Season 1 - Ep. 10 - Going Deep on Midwest Punk Rock and The New Album with Adam Fletcher from The Copyrights

In this episode, I get the chance to speak with Adam Fletcher (Bass, lead vocalist) of The Copyrights, which is a rad punk band from Illinois, about their new album Alone in a Dome and talk about their influences and get some meaning behind some of the songs as well.

The Copyrights have been around for almost 2 full decades now, and they have been a top punk band in the Midwest region for many years. The recording process on this album was different than ever before, and they finally got to put the album out on Fat Wreck Chords as well!

Check out the interview as it is one you do NOT want to miss!

Intro Music: "Colorado" by Birds Love Filters

Follow and Listen to The Copyrights on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7xm2IaaRIe82EpyZwEi7Un

The Copyrights on Bandcamp: https://thecopyrights.bandcamp.com/music

The Copyrights on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thecopyrights/

The Copyrights on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thecopyrightsband/

"Part of the Landscape" Official Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTnYJWJKtDM

"Halos" Official Video: https://youtu.be/cr__5NGLo-Q

"Stuck in the Winter" Official Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1B-XkhdJ7s

The Powered By Rock Album Review for Alone in a Dome: https://poweredbyrock.com/blogs/rockingblog/the-copyrights-make-triumphant-return-after-long-lapse-with-alone-in-a-dome

Transcription:

Isaac Kuhlman 0:00
Hello and welcome to the Powered By Rock Podcast where we're gonna be speaking with Adam Fletcher from the punk band, The Copyrights. They have a new album out called Alone in a Dome. And it's another great album in the long line of great albums from these guys stick around to hear all about it and more.

You're listening to the Powered By Rock Podcast with your host, Isaac Kuhlman, the Powered By Rock Podcast was created helps showcase some of the best rock musicians in the world. And to pass on to future generations to rock music that has inspired rock fans around the world for decades. We want listeners to be able to hear great stories and life experiences directly from their favorite artists, as well as dig deeper into music theory and talk rock. Like no other show you've ever heard. This isn't about looking cool. It's about getting real and having a great time. Without further ado, let's start the show.

Hello, and welcome to the Powered By Rock Podcast. This episode's gonna be a lot of fun. And I'm excited to be speaking with Adam from the copyrights. So welcome, Adam. They have a new album out called Alone in a Dome. And it's probably one of the top if not the best punk Album of the Year, in my opinion. And we'll get into that into we'll get into that in a second. So welcome to the show. Adam, how are things?

Adam Fletcher 1:16
Things are good things are good. Thanks for having me. Good. Yeah. All right.

Isaac Kuhlman 1:21
Get some more sound effects in there for ya. So it's been a lot of fun, know that you're gonna be on the show, because it gave me an excuse to kind of go back through like all your all your albums and go through the catalog. And it just reminded me, you know how damn good you guys are. So it's been a lot of fun this last week and a half since I've known you're going to be on actually didn't know you guys were actually still active. Because the last time I heard of you was probably 10 years ago, it was even before you guys kind of stopped releasing albums. And then obviously, a post from Fat Wreck Chords mentioned that they'd sign you guys and I was like, I'm not even sure if it's the same band. Is it the same band? So I looked at it. Of course, it's the same band. So it's a double check that but I gotta first ask like, was there any single singular reason for the long break between albums? Or was it just kind of a mixture of things going on and life happening?

Adam Fletcher 2:06
Yeah, it was the let's see Report came out about seven years ago. So that's been quite a gap. But yeah, I had my wife gave birth to my first child five years ago. So that kind of slowed down, touring for me. And yeah,

Isaac Kuhlman 2:24
congratulations by the way.

Adam Fletcher 2:25
Yeah, thanks. I took a break for a little bit. But, you know, we recorded this record in 2019. Yep. So it's been sitting for a little bit.

Isaac Kuhlman 2:35
Didn't feel like as long of a break then, I assumed for you guys at least.

Adam Fletcher 2:39
Yeah, it went by fairly quickly. For me anyway, I don't know what everyone else but yeah, you know, there was a lot of other things happening, you know, pandemic and all kinds of chaos in the world. So it was like, we weren't quite ready to put out a record. But yeah, you know, life stuff just kind of got in the way. And we put out a lot of records very quickly. Yeah, I think, you know, we're putting out a record every year, we were like, boom, boom, boom, delivering records for a long time, you know, year after year. So

Isaac Kuhlman 3:10
if it wasn't an LP was like an EP, or, you know, so

Adam Fletcher 3:13
yeah, there was material there was stuff. So. So yeah, it was like, just a certain point where it's like, well, we have, you know, a whole lot of songs to choose from, and, you know, do we need to add more to the file, or what do we do? So, we took our time. I'm happy we did. I think it turned out great. And oh, yeah.

