Adler Interview

Between Adler and Lynam, Jacob Bunton is possibly one of the busiest frontmen in rock, but that didn't stop him from taking time out of his day to speak to Room Thirteen.

R13: Hey Jacob, how are you?
JB: I'm good, busy but good. I've never Skyped before; you are actually the first person I have ever Skyped with.
R13: Period?
JB: Yep, period.
R13: Wow, that's amazing. You're my first Skype interview but I've done a lot of Skyping.
JB: That's awesome, I'm glad we're each others first at something.

R13: For those who aren't familiar with Adler, can you provide a brief history of the band?
JB: Adler was formed by Steven Adler; ex Guns N' Roses drummer. He had been doing a band called Adler's Appetite for the last ten years but they just played Guns N' Roses songs; mainly songs from Appetite For Destruction. He decided that he wanted to do an original all new project, so he took one of Adler's Appetite; which is Lonny Paul, the guitar player. They set out on their quest to find a singer. Lonny and I met at Jani Lane's memorial in August of a couple of years ago at The Key Club. We were introduced by a mutual friend; we started talking and hit it off. The next day he and Steven came to my hotel room, we sat around and talked music for a while and really bonded and hit it off and started working on music.
In January last year, we went into the studio with Jeff Pilson producing and started recording our record. It came out on November 26th and we couldn't be more proud of it.

R13: Have you been pleased with the response the album has received?
JB: The response has been overwhelming, we've been blown away. Steven just hoped that Guns N' Roses fans would accept it and that the public would accept it, because this is the first thing he has done since Adler's Appetite. When it came out and everybody embraced it and positive reviews started being published, it made him feel validated. We couldn't be happier with the response and Steven was just completely blown away.

R13: Was the song writing for 'Back From The Dead' an easy process?
JB: It was very easy. I wrote songs as did Lonny. I live in Birmingham, Alabama and the other guys are in Los Angeles, so, originally Lonny and I were just emailing ideas back and forth. I would send songs, he would send songs, we would exchange ideas and then I flew out there and we got together we wrote the song that went on to become our first single; The One That You Hated.
I already had the verses and the music but didn't have a chorus, by the time I got to the chorus, Lonny just started singing "I'm the one that you hated" and it just clicked. We literally wrote that song within ten minutes and the whole record has this flow. The song writing process was very easy; there was no struggle at all.

R13: Why did you decide to release 'The One That You Hated' as the lead single?
JB: Steven was being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame in April and we had finished recording a handful of songs, Steven said that he wanted his fans to hear something new from him. Slash and Duff both had their projects, but Steven did not have anything out there and he was very proud of everything we were doing. He felt it was important for the fans to hear what he was up to before the induction. We literally just flipped a coin, there wasn't any particular reason that we chose I'm 'The One That You Hated'. It could have been any of them. That was our introduction to the world.

R13: What's your favourite track from the album?
JB: My favourite song to play live is Good To Be Bad and my favourite song on the record changes from day to day. Today, I really like Your Diamonds and Blown Away but tomorrow it might be something else.

R13: Slash and John 5 feature on the album; how did those collaborations come together?
JB: Steven and Slash has been friends since school so he asked Slash to do it and he said he'd love to. We all decided that we should get him to play on a ballad as he is such an amazing guitar player and he creates these amazing melodies that stick out but they're usually on ballads; like the solo part of November Rain or Sweet Child O' Mine. They are both such beautiful melodies and showcase some amazing playing. We wanted him to bring that kind of magic to our song; Just Don't Ask, and he nailed it. He did such an amazing job.
It was the same thing with John 5; Steven and John have been friends for a really long time and their wives are really good friends. They were all at dinner one night and Steven asked John if he'd like to play on the album and he said he'd love to and he came to the studio and the song we chose for him to play on just had that creepy vibe that he is known for and that driving anthemic type of song, and I think he nailed it as well.

