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In between his work with the Goo Goo Dolls, bassist & vocalist Robby Takac recently worked with the band Adams Wilson to help produce their new upcoming album. The sessions were done at Takac's Good Charamel studio in Buffalo, New York.
Source: NJ.com
The four-piece Americana band Adams Wilson will release their upcoming EP “Lies Worth Telling” around the time of their show at Auburn Road Vineyards on June 23.
Adams Eberwein, the vocalist and guitarist of the band, said they finished recording the EP in Buffalo, N.Y. a little over a month ago with Robby Takac, the bassist and vocalist of the Goo Goo Dolls. It features two brand-new songs and three songs from their back catalogue that were redone. The track list — in no specific order — includes “Hold Me Down,” “Everything Is Golden, If You Wanna Run (originally from “Everything We Know”), “If Ever” (originally from “Irrelevant Truth”), and “Take It or Leave It.”
“Most people have heard ‘If Ever’ live rather than on the CD,” said drummer Darren Darling said.
“It’s a weird animal,” Eberwein added, “because it was everyone’s favorite when it was online (on MySpace and YouTube) ... it’s a ballad, not a show-closer, but it’s one of the most popular.”
Eberwein played the song at five weddings, a setting where the song still fit. The band’s style of music mixes country with pop and southern rock, but also ranges from grunge rock to blues. Imagine a blend of Pearl Jam, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Queens of the Stone Age, Gin Blossoms and Jimmy Eat World.
“I think the thing for me that holds all those bands (together) is that they’re guitar-driven bands,” said Eberwein, adding that they are typically known for shorter, catchy songs. “None of them are doing seven-minute jams.”
The band said the upcoming release is guitar-driven and riff-oriented, but musical variety sets them apart from other bands. They explained that they have grown musically with each addition of a band member since Eberwein’s start as a solo artist in 2006. Lead guitarist Matt Riley brought his touch of classic rock to the mix — he loved bands like Rush and Genesis — and Darling made the band’s sound “tighter and poppier.”
Bassist Brian Scorben joined the group shortly after “Lies Worth Telling” was finished. As for the bass tracks on the EP, studio bassist Kent Weber filled in.
Eberwein’s song-writing has changed since he first started, adding more metaphor. He’s beginning to accept that listeners will interpret his songs differently than how he intended them to be interpreted. When he began writing songs, he tried to make everything literal and obvious. Now he says he is more willing to take risks and be creative.
“If this relates to you in a certain way, I’m glad you got that out of it,” he said.
Even songs he believed to have a clear meaning were sometimes misinterpreted. One song was the band’s hit “Dear Jesus.” The song was about Eberwein’s struggle which involved his overly religious family and his own personal feelings. Eberwein recalled people coming up to him and applauding him for what they thought was an ode to Christianity.
The new material presents a confessional side of the vocalist as he works out personal or social issues over richer melodies that have a more polished sound than their previous albums. The crisp audio is a result of the “million-dollar studio” where the band recorded with Takac.
“He was just the coolest guy ever,” Eberwein said.
Takac did not control the recording process, they said, but helped them put together the best possible version of each song. While he did play percussion on all of the songs and tweaked things here and there, everything was done to enhance their work.
“It felt like he was putting himself in our shoes,” Eberwein said. “He’s just a normal guy, easy to work with ... He worked with us because he liked our songwriting.”
The EP will showcase nearly two years of lyric and instrumental writing and will be played live at their show on June 23. The show is free and open to all ages, and will go from 7 to 9 p.m. The band has about an hour and a half of original material and typically plays two 40-minute sets, with one cover song at most.
Source: NJ.com
