Nexus Meets… ADKINS
For fans of Shinedown and Breaking Benjamin, can we introduce you to Tasmanian rockers, ADKINS. Fusing classic rock from the 70s and 80s with a modern 21st-century twist, ADKINS has a new and exciting sound. We speak with the rhythm guitarist Josh Willcox about their debut album The Wrong Side of Fame, future plans and much more.
How was ADKINS formed?
The band existed as a three-piece for around four months before the current line-up formed in January 2020. We have all been involved in music for years playing in various cover bands and a lot of the songs have existed in one form or another for a long time. It was only a matter of time before we got together and got the ball rolling.
What is the backstory behind The Wrong Side of Fame?
The album generally focuses on self-importance and self-interested people and the flow-on effects they can have on others, whether that be mental or physical. Musically, the album takes decades of our personal rock and metal inspirations and mixes it up into a modern alt-metal affair. It is easy to hear the 80s love ballad influences, the 90s metal influences, the modern 00s metal and hardcore influences, but the album has a grounded sound that is uniquely ours and is consistent throughout.
What was the writing and recording process like?
After our debut single ‘Taste’ and the second single ‘Time Waster’, the rest of the album was recorded from each of our homes during COVID. Luckily, the drums were all tracked by then so Sam, Mick and I just had to record our guitar and vocal parts, then they would be gathered and sent off to Joe Haley of Psycroptic for mixing and mastering. The songs had been written for a good year or so before the album release, some even before that. ‘Wish Upon A Scar’, for example, was a song Sam and I were jamming acoustically through high school and college.
After ‘Taste’ had been released in February, it took a couple of months to get the album recorded, mixed and mastered with the singles we released in the lead up obviously being finished before the others. It was a relatively quick process, but the logistics of it did not quite turn out as planned. The album and the process of getting it ready for publishing is a nice little memento of the time that’s been.
If you could tour with a single artist (living or dead) who would it be and why?
For me, it would have to be Dimebag Darrel (Pantera). He just had a perfect mix of ferocious, fast playing while maintaining tight melodic structures and super ‘vocal’ guitar lines that no-one has managed to match since his passing.
What is your creative process?
We mostly do our own music writing and then get together and brainstorm ideas learning and expanding upon each other’s parts and add our own inputs to each other’s ideas. Sam primarily writes our lyrics and I will find some backing harmonies from that.
Describe your music in a single sentence.
The culmination of decades of rock and metal inspiration wrapped in a modern alt-metal package.
What are your future plans?
Hopefully, gigs once we can! As well as playing live, we have a few song ideas brewing away behind the scenes and we are keen to keep the ball rolling and keep new music coming when we can. COVID has been a blessing in a lot of ways in that we have had plenty of time to knuckle down and write and record an album, as well as keep wiring songs to hopefully expand upon and release in the near future.
What do you hope people take from your music?
Overall, our music can delve into some grim territory, but there is an overarching message of hope and comeuppance which I hope shines through our songs both musically and lyrically.