R13: What was it like for you being in the studio and seeing Slash and Steven Adler playing together?
JB: It was incredible and very surreal because seriously, those guys were hanging on my wall when I was a kid. Appetite For Destruction is my favourite album of all time and I remember being a little kid and Guns N' Roses being one of my favourite bands. When we were doing the record, I couldn't believe I was in the vocal booth singing and looking out to see Slash, Steven Adler and Jeff Pilson. I was literally pinching myself and wondering what I was doing there. It was amazing.

R13: How does your work with Adler differ to your other music projects?
JB: With my other music, I am the sole song-writer whereas with Adler, Lonny and I wrote the songs together so it was more of a collaborative effort. It is really cool seeing what somebody else brings to your ideas; it is a lot of fun having a sounding board to bounce ideas from. It is different because he brings a different influence to it; then with Steven playing drums, he has his own unique drum style, he has his own certain swing and swagger. All of those elements contributed to something that we're all very proud of.

R13: The members of Adler have all had successful music careers; what are the pros and cons of working with established musicians?
JB: The pros are already having a fanbase; everybody has a fanbase of people that like their other projects so it was easier to get the name out there. A lot of opportunities happened sooner than if nobody was known in the band. There's really no big time cons that I can think of, maybe we are all set in our ways but for the most part there are more pros than cons.

R13: You played on the Kiss Kruise, how did you become involved with that?
JB: They reached out to us and asked if we wanted to play and we were like "Absolutely!". All of us list Kiss as one of our favourite bands, they transcend time. Steven grew up with them in the 70's, Lonny in the 80's and me in the 80's and 90's. Kiss is one of those bands who have been around for so long that they have influenced several generations.
We were all blown away and you couldn't have picked a better band for us all to have our very first shows with. It was amazing.

R13: Do you remember what inspired you to play music and the first song you learnt to play?
JB: The song I learnt to play, believe it or not, was R.E.M. The One I Love. What inspired me to play more than anything was when I was a little kid seeing videos on MTV and rock stars on magazine covers; when you're a little kid and you see those bands back then they just looked like superheroes – they looked like the guys who were in my comic books. I loved it, I just thought it was so cool and I loved the music and could relate to the songs and the vibe. It was definitely Motley Crue and Guns N' Roses, Kiss and Poison who were my four big ones.

R13: What do you think of the Top 40 today in comparison to the days when you were growing up listening to Guns N' Roses Motley Crue
JB: It is very different; everything is more format specific than it has ever been. When I was growing up, the local radio station would play Sweet Child O' Mine, La Bamba, followed by Shameless by Garth Brookes, then MC Hammer; there was a lot of variety, now everything is so format specific. When you turn to a particular station; especially here in America, one song bleeds into the next song which bleeds into the next song and they all sound alike with no variety unless you start changing stations after each song. If you leave it on one station everything sounds the same and you can't tell one band from the next; it wasn't like that when I was a kid.

R13: You're also part of Lynam; can we expect to see any new material or a tour in the near future?
JB: We're working on an EP which will be a four or five song release and I'm still playing a lot of dates with Lynam, basically, when I'm not playing with Adler, I am playing dates with them. I'm staying extremely busy between the two.

R13: Any plans for a UK tour with either band?
JB: Yes, with Adler. It hasn't been announced yet but we will be coming over to the UK, I think it's in the summer but I'm not 100 percent sure. You'll have to stay in touch and come out to the show.
R13: That would be great; I'd love to see you guys.
JB: That would be awesome.
R13: Will it be festival appearances or a club tour?
JB: I think it's going to be a club tour.

R13: What can we expect to see from you throughout 2013?
JB: Lots of touring and another video. We'll be doing anything and everything we can do to get the word out and play shows for the people.

R13: Excellent, sounds like a good year. Is there anything you'd like to add?
JB: No, I think we've covered a lot of ground! Of course, people can stay up to date with the band via the Adler Music Facebook page, on www.adlerrocks.com or via Twitter under the username @Adlerrocks.

R13: Thanks for your time and I hope your first Skype experience wasn't too painful!
JB: It was amazing; I hope your first Skype interview wasn't too painful.
R13: Not at all. Looking forward to seeing you on these shores in the summer.