Jason Adamo Keeping it Rockin

Local artist Jason Adamo has been turning up the heat for summer with a series of performances throughout North Carolina in the coming weeks.

Tell us about your upcoming gigs Jason!

Just got back from a whirlwhind month of playing 4 shows in NYC and LA, trying to get my original music into the right hands, so while I continue work on a brand new full length record I will be playing a ton of shows mostly in the NC area throughout the next couple of months. Hosting open mic every Tuesday, while I'm in town, at The Blue Martini in Raleigh and holding residency at Oliver Twist every Thursday night in North Raleigh.

This Monday, June 22nd I'll be at The Lincoln Theatre opening for Major Label recording artist Ryan Cabrera.

Are you performing with your band?

Yes and no. haha

This Monday at The Lincoln Theatre, I'll be performing as an acoustic quartet, two acoustic guitars, a harmonica, and Fender Rhodes piano.

Depending on the gig, this summer I'll be playing anywhere from solo to a full band, it all just depends on what type of show it is, and where the show is at. For instance July 24th I'll be back at Wilmington's Downtown Sundown with an acoustic trio.)

I see you have released the EP "Sunflower". How was it recording these songs?

It was an amazing time recording my last EP, "Sunflower" I was very honored to have some amazingly talented North Carolina based musicians lend their talents on that record. Robert Sledge from Ben Folds Five laid down the bass for a few tracks, Josh Preslar, local blues guitar legend played lead on "Purple Sky" and "Not Ready", John Briggs, Chris Johnson, Fabio Consani, Lars Egon, Beverly Kain and Jake Dean all helped breathe life into the songs I had written for "Sunflower".

We recorded most of the record here in NC, at Studio 313 in Morrisville, and Bongo John Studios in Morrisville as well. We then went down to Miami to record vocals at The Miami Sound Lab where it was also mixed and mastered down there by Derek Olds and Grammy winning Engineer Carlos Alvarez.

I was very pleased with the finished product especially knowing all of the hard work that we all put into the making of "Sunflower" and it continues to spread around the country with every gig we play!

Do you have plans for a full-length album?

Yes! We are hard at work on a new full-length record as we speak! Three songs are pretty much finished already, "Raleigh Nights", "August", and "Cold Cutting Rain". Demos of these tracks are already available to listen to on my myspace page www.myspace.com/jasonadamo

What is the strangest thing that has ever happened to you at a gig?
(I love asking this question. :-)

Hmmmm thats a tough one...one that is always a funny story to tell is this: I was playing a Blue Festival in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. I was on the road with my good buddy Nathan Davis, and I was wearing one of Nathans new tour t-shirts on stage at the gig. Afterwards we're talking to the crowd and signing cds etc and one woman asked me "how much for your shirt?" So I said, "well you'll have to ask Nathan over there, there his t-shirts, he's selling them." She replied "No, how much for the one you're wearing?" I thought that was pretty funny, especially considering it was drenched in sweat at that time. Anyways, I gave it to her for $20 as we needed the gas money for the trip back to Raleigh. Haha! ...luckily I grabbed another t-shirt out of the box Nathan had in the van and still wear it today!

Local Meets International at Local 506 Tonight

Tonight at Local 506 you can catch bands from both around the corner and around the world, as Norweigan band I Was A King plays with Durham's punk grrl band Pink Flag, and DC's Deleted Scenes. Pink Flag's Betsy Shane says to come early to catch their set, because they will start promptly at 9.

I Was A King is on tour in support of their self-titled album, bringing a guitar-driven psychedelic sound to Chapel Hill this evening. I had a chance to send them a few questions, and here are their replies.

How has your tour been going so far? I see you have already played Chicago, Philly, New York, and DC.

The tour has been great so far! we really enjoy travelling around here. So many great people have come to the shows. Alway very nice when people come up to us afterwards.

How did the band get together?

It happened over time. IWAK started as Frodes soloproject in 2004, and have since then grown into becoming a full rockband.

Tell us about your influences.

Our musical influences range from everything from The Beatles to Sonic Youth. Always liked the idea of combining strong melodies with noisy stuff.

One thing I always enjoy hearing about are the strange road tales that many bands encounter. Do you have any good tour stories?

It is still very early stage on this tour, but we had a few funny episodes in Europe earlier this year. One venue we played, we had a soundguy who also made us dinner while we played our set. So we could see him from stage running between the soundboard and kitchen, and on his way he always came in front of stage dancing like crazy for a few seconds.

How do you approach composition?

Songs seem to come when least expected. But I've been walking around on this tour now with a lot of new ideas, so really look forward to sit down and get things sorted out, when back home.

Is there a supportive music scene in Norway? It seems like we are seeing and hearing a lot of good things coming from Scandinavia over the past few years.

There is a lot of good things happening there these days yes. Many of our friends are now either finishing up new albums and some just released new stuff. It is good times.

I see you are playing a lot of music festivals this summer. What is that like?

Actually this is the first year for us playing all these outdoor festivals, so we look forward to it. It will be a very different experience playing out in the sun, instead of the dark clubs we normally play at.

Thank you for your time and for coming to visit us in North Carolina!

We really look forward to it! Heard great things about Chapel Hill!