Isaac Kuhlman 3:34
I mean, I was just listening to it again, while I was eating dinner, and I just had a newborn son this year, and he's about 10 months old. And he's Hey, me, too. Him into it while he's

Unknown Speaker 3:44
eating. All right. Yeah. 11 month old.

Isaac Kuhlman 3:47
Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah. So they'll be in a band together, we'll get all the kids from from the pandemic, we'll make a big bet. Right. Awesome. So before we get into some of the other great topics I want to bring up today, I do want to ask you about kind of like your journey. You know, obviously, you're from Illinois. I grew up in friggin North Dakota, which is like the shitty step sister of all the Midwest states that like just just going to be awful. Like, you're not going to do anything if you live there. Thankfully, I moved out, but I kind of want to know, like, how did you get started playing music? What artists were some of the influences for you? And basically, when did you decide like this was going to be the thing that you pursued for, you know, a career and do this for a lifetime?

Adam Fletcher 4:29
Well, I first got, I mean, I grew up like watching MTV, that was always on. So you know, music was always a thing. But, you know, I was right whenever Nirvana and grunge hit in 1991. I was the perfect age to pick up a guitar. So that's when I first got a guitar and kind of strung around on it. But when I was 14, I got a bass guitar. And shortly after that, Luke and I started learning how to play music together. So we have doing that since 1995 or 94 ish.

Isaac Kuhlman 5:02
So you actually chose the bass before even having to transition it as I had a guitar,

Adam Fletcher 5:09
but for whatever reason I let somebody borrow it and it broke and then I had a friend that yeah, it was like, I'm selling this bass. I'm like, I'll buy it. Yeah. Yeah, I'm glad I did, I guess. But so yeah, we started playing music together. And we were in high school and we started a band and played together locally and then quickly made our way over to the college scene of, you know, house shows and basement shows and, and bars.

Isaac Kuhlman 5:42
And yeah, and that's it. What was that at Duquesne? Is that correct?

Adam Fletcher 5:46
No, we're the band is... We're from Carbondale, Illinois. Yeah. Which is the very southern tip of

Isaac Kuhlman 5:54
the state by East St. Louis and stuff, right?

Adam Fletcher 5:58
Yes, St. Louis is about two hours away. Indianapolis is two hours away. Kentucky borders about an hour away. So we're like way down there. Southern Illinois University is the is the is the college here. So, you know, everyone from Chicago. It's the furthest you can get in the state of Illinois, from Chicago, so everyone comes to school down here. Or they used to, but it has anyway, it had a culture and music scene that we tapped into. And that's kind of where we're from.

Isaac Kuhlman 6:29
That's a pretty cool geography lesson because I know a little bit about Illinois but don't know very much about Carbondale event. Yeah,

Adam Fletcher 6:35
it's a it's it's a small place. It's a really small town. Yeah. And I'm from here, and I was born here. So yeah.

Isaac Kuhlman 6:46
You guys all live there. Still?

Adam Fletcher 6:48
I do. I'm the last I'm the last guy that still lives here. Everyone else. Everyone else is in. Kevin's in Chicago, Luke's in Springfield. I'm in Carbondale and Brett's in Nashville. So we're three hours apart. three hour drive all the way down the state of Illinois down to Nashville. But yeah, I'm the last I'm the last guy that's still here.

Isaac Kuhlman 7:11
So how does that work with like the recording and stuff like that you guys have to like, plan like a week out or like you just kind of do it individually and then kind of come together when you have to get to a studio? Well,

Adam Fletcher 7:22
sometimes we just go I mean, yeah, for every - Make Sound. We did it Atlas in Chicago. So you know, we would all go there and book studio time. And we were there for weeks. And even up to a North Sentinel Island. We did the same report, we went out to Mike Kennedy's house in Oklahoma City. And we tracked most of the record there. We did some of the drums at Sonic Iguana studios, in Lafayette. And then we took it to mics but you know, this whole time Luke, who is the main Songwriter of the band, and is also you know, the guy who he went to recording engineering school, and, and learn the craft. So we have between me and him. We have some home studios here. So we just kind of this whole record we did ourselves. We did most of the heavy lifting, but, but we track the guitars that Lost Cross, which is the punk house here in Carbondale, and Luke did the drums at his house and I did a bunch of vocals here at my house and we just kind of pieced it together and did it all completely DIY from the ground up.

