Without a doubt the 45 Adapters are one of my favorite ‘new’ bands that I got introduced to in the past few years. For me there wasn’t any doubt that the 45 Adapters would be one of the first bands I wanted to interview for this Facebook page / website, so I decided to drop vocalist and guitarist Gerrard a few questions. Enjoy reading!
For those who don’t know the 45 Adapters by now, can you introduce yourself and the rest of the members?
Chris plays drums, Craig plays bass, Dave (aka Knighthawk) plays guitar and I (Pickabar) play guitar and sing.
What is the story of the band so far?
The band started when I struck up a conversation with one of our boys named Julio at a reggae night near my house. He was a founding member and really the force that got things going. After a year or two we lost our drummer and decided to take a break. Thankfully Dave convinced me to start the band up again after a year or so off. He joined on guitar and we got back to business. Since then, we've been lucky enough to play a bunch of shows and to put out some vinyl that's been well received.
Our goal for the next year or so is to play out of town if we can. Europe, you have been warned!
How would you describe the, not so typical Oi!, sound of the 45 Adapters? What bands and / or artists were a big influence on the band?
We're all record nerds and our goal has always been to try to mix as many influences as possible into our sound. If you sit down and have a beer with anyone who is really a music lover, they always have a million different bands or songs from all kinds of genres to share with you. We try to bring that attitude to our music.
The bands change all the time, but Small Faces, The Business, Dr. Feelgood, The Equals and anything produced by Lee Perry are probably always near to the turntable for all of us. That's just a random list though, it changes ever day.
It only took 2 EP’s and a split 7” with Stomper 98 to release a collector works compilation. Despite the fact that I love the release, wasn’t it a bit early?
Well, the original motivation for that release was to be able to sell CDs. Lots of people who don't own turntables would come up to us after gigs asking for CDs and we just didn't have any available. When Wouter from Rebellion offered to press some for us we were super grateful. The guys from Longshot and Contra thought it would be a good vinyl release as well, which is why the double 10" came out. Luckily, it's sold pretty well and given us the chance to record more music.
Selfishly, I was happy to get a chance to re-record the vocals for songs like "Overtime" and "This Christmas". Like most of our early stuff, the original vocals were recorded in my kitchen. I had to rush to get them done before my neighbors complained! I think the newer vocals, recorded in a rehearsal room, sound a bit better. If nothing else, I was able to spend more time on them.
Very recently the new EP ‘Dress Well, Drink Heavily’ came out. Can you tell us a bit more about it?
We're super excited about this release, because it marks our first trip to a recording studio. I think the final results justify the hard work and money that we put all put into it. We've gotten great feedback so far and it's a real inspiration to head back to the studio as soon as possible.
I'm also personally excited because the title song is about some of the lessons that my grandmother imparted to me as a kid. It doesn't begin to do her justice, but I'm glad that I got the opportunity to sing about her attitude towards life.
Unfortunately just 3 new songs, also the last new recordings were 4 songs on ‘The Collected Works vol. 1’ and that’s almost a year ago. Quality above quantity? Or is there another reason?
Well, we have two challenges that have limited our output.
The first has been our line-up problems. Every time we get a new member we have to start nearly from scratch by re-learning the old songs. Hopefully that's taken care of now that we have Belge on the drums. This line-up seems to be pretty solid and it's allowed us to work on some of the songs that have been on hold.
The other challenge is financial. Being in a band is pretty expensive, especially now that we're trying to record in real studios. Hopefully "Dress Well, Drink Heavily" will sell well enough that we can get back in the studio sooner rather than later.
Is there a chance of a full-length album in the future? If the plans are already there, can you tell us a bit more about it?
We'd love to do a full length, but I'm not sure if that will happen in the near future. In addition to the cost of recording 12 songs, I also tend to be pretty impatient. We had to wait for two months between finishing the latest EP and it's release date and I was practically climbing up walls! It's hard to hold off on putting the music out in the world once it's done. That said, we've definitely heard that people want a full length and we'll make it happen if it's at all possible.
What we won't do, though, is put out five goods songs and then a bunch of other stuff just to fill space! I hate buying records like that.
Use of colours, logo, lyrics etc… breaths NY Mets. Obviously you’re a big fan! You attend the homegames? How’s the atmosphere in the stadium? And what do you expect from this season?
I'm ashamed to say that I haven't gotten to a single game so far this year! I usually go to about ten games a year. I have a young daughter, so it's been harder for me to get out to the stadium. I'm actually planning on going this weekend.
The atmosphere is always great at Mets games! You get a lot of hard core fans who really know the game instead of the stockbrokers and other people who just want to make the scene at that other stadium in NYC. There's nothing like getting out the ballpark, drinking a few overpriced beers and yelling your head off. I've definitely lost my voice at plenty of games.
Unfortunately, the Mets are rebuilding right now. We have a lot of young talent that should be good in a few years, but right now we're not doing a lot of winning. Things should be much better in a year or two, once our upcoming guys have matured.
How is the scene in NYC nowdays? Any new bands we have to look out for?
The scene in NYC is kind of weird at the moment. There's a lot of division, politics and all of the usual boring stuff. Luckily, there are tons of reggae and soul nights, so we can always find a place to drink and dance.
Okay this is it. If you have anything to add, feel free!
Thanks to you for helping to get word out about the band and thanks to everyone who has taken the time to read my ramblings. Special thanks to everyone who spends their hard earned money buying records and merchandise. Don't grow out of it!
