Updated: 11/29/02

With their debut album selling in excess of 500,000 units and incessant touring, Adema is becoming known as much more than the band that has Jonathan Davis of Korn's younger half-brother on vocals. Establishing an identity all their own, Adema has just released an all new EP entitled Insomniacs Dream! We recently spoke with guitarist Tim Fluckey to catch up with the current happenings...

Tell me how the original songs on the EP Insomniacs Dream compare to what you did on your first album.

I think it's probably different for us for a few reasons. When we wrote the first record, we hadn't been together for that long. We had known each other for a long time, but as far as putting a band together, we'd known each other maybe a couple of months. With the new stuff, we've been together for a couple of years now. I think we know each other better musically. I think the only difference is that it's leaning towards a definite sound of who we are and what we want to evolve into.

What made you guys decide to do another EP as opposed to a full-length album?

We've been writing songs on the road and we wanted to put out some new material. We knew we couldn't for a while because we've been touring. We knew we had a little time before our next record and we wanted to get something out earlier than that. We had some new songs and we decided to get a couple of them together. We had some cool live stuff from when we were in Holland. We wanted somebody to do a remix, and somehow it came together. We decided to do a little EP so people don't forget about us between records. Just get it out there, have something out there for our fans - something that is inexpensive.

Tell me about the Immortal track on the album.

That song came about in a pretty quick way. We were writing a song on the road for the second record, and then the guys from Mortal Combat approached us to do a song. We already have this song done, and thought it would be perfect. We wrote the song in two or three days beforehand. We decided to record it and save it for the second record - but we said fuck it, let's use it for Mortal Combat. So we went into the studio in Northern California on a day off from the road and we recorded it.

What made you guys decide to record the Alice In Chains cover Nutshell?

That came about the day we found out that Layne Staley had died, we were doing two shows in one day. We were doing one in Dallas at 3:00 in the afternoon and then we had a headlining show in Austin at about 9:00. So we were driving in between Dallas and Austin, and we heard that he died. We all have always been big Alice In Chains fans. I always loved that song and asked Mark if he wanted to do it - I said, "Let's just do it tonight." We were just going to do it once. We both practiced it and then everybody in the band said, "Let's all do it." They all learned it and it grew from there. We did it for a couple of dates after that. Then two days after we found out, we played a show with Jerry Cantrell's band and we played it in front of him which was pretty crazy. So we decided to record our version on it and put it on the EP as a tribute. And then it kind of ended being more of a tribute tune, because Dave Williams had died, and so did Dave's (DeeRoo - Adema's bassist) mom who was pretty close to all of us. So we dedicated it to all three of them.

Is that a song that you're gonna continue to play live?

We haven't decided yet. We probably will. It's not something we're going to break out every night. We usually play what we feel like we wanna play that night - we don't like to tie ourselves down with just one set list all the time. It's always going to depend on how we feel - but I'm sure we'll play it.

What keeps you guys all pumped up when you've all been touring for such a long time?

It's a different feeling. There's nothing like it on the earth, and that's what you really do it for - to play shows for people. The cool thing so far is the last year and a half we've watched this grow before our eyes. To go to a city three or four times in a year - some might think that's redundant, but every time you go back it gets bigger and bigger and you get more people there. And that's what it's all about.

What are some of the worst things about being on the road?

I think when you're not playing shows. There's a lot of spare time. We do a lot of writing, but you can only do that so much - and you can't just be creative for eight hours a day. But there is a lot of time where you feel like you're not doing anything productive. And of course you miss your family, because you're away from your family, friends, girlfriends, whatever for 17 months really. You get time off here and there but it's not really a lot. Normally you see people when you come back through where you live and play shows, but that's really the only time.

So are the shows really big in Bakersfield when you go back there and play?