Isaac Kuhlman 8:29
That's awesome. I mean, I

Adam Fletcher 8:31
Yeah, it's cool. I mean, it's yeah, it's, it's cool in that regard. And like we did this record that it's like, you know, we made a record that's completely just ourselves and then and we put it out on Fat too.

Isaac Kuhlman 8:42
Yeah, I think that's yeah, I talked to a lot of people about you know, obviously the pandemic and then basically having to do the recording inside the studio. And, you know, it was actually Angelo Celli from the band Bracket that you know, he's like he's like yeah, we've been doing this for years because we just didn't want to tour and we didn't live in the same place so we just been doing the home studio recording stuff so it's like the whole world finally caught up to our kind of trend because they had to or whatever and I was like yeah, it's pretty interesting.

Adam Fletcher 9:10
Yeah, it's and you can do so much with so little I mean now like plugins sound incredible and drum you know, drum replacer sounds and things triggers but there's something to be said like as a band to all be locked in Sure. A recording studio for you know a destiny Your time is gonna end and when the record is over, it's over. Yeah, the thing like I love I love that kind of that aspect of it too. So yeah, maybe we'll do that sometime. I don't know what we're gonna do. But the way this record that's the way this record work and we weren't in are in a hurry and you know, Luke has a studio and and I have a studio and we can just record some stuff and bounce it back and forth. Real easy.

Isaac Kuhlman 9:57
Nice. Alright, well, let's dig into The actual new album and so let's let's get a little bit a little deep on here because I think it's an it's an absolute ripper. I think probably my favorite part of the album is actually the cleverness of the lyrics. So if looks right, and most lyrics, kudos to him because there's a lot of awesome lyrics in there. And I don't know if you know, like some of the stories behind the lyrics. But, you know, the first song off the album Part of the Landscape is one of my favorite ones, and it's talking about the Bucky dome. It's like, you know, our bunk, but our Buckminster Fuller's geodesic dome, which I believe he started in Carbondale isn't that kind of part of the storyline?

Adam Fletcher 10:36
He didn't start it. But he was a professor here for a while, and he has a geodesic dome home. That's like just up the street from where I live. It's right in the middle of town. So I pass it all the time. We actually filmed the video, like the live shots for part of the landscape. And the music video was in that house, which was really incredible to be in there because I don't know it's really cool. He's a fucking cool dude. And, and they've done a really awesome job restoring it. The foundation that took it over, and you should look them up and donate to them if you can. Because it's cool. There's like, you know, signed Arthur C. Clarke prints on the wall and cool stuff that Buckminster Fuller had. But, yeah, yeah, it's a reference to Bucky. And he was he was a he's a kind of identity for Carbondale where we're from so

Isaac Kuhlman 11:23
yeah, yeah. So if we dig into that song now, I don't know if you kind of, I don't know how much you know about the song because I've been kind of trying to dig up some of the concept behind it. But it seems like there's a whoever the subject of the song I'm not sure who it actually might be, but it could be Buckminster Fuller himself or somebody else. But basically, it takes the take the I didn't think it was but it takes the concept of a book, a Bucky dome at first, which is kind of like this, you know, scientific HOUSE OF THE FUTURE kind of thing. And then it's talking about this person with that kind of mentality, it seems to devolve into the more it goes for kind of more like the ideological to more of the materialistic by the end and talking about the Eichler home, which is more like the California, you know, glass windows, like looking kind of like fancy housing. Am I kind of on the right track here? Because it seems like that's kind of like a devolution or de-evolution of the kind of person in the subject matter of the song.

Adam Fletcher 12:15
Well, that's a nice catch. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I and and are you asking for, like a theme of that song? I mean, it's

Isaac Kuhlman 12:25
just, I just a little more clarity because it's, it's interesting to use those two pieces of architecture as kind of like, like a comparison or you know, an analogy.

