releasing like an acoustic version of Touching Nothing because as

15:57 Speaker 2: we as we said, some songs they were born like

16:00 Speaker 2: on an acoustic guitar, so it's nice to share also

16:04 Speaker 2: how they sounded in the in the very beginning we're

16:07 Speaker 2: being produced and uh, then we have a lot of

16:11 Speaker 2: B sides as well. It's like we usually don't restrict

16:16 Speaker 2: ourselves and writing only ten songs for the record, and

16:19 Speaker 2: then you you're going to release the record, there's something

16:23 Speaker 2: missing or you need to change a song, and then

16:25 Speaker 2: you have to write like a last minute song. It's

16:28 Speaker 2: always good for us to have like plenty of songs

16:31 Speaker 2: for the record and then deciding which one they will

16:33 Speaker 2: be in there in the in the in the record, right,

16:36 Speaker 2: so all those songs that they've been left behind, so

16:39 Speaker 2: we want to release them in like a kind of

16:41 Speaker 2: B side album in the future. Cool. So that's yeah,

16:47 Speaker 2: that would be.

16:49 Speaker 1: Yeah, that's that's very cool. That's very cool. By the way, Jack,

16:53 Speaker 1: how do you say your last name because I don't

16:55 Speaker 1: know if I'm saying it? Is it adamant edamind?

16:58 Speaker 2: Yeah, that's correct, mt okay good.

17:00 Speaker 1: I just want to make sure I was saying it correctly.

17:03 Speaker 1: Very good, very good. Well where should people go to

17:06 Speaker 1: keep up with everything that you're doing? Where's the best

17:09 Speaker 1: place for people to go online to keep up with

17:10 Speaker 1: everything that Jack Adamant is doing.

17:13 Speaker 2: We try to be a little bit everywhere because we

17:16 Speaker 2: never know where people can be more active. So we

17:19 Speaker 2: are on Instagram, we are like on Twitter, we are

17:23 Speaker 2: on Facebook of course, Spotify, YouTube or Apple Music, a

17:30 Speaker 2: little bit everywhere. So yeah, we use like we have

17:32 Speaker 2: a distributor, so every time that we upload our music,

17:37 Speaker 2: at least we hope that you will ended up in

17:39 Speaker 2: as many platforms as possible so that people can easily

17:43 Speaker 2: find us and listen to every music. Right.

17:46 Speaker 1: Absolutely. You know, there's there's a term that I like

17:49 Speaker 1: to use, discoverability. It's so important to have your music

17:53 Speaker 1: everywhere so that people can discover it. Absolutely that that's

17:58 Speaker 1: that's really the key. Uh Well, well, Jack, thank you

18:00 Speaker 1: so much. This has been wonderful to talk with you.

18:02 Speaker 1: Like I said, I do love the album, and I'm

18:04 Speaker 1: also going to I haven't had a chance yet to

18:06 Speaker 1: listen to your your earlier work, but I am going to.

18:09 Speaker 1: It's all on band camp, which is very convenient. But

18:12 Speaker 1: I do but I do encourage everyone to check out

18:15 Speaker 1: Helium and Low Voltage Wiring. Great great album. Listen to

18:18 Speaker 1: it all the way through it really it's just really good.

18:21 Speaker 1: And like I said, each individual song, you know, it's

18:24 Speaker 1: it comes together. It forms a cohesive listening experience, but

18:28 Speaker 1: each song also has its own unique elements that I love,

18:32 Speaker 1: and it's just it's a great listen So I encourage

18:35 Speaker 1: everybody to check it out. But and I really appreciate

18:37 Speaker 1: you joining us, Jack, and we will definitely do this

18:40 Speaker 1: again in the future as soon as you have something new.

18:41 Speaker 1: We absolutely need to have you back because we really

18:45 Speaker 1: love what you're doing.

18:47 Speaker 2: Thanks at very appreciated.

18:50 Speaker 1: Absolutely. I think I'm going to close out our segment

18:52 Speaker 1: with this track Taught You Nothing. This is another favorite

18:55 Speaker 1: of mine from the album. Anything we should know about

18:57 Speaker 1: this song before before we play it.

19:01 Speaker 2: Oh, that's a story of one of my best friends

19:04 Speaker 2: who moved to Sydney and uh oh yeah, he always

19:08 Speaker 2: had like such interesting stories about his life and tattoos

19:13 Speaker 2: and yeah, so.

19:16 Speaker 1: So he moved to Sydney, Australia. That's a that's a

19:20 Speaker 1: that's a long way. Well, very good. Yeah, so we'll

19:24 Speaker 1: we'll we'll close out the segment with this and uh,

19:26 Speaker 1: but we'll let you go, Jack Adamant again, thank you

19:28 Speaker 1: so much, and we will talk to you again soon,

19:30 Speaker 1: I'm sure. Yeah bye now, all right, bye bye, all right.

19:35 Speaker 1: That is Jack Adamant. Make sure you check out his

19:37 Speaker 1: album Helium and Low Voltage Wiring. And uh, let's play

19:40 Speaker 1: this again. This is another one of my favorites from

19:42 Speaker 1: the album. This is called Taught You Nothing