Necessity Over Doubt With TIM FLUCKEY From ADEMA

When it comes to cursed vocalists, US rock outfit Adema must have
stood at the head of the queue.
Since their inception in 2000, the band have seen four vocalists
come and go - most at times where the band was starting to gain
traction, which upset flow and momentum and ultimately held the
band back from the musical heights they should have reached. After
yet another forced vocalist change when Ryan Shuck departed in
February last year, the band members decided to stay in-house with
their next singer, promoting guitarist and regular back-up vocalist
Tim Fluckey to the head role. This enabled Adema to stick with the
core group of four members and maintain the chemistry they had
built without having to usher in and train another band
member.
The international music industry must have been happy with the
band's choice, with ILL NIÑO deciding to bring Adema to Australia
as their national support for three select shows, starting in
Sydney on September 12, before hitting Melbourne and Brisbane over
consecutive nights.
Fluckey joined HEAVY recently to talk shop, with one of our first
questions being why have Adema neglected us here in Australia for
so long?
"Well, it's not on you guys," Fluckey laughed. "We had a tour that
we were going to do in Australia maybe 23 years ago, and then
something else came up that we had to do. I can't remember what it
was, but we always thought we'll just reschedule, or we'll find a
way to get back to Australia in the next couple of months, and it
just never happened. So we've always wanted to go and couldn't be
more excited about finally getting over there."
Talk turns to Fluckey falling into the role of lead singer, and we
ask if being a frontman is something he has always wanted to
do.
"No, I did not always want to do that," he shook his head. "I
didn't mind doing back-up vocals, that was cool. I liked just being
over in my guitar world, and doing that, and being able to jump
around and move around and interact with the crowd that way. And
then it just came by necessity. One tour, our singer had… we
couldn't find him for days. We had already missed a couple of
shows, and we thought, are we going to get sued? So they're like,
can you do it? And I said I'll try. So literally on the way out to
the first show, we never rehearsed with me singing. I was just
sitting there playing my guitar and trying to sing along to this
stuff. We went out there, and said let's play three songs without
saying a word and see what happens. We'll see how the crowd
reacts."
In the full interview, Tim revealed that Adema are finalizing their
new record, expressing enthusiasm for connecting with Australian
audiences on the tour. He discussed the band's live performance
strategy, which prioritizes high energy and fan interaction, and
shared his journey from guitarist to lead singer, noting his
increased confidence in engaging with the crowd.
He confirmed that the new music retains the classic Adema sound
with contributions from all original members, and he feels assured
in their musical direction. Tim explained their songwriting
process, which typically starts with music creation followed by
vocal melodies, and mentioned that they plan to focus on familiar
older songs during the Australian shows while refining new material
for future performances and more.


Become a supporter of this podcast:
https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/heavy-music-interviews--2687660/support.