Oh yeah, it's been pretty crazy! When our record came out, a couple days after that we played a show in Bakersfield. We played for about 2000 at this big club there. And there's this arena called Centennial Garden. We were joking that the next time we were here in Bakersfield we would play there. We were totally joking - and two months later we played there opening up for Linkin Park. We came out onstage and they gave us a big ovation for a few minutes - it was pretty crazy. It was pretty cool that they received us like that. All of us had played in different bands for years in Bakersfield, so it was pretty unbelievable to have that feeling.

Are you surprised at how successful and well received your first record has been?

You never know. The five of us like the music - we're not going to put stuff out we don't like obviously. We figured that we trust ourselves - we know what sucks and what doesn't. We had an idea that people might like it, but you never know. But you never know how well it's going to be received. But we've been nothing but blessed in the last year and a half how well our record has done and how people keep coming to our shows over and over again when we play. It's been pretty unbelievable, the tours we've gone on and the people we've met. It has been fun.

What was it like going on tour with Ozzfest?

That was pretty amazing. We all, for the most part, grew up with heavy metal music. I know I did - that was my life. Ozzy's Speak Of The Devil was the first record I had - it was a live record - it was in 1981 that I got that record in the first grade. That just like changed my life forever. So to be on tour with him was pretty unreal. Plus all the bands on there - like Zombie was incredible and System Of A Down was unreal every night. Just bands that I've idolized and listened to my whole life - to hang with them for a couple of months was pretty unreal.

Did you actually get to meet Ozzy?

No. I had what you call Ozzy sightings and close calls. He did this thing where he rolls up in his bus right before he plays. They pull the bus up, drop him off, he gets in his dressing room and a few minutes later he gets onstage and then boom he's off. He gets back on the bus and they take him out. So nobody really meets him. The guitar player from System had never met him and he'd been on Ozzfest for three years in a row. He finally met him at a photo shoot for Guitar Magazine, but he never met him at Ozzfest. The very last night, Ozzy walked right by me and it was like shoulder to shoulder. Or shoulder to hip - whatever he is on me. I'm like 6' 9". But he came walking by - it was a close call but I never actually met him.

With you being 6' 9", does it make it rather difficult when you are doing band photos?

You know the tricks - I just stand far back. I'm always in the back. I'm used to it though - my whole life I've always been the tallest dude. But every school picture, every little league picture, every picture of all time - I'm there in the back row. But it's not a big deal. They just do the whole perspective thing. They make me stand 10 feet back so it looks like I'm 5' 9".

Tell me about the Adema tattoos you all have on your wrists.

We all had those tattoos like within a couple weeks of each other when we first got together.

Was there anyone in the band who was a little queasy or apprehensive about putting the Adema tattoo on their wrist?

No, not at all. The funny thing about it was that it was Mikey and I's first tattoos ever. So we just went and got them. This was like before we did our demo and got signed and before anybody was ever interested in us. We decided that we were all going to get the tattoos at a practice. The next day Marky and Chris came to practice with the tattoos and the rest of us got them that week. No one was apprehensive at all.

Considering you have one member in the band who's related to a member of Korn, would you ever want to play a show with them?

If you're in a hard rock band, who wouldn't want to play with Korn? They've been around for almost ten years and they've changed heavy music and how it goes. We'd love to play with them, but we want to do it where we earn our spot. We don't want any favors from anybody. We're not going to call them and ask for a favor to get a tour or none of that. It's only if we're invited to do a tour with them. We'd be more than honored to do something like that. It would be kind of cool.

So what's up next for Adema?

Right now we are in the rehearsal studio doing some pre-production for our second record. We just started. When we got done with Ozzfest we took a three-week break because we were on the road for like a year and a half. Everybody kind of got away from each other for a little while and then this last Monday we started writing songs. We've just been putting songs together and recording them. We'll go into the recording studio in a couple of months and hopefully the record will be out in the middle of next year.

Do you have any messages for Adema fans?

I always like to thank all the Adema fans that support us and buy all of our records and merchandise. We really appreciate that - and all of the people that come to our shows and give their all for our band everyday. We appreciate that and we think of those people all of the time.