Adler breathes new life into Rock ‘n Roll!

It is finally here! Yes, the long wait is over. The debut record of Adler titled “Back from the Dead” has been released. This album was produced by Jeff Pilson (Foreigner, Dokken). There is even guest appearances by Steven’s former Guns ‘n Roses bandmate; Slash and the great John 5 formerly of Marilyn Manson and Rob Zombie. The singles “The One That you Hated” and  “Good to be Bad” have been all over the airwaves.

This album is filled with great rock and roll and has everything we have been waiting to hear. It is not going to be a surprise if this album puts out more than a handful of hit singles. It is great to have an album once again where you want to buy the complete album and you listen to it from beginning to end. These days everyone seems to be buying singles or only getting to hear a couple songs from an album. Well on this one, you can’t do that because you will miss so many great songs. It is just a powerhouse of rock hits from hard hitting anthems, to emotionally driven ballads to energy driven adrenaline filled rock. You will not be disappointed.

We had the chance to catch up with Jacob Bunton, lead singer of Adler and talk with him about the release of their debut album, “Back from the Dead”. Here is an excerpt of that interview:

Music Junkie Press: Hi Jacob, This album just rocks in so many ways! It has a bit of everything that makes up great rock and roll. All the songs on this album ROCK, do you have a particular favorite or one that just really stands out to you?

Jacob Bunton: You know it is interesting because it just changes from day to day. One day I like “Your Diamonds” best, the next day “Waterfall” the best and then the next, “Good to be Bad”. It really changes. We are just so proud of the whole record. It is like every song that we wrote we get more and more excited about. We are definitely proud of what we created. Steven is super excited. This is his first full length album he released since Appetite for Destruction. He is grinning from ear to ear.

Music Junkie Press: Jacob, I have enjoyed your music from Mars Electric to Lynam and was very excited to see you in Adler.  How did you join up with Steven Adler?

Jacob Bunton:   Well, thank you for saying that. I have been at it for a while now. But we actually met because I was really good friends with Jani Lane from Warrant. When Jani passed away, I went to his memorial at the Key Club in Hollywood. I was out there writing. A mutual producer friend of ours, Jay Ruston, who actually is the guy who produced our record told me that Steven Adler is looking for a singer for his new project. He is tired of doing Adler’s Appetite, he has been doing it for a while. He was doing the Guns N Roses songs for the fans and he wants to do his own project. Jay thought I would be perfect for it. Then Lonny, Steven’s guitar player was at the memorial that night as well, and Jay introduced us and we hit it off. Then the next day, Steven came to my hotel and we just sat and hung out for a long time. We talked and we hit it off, personally more than anything before we got in a room and jammed. We just had excellent chemistry just talking about music and our similar interests and connecting.

Music Junkie Press: That is great because you can really feel the connection with all of you guys. You have such a powerful voice that is perfect for this record and you just deliver a 150% on every song.  I can’t wait to see you guys live. Do you have plans for touring as of yet?

Jacob Bunton:   Actually we do. We are planning our tour and we are going to do some dates in Japan with Duff McKagen’s Loaded and then of course we are planning on playing in other countries and especially the States, our home territory. Yes, 2013 is going to be a really good year for all things Adler and we are excited. We can’t wait for it.

Music Junkie Press: I understand you made your live Adler debut on the 2nd annual Kiss Kruise? How did that go?

Jacob Bunton:  It was, we did one warm up date the day before the Cruise in Cape Coral, Florida and that was our first show ever. It was so much fun. We had never played together live other than for rehearsals. It was great to finally play live and cool to be up on stage in front of a crowd and the chemistry really came out. Of course, we all grew up with Kiss. One of Steven’s favorite bands are Kiss, one of my favorite bands are Kiss so that was a great way to debut the band. We got to meet the guys in Kiss and that was really cool for me. Steven got to do all that stuff obviously more often. I mean being in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, being the drummer for one of the biggest rock bands in history. But for me, Lonny and Johnny we have all done our own things but never to Steven’s level so of course meeting Kiss was amazing.

Music Junkie Press: How old were you when you first got the music bug and what instrument did you start with?

Jacob Bunton:   I started when I was a little kid. I started out playing piano, actually playing drums was my first instrument. Then guitar when I was a little kid. I would mow grasses, did yard work, I did whatever I could do to save up $60 to buy my first guitar from a local music store in Birmingham called Highland Music. The owner of the store, his name is Don Murdoch and he was nice enough to sell me a guitar that was damaged in shipping. The headstock had actually broken off and he had taken superglue and glued it back together and it was good as new. Obviously, he couldn’t sell it but he sold it to me for $60. I learned how to play on it. Actually “Appetite for Destruction” as a kid, was my favorite album. I would sit and learn songs and play along with the record and that is how I learned to play guitar.