Adam Fletcher 12:35
Right, right. Yeah. Like the future is the dream home perfection, you know, the geodesic? The his whole thing was, you know, yeah, like I said he before he Epcot Center, you know, yucky design that you know, Spaceship Earth, he was a futurist, and, and, and was all about livingry instead of weaponry and things but geodesic dome is, you know, the perfect shape can withstand all the weight and, and is easy to put up and create these modular homes. But, Yep, yeah, I get what you're saying. It's I think a lot of people can probably relate to the idea of living in a decaying Midwest town. Like, Carbondale is. So, yeah, you can identify with that. And that's the theme there

Isaac Kuhlman 13:28
is yeah, that seems to be a theme of a lot of the songs there too, as well because you got you know, you had songs that are talking about you know, just being stuck there. So you have four songs that kind of range across the the seasons so Stuck in Springtime off of Mutiny Pop, Stuck in Summertime off Make Sound, Stuck in Winter, and Stuck in Fall. So stuck in Fall is off a Report and then obviously a new one Stuck in Winter. How did you guys come up with those ideas? Is this like, is this was this kind of like a thing where you guys got together and said, you know, maybe we'll make this a finalize this or after the first two or something. Yeah, I started thinking this is gonna be a theme.

Unknown Speaker 14:06
Uh, I think it just kind of worked that way. Like, I know, I don't think we really had it. It wasn't like a premeditated thing. Yeah. I remember writing Stuck in the Springtime, and then which was the next one second, the next one was Summertime. And that was Luke's and then it was like, oh, yeah, we should you know, probably do some more. It just it Yeah. It's kind of a cool little theme.

Isaac Kuhlman 14:35
For Yeah, so as a follow up question, why do you guys hate seasons so much?

Adam Fletcher 14:40
We don't but we have them all here. It's a it's a Midwest thing. You don't have them all in California or the desert or?

Isaac Kuhlman 14:45
Yeah, you know, I'm in Vegas. We've got really hot or somewhat cold. And that's it.

Adam Fletcher 14:51
Yeah. So not everybody can I guess can identify with the season thing. Yeah.

Isaac Kuhlman 14:57
Yeah, it's kind of interesting because it is a lot of that. You know, isolation, alienation, looking back on like seasonal depression and just you know, post apocalyptic language like, you know, the sun's dropping like an atom bomb and, and the vivid vivid visionary of this like these these seasons is like, Man, I don't think I want to live in the Midwest and that's kind of make it seem.

Adam Fletcher 15:21
Yeah, yeah, winters suck winters are rough.

Isaac Kuhlman 15:28
Yeah. Well, let's talk about some of the bands and influences you guys obviously, I think in when I listened to your guys's music, there's a lot of notable, you know, influence back here. Not so much like directly but like you can hear like little bits and pieces of like some of these bands but like, you know, if I'm thinking like Screeching Weasel who's obviously another Illinois baseband Little Green Day here, face to face, Alkaline Trio, which I believe is also another Illinois band, and maybe like a dash of Bad Religion and some of that stuff in there. But you guys have your own sound and it's kind of like this incredible, upbeat pop that like Screeching Weasel used to make but the lyrics and the subject matter is so much more. You know, I guess deep than then what Screeching Weasel might put out about like comic books or movies or TV shows or whatever they talk about most screeching weasel stuff. So is that kind of like in the right track for you guys as influences?

Adam Fletcher 16:21
Yeah, you're right. Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, we like all those bands.

Isaac Kuhlman 16:26
Yeah. That's good. Because you know, when I wasn't too, you know, I'll hear just like a little piece and I'm like, Man, that's actually sounds so much like a Billy Joe thing is saying, like a Green Day thing, but then the rest of the song sounds nothing like Green Day but it's like, you just pick up these little pieces here and there. It's like, looking. Yeah, bread crumb.

Adam Fletcher 16:44
Yeah, I I'm not so well versed in Green Day. Yeah. But, you know, they put out a lot of stuff I haven't listened to. But you know, but we grew up on in that pot that Lookout Records era of pop punk kind of stuff, you know, Mr. T experience and yeah, all that all that shit. So and we love early Weasel and, and, and the fat records bands of the night, like the Survival of the Fattest era of fat, you know, like, all that stuff was huge to us. So that's just part of our DNA. Yeah, I don't. I don't I don't necessarily think that we sound like those bands, though.

Isaac Kuhlman 17:28
No, not at all. It's, it's literally just like hints, like, you'll hear just like a little background guitar or like a harmony or something like that. That's that kind of has a little hint of that. It's not right, straightforward. You put it face to face or, you know, not saying face to face, but you put it back to back and listen to stuff. You're not going to say the sound like anything. But you can hear kind of those influences kind of percolating in the background.

Adam Fletcher 17:51
I'd say Dylan before was also really big. Yeah. blueprint for the sound of our band, too.

