E-mail interview with Sam Schneider, vocalist of Tennessee death metal band Adelaide, below. Get to know the band and don’t forget about the free downloads!
First off, since you’ll be new to most of our readers, can you give a short back story of the band?
Well, Adelaide is a Christian Deathmetal band from Columbia, TN that started in late 2007, by Sam Schneider (Vocalist, Songwriter) and Tyler Matyskiela (Drummer, Songwriter). Working to make a name for ourselves by playing no less than 150 shows a year. Riding on our beliefs and the music we love to write. We have had nothing handed to us and don’t expect anything to be. Hardworking, God fearing, and relentless dudes.
Who are the various members of the band and what instruments do they play?
We’ve had several members come and go for their own reasons, but our line up is finally stable and solid: Sam Schneider – Vocals, Jake Marsh – Guitar, Shea Kimbrough – Guitar, Jake Nichols – Bass, Tyler Matyskiela – Drums.
Is there any significance to the name Adelaide? Why did you guys pick it?
Adelaide is a city in Australia that, due to the high number of churches and other houses of worship has been nicknamed “The City of Churches.” Conversely, there is a history of violent crime including kidnappings and serial killers which has lead some to give it another nickname: “The City of Corpses.” Since we are a Christian Deathmetal/core band, it seems as fitting as a name could possibly be.
You guys are from Columbia, TN which is SouthWest of Nashville correct? Is there much of a music scene there or do you play the surrounding areas?
It’s almost directly south, about 45 minutes away. There’s not much music around Columbia, despite it being a decent-sized town. Nashville has a huge scene which we are happy not to get buried by. We play all around Tennessee and into Kentucky and Alabama, occasionally getting out to Illinois and Indiana. We have been on several small tours and plan on filling up the rest of Adelaide’s life with non stop touring.
Describe your overall sound.
In a few words: heavy and catchy is what we strive for. We try to pull elements from most areas of metal, which has mostly shown through on the two songs we just recorded with Brandon Cagle. There are elements of deathcore, old school death metal, power metal, and metalcore, and some other subtle influences.
Who are your bands biggest influences musically and lyrically?
We all pull influence from completely different mediums. It could be other music, movies, God, etc. In terms of other bands, there are only a couple that we all like, and we honestly don’t sound much like any of them at all. I think the music becomes more interesting because we all hate each others taste in music, ha.
Pergamum, your latest EP, really impressed me in terms of both the song & sound quality. It was a definite progression from the earlier recordings. Where did you record that album?
Thank you for being impressed! We recorded it with Brian Hood (ex-Mychildren, Mybride) down in Alabama. That man definitely knows his stuff. I’ll take this time to shamelessly plug our friends Resurrect the Morning from Pulaski, TN. They just got done recording an EP with Brian, and it sounds amazing!
Was that your first time recording? How did the recording process go?
The band has done recording before, but the only 2 EPs that ever saw the light of day are Pergamum and our self-titled 3 track demo that was recorded with Brandon Cagle (ex-Whitechapel.) The recording process was grueling and brutal. Brian accepts nothing but the best out of the bands he’s recording with, and it makes it a frustrating process. He’s definitely a cool guy, though. Just a little OCD.
You recently went back into the studio and recorded two new tracks. Did you work with the same studio this time around?
We went back to Brandon Cagle, who did our debut EP back in 2008. He’d been wanting us to come back for a while, and we were only looking to do some demo tracks for a 2 part song we’d been working on called Dwellers. We went back to Brandon to achieve a more raw sound. We’re not too into all the triggered drums and POD guitar sounds.
Do you have plans to record another album in the near future?
When we feel like we have enough new material, we’ll be recording a full length. As of right now, we’re not sure when or where, but not too far in the future.
Let’s talk about your songwriting process. Is there a main songwriter or is it a group effort? What about the lyrics?
Sam, Tyler and Jake Marsh do all the songwriting at the moment, but we don’t block Shea or Jake Nichols out of the process. Our songs normally take a long time to write (I say usually because “Shadowed by Serpents” only took about an hour) because we’ve gotten really picky. We usually have a new song done twice a year. I guess we just let it come to us, instead of forcing it. Usually songs get scrapped and rewritten a myriad of times before we all settle on something. Sam and Jake Marsh share lyric writing duty, which is it’s own venture altogether.
Is Adelaide a full-time gig for you at this point? Would you do this full-time if the opportunity presented itself?
We treat it like a full-time gig. Last year we played something like 180 shows, but we don’t get paid enough to rely on the band for bills and girlfriends and such. Jobs always come and go when there’s time and when there’s not. None of us are in any school, so yes, I’d say the band is pretty much our lives right now. We would be a full-time band in a heartbeat.
Pick 3 current bands that you’d really like to tour with.
It’s really hard to pick just three, we are just tour hungry fiends. So i’ll pick from our favorites The Faceless, Whitechapel, Lamb of god, and of course everyone of our local buddies.
Do you consider Adelaide to be a ministry or a band made up of Christians?
Adelaide is definitely a ministry, but we are not the type to force our beliefs on anyone. We are just here to be examples of Christianity. We aren’t about judging or pretending to be perfect, cause man ……. we are far from that.
What are a few things that you would like to accomplish with the band?
Tour forever, become better people, better Christians, and better musicians.
Anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
Keep up the support on your local scenes and all your favorite bands, cause without you we serve no purpose.
Thanks to Sam for doing this interview! Don’t forget to download the two free Adelaide tracks here.