Music Junkie Press: Do you have a particular song writing process or writing ritual?

Jacob Bunton:  A lot of people do but me, not so much.  Sometimes I get a great idea lyrically and then melody wise and other times I come up with the music first.  Then sometimes, I don’t even have any instrument at all. I just wake up singing something and there is definitely not a set in stone process on the way I write. It is different each time and I have been lucky to come up with some songs I am proud of.

Music Junkie Press: I understand that on this album, you did a lot of the writing with Lonny Paul.

Jacob Bunton:   Yes, Lonny and I wrote a lot of the album together. We would send parts back and forth to each other via email. See I live in Alabama and the guys live in LA and we would email back and forth parts. Then we would get together when I would fly out there.  But one thing we talked about in that very first meeting in the hotel that day, was that we leave all the egos aside and don’t worry about hurting any feelings or anything like that. A song can be better or it is just not good, or not working out. Don’t lie and say that it is great.  Be honest and say exactly how you feel. We made the conscious decision to work together and change things if they needed to be changed. We listened to each other and listened to each suggestion. Jeff Pilson, our producer he really is like a 5th member of the band. He brought out so much and help channel the songs.

Music Junkie Press: You guys work so great together and that is what came out, it was all the great honesty and trust you had with each other. It is really displayed by your music. You all really put out an incredible album. If you could go back and talk to your 14 year old self, what advice would you give to your 14 year old self?

Jacob Bunton:  Ya, Keep doing exactly what I did. I grew up really poor so we didn’t have a lot of things that the kids had today or even back then. We couldn’t afford the video games, the internet and stuff like that.  I mean literally all I had was that $60 guitar and when I was bored that is what I played. I didn’t play video games or surf the net, I would just put on a cassette tape. I didn’t even have a CD player then. I would just play along with the songs of different tapes and play my guitar. Back then it seemed like at first not having what the other kids had and not being able to do what the other kids could do because of our financial constraints, then ended up being a blessing. Maybe if I had the video games and everything else, maybe I wouldn’t be the player and the songwriter that I became. It is funny how things turned out.

Music Junkie Press:  That is a great lesson to share and maybe some of our readers could learn from that great lesson.

Jacob Bunton:  It is one of those Thank God for unanswered prayers. I mean when you are a kid you are praying and praying for the money to be able to buy the stuff your friends have and everything else like that. Then the  unanswered prayers end up becoming the answered prayers later down the road, you just don’t see it yet.

Music Junkie Press:   That is beautifully put and well said Jacob. With your great influences and your love of different genres, is there any song from any genre that you would like to remake into a rock song?

Jacob Bunton:   I love, love, love Bluegrass so I am always open to doing a bluegrass tune in  a rock and roll style. The way our album opens up is almost kind of a country bluesy, bluegrass style. There is a mandolin, acoustic guitars, a dobro, and everything in the intro to the song,  “Back From the Dead”. You could definitely hear my roots, my influences, or where I came from,  in the record. If I had to pick a particular song, I don’t know if I could. There is just so many I love. My musical influences are all over the place. I love bluegrass, I love country, I love rock. I mean as far as guitar players go, Steve Vai is my favorite guitar player of all time. As far as bands go, I am all over the place. I love everything from Dream Theater to Metallica to Poison. I mean one of of my favorite albums, of all time, some people laugh at this but it is George Michael’s “Faith”.

Music Junkie Press:  That is great Jacob. Thank you so much for sharing with us and we look forward to seeing you guys out on the road on your upcoming tour.  Well, we here at Music Junkie Press are going to share the links on where to purchase “Back from the Dead” and we really look forward to hearing more from Adler.

So now, what are you waiting for? Get on over to Itunes to download the album or even better yet, head over to CoreRevolt/Adler to purchase the physical CD  and pick up a T-shirt while you are at it. You are going to love this album!  For now, I will leave you to watch the video of Alder’s ‘The One that you Hated” and you can check out more videos on their youtube channel.

So crank it up and keep it loud!

~ Marisol

 

Adler Band Photo

From left to Right: Lonny Paul, Steven Adler, Jacob Bunton and Johnny Martin

• Adler Website:                    www.adlerrocks.com
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• Adler on Itunes:                http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/the-one-that-you-hated-single/id517785370