Isaac Kuhlman 17:58
Yeah, I feel like that's a pretty big blueprint for a lot of Midwest punk bands coming up.

Adam Fletcher 18:02
Well, absolutely. Beyond. So I would put that in there too.

Isaac Kuhlman 18:06
Yeah. Yep. Good call. Yeah. So like, it's funny, because you're saying you like you're not, you don't fall Green Days that much. Like I never, I had like two albums that I like, of Green Day in and I kind of just like, now this isn't, this isn't for me anymore. But then that introduce more punk. Obviously, it was like, they're the first ones to get super, super famous. And then all this other stuff kind of got, you know, you know, there's like, even like Ska got famous because of green day a little bit, you know, like, Rancid, you know, Reel Big Fish and all that stuff. So it's kind of awesome growing up in the 90s getting all this stuff kind of bubbling to the surface. Because in the 80s If I was, you know, born five to 10 years earlier, you wouldn't have that much stuff you got like the Pixies kind of kind of, you know, out there in the distance. But, you know, there wasn't a lot of like, truly punk bands that you could hear other than maybe the Ramones and the Clash, and that's about it.

Adam Fletcher 18:55
Yeah, I mean, that was and that was, you know, 1994 the boom of punk the biggest the big, the golden era of punk. I mean, that's the biggest it's ever been. You know, I was Luke and I were both like, freshmen and sophomore in high school. So we were the perfect age for that to cat to catch that wave. And I'm glad that we did. It's such an interesting time to look back on that. Punk was like on the radio.

Isaac Kuhlman 19:25
Yeah. Exactly. Like so. He's just everywhere,

Adam Fletcher 19:29
like, here's what's weird about it now though, is and you know, once once those bands are gone, there won't be any headlining punk band at the fest. Like, think of every big punk festival. Who was the headlining band?

Isaac Kuhlman 19:47
Yeah, it's like NOFX, Descendants. Like it's

Adam Fletcher 19:49
somebody from California from that era too from that era. Yeah. So when all those bands are gone, this level of punk festival I think will be gone. I don't think there will be like, these huge things that exist in Europe that it's always like the headliner of the big punk fest is you know, I don't know, Strung Out, Lagwagon or Sick of it All or whatever. And it's like, yeah, it's It's crazy to think like, oh, shit when Rancid, NOFX, and these bands are gone. Like that'll be weird. Yeah. It'll just be too old

Isaac Kuhlman 20:24
to be too old to be playing punk music anymore, anyway. Oh,

Adam Fletcher 20:27
I know. Yeah. But I just don't you know, it. What I'm saying is it just never had that commercial reach? Yes, that era. So it never it doesn't bring in like as many people if you're, you know, yeah, it's old

Isaac Kuhlman 20:42
dude. Like me and you know, 40 year olds and 35 year olds that are like, I remember the 90s. And so then, you know, that's the big draw, but then they try to get their kids and, and so hopefully, maybe, you know, because people are getting their kids in to it that there will be kind of like a second wave. But yeah, you're right. I mean, well, that

Adam Fletcher 20:58
wave will be much smaller. Yeah, yeah. For sure. And the ship that there'll be into won't be like dad's music, you know? Yeah.

Isaac Kuhlman 21:06
It'll be like, the electronic version of every

Adam Fletcher 21:09
it'll be something different. Yeah, yeah. So yeah, once once, like The Offspring is gone, you know. And blink,

Isaac Kuhlman 21:17
so I think another great thing I noticed about your guys's music and that, you know, I think this is the kind of a this is where I kind of bring up like screeching weasel and some of these other bands especially is, is that you guys use a lot of melodies and harmonies, right? So you guys are actually looking to vocalize with multiple singers, which, you know, if you got multiple be like in singing the band, it's always a great idea to use that because it makes the sound so much more professional and polished. And it just gives that kind of like a more powerful, you know, push with the vocal. So, you know, what's, what's kind of your take on obviously, you use multiple focus vocalists, but what is your kind of take on that? And like, has that always been something that you liked about the music? And that's why you put it into your guys's music.

Adam Fletcher 21:56
Are you getting it? Like, yeah, we like the big gang vocals type stuff like,

Isaac Kuhlman 22:03
Well, yeah, somewhat. I mean, it's just more like, you know, even just to like, add an extra like, you know, just a backing vocal or backup vocals.

Adam Fletcher 22:14
Yeah, we've always had that. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. And because you got to show people where the How to where to sing along. So somebody, somebody else has to step up. Someone's gonna say, hey, yeah, somebody's gotta like, you know, and then like, I think coming from like, being our favorite part of like, punk music is like, the big sing along thing, you know? Yeah. Naked Raygun, Misfits, like something that you can catch on to, and sing along to. And and I think like, production wise, maybe you know, hone your craft playing in small venues where the PA isn't necessarily loud enough to be point over your guitar cabinets and stuff and a small room like it helps if everybody just sings along. Yep. Which adds to the whole thing. So yeah, I think that that kind of adds to our sound as well.

Isaac Kuhlman 23:15
That's an interesting point, because I never really thought about that. Because I, you know, one of the biggest things about small venues is you can never hear anything that the singers are saying, it's just like, alright, well, if I knew the song, I can obviously catch on. But if I don't know this song, I'm just gonna wait for it to be over. So I can sing along to the next song. Right? Like, every time I got to meet song you like, Well, I'm not gonna be able to understand this one. Yeah.

Adam Fletcher 23:40
Yeah, we like to, I don't know, we like a good looks of Luke's great at writing. Writing songs, and his melodies are insane. So well. And I think that the group vocal thing just adds to the energy and urgency of the song.

Isaac Kuhlman 23:55
Yeah, so I want to kind of come back to what you were talking about you becoming a bassist first. So like, you know, basically, this is one of the most underappreciated instruments out there. I think one of the big challenges to find somebody who is a basis for most rock bands, because you always have to find someone who's playing guitar and eventually transition them over. Or, you know, you have to actually find just somebody out there willing to play right. So what kind of inspired you I would say that a true a true bassist as a unicorn. So what inspired you to like really do that and why did you decide to be a bassist and why didn't you change later?

Adam Fletcher 24:32
Um, that's a good question. I don't know I I mean, I have guitars and I can kind of fiddle around with guitar, but I wouldn't call myself a guitarist. You know, it's just I think there were probably more people that played guitar. Yeah. And I played the bass exactly like a guitar and I still do pretty much I come from the DD Ramone's. School have of playing the bass for the most part, but it's a you know, it's a punk band. So that's what your

Isaac Kuhlman 25:08
intricate about, like slap bass and there's

Adam Fletcher 25:10
not a whole lot of I mean in high energy music like this there's just no room for that. Yeah not there's just in this within the song like there's no you know there's no room for not much room for for for too much stuff you know Matt Freeman from Rancid and he moves around quite a bit but yeah, yeah whether or not he needs to show off all the time. Take a step back everyone's

Isaac Kuhlman 25:33
like just calm it down Matt calm down Yeah, like you're making the rest of us look bad. Or just,

Adam Fletcher 25:37
you know, taking the focus off the melody of the song. But yeah, I don't know, I like I don't know, I like I like the bass. It's a it's, it's only got four strings.

Isaac Kuhlman 25:53
Makes a little easier. It is a little tougher to play because it's obviously you know, harder to press down the stuff and a little bit more. Yeah,

Adam Fletcher 25:59
I my arms and and hands are totally destroyed, destroyed from years of overwork. But yeah, I feel that now. I feel that now. But but you got to keep up a certain level of stamina to be able to like play that fast. You know? Yeah. And for that long, so I, I get that. Yeah, I don't know. There's some fucking great bass players out in the world.

Isaac Kuhlman 26:26
Yeah. They're, they're sure are, especially in the punk realm. I mean, you don't have to be great at bass to be in a great band. But, you know, when you make yourself good, it makes the band even better. So yeah. Obviously, you know, you make yourself pretty indispensable in the band, because you're also, you know, one of the lead vocalist, if not, I don't know if you say the lead vocalist, or whatever, but you lead vocalist, much like Fat Mike from NOFX in a handful of other bands. When did you first see yourself as someone who wanted to be the singer in a band? Because that's also a different step forward, right? Because you can play an instrument. And at some point, you're like, do I want to start singing? Do I want to start writing? Do I want to put all this focus on myself? So when did you start seeing that?

Adam Fletcher 27:07
Um, right from the start, I was trying to play bass and sing songs with Luke. Interesting. We had another we had our friend Mike, who was an older guy, Mike Martin, and he joined a band joined the band with us. And he played guitar and sang. So, you know, I was always a bass player. But yeah, so kind of from the beginning, it was like, just how do you do both? And how do you figure it out? I wasn't trying to be like a frontman per se, or anything like that. That's just the thing that like, kind of fell into my lap, I suppose. I'm probably just cuz I was willing to just sing and play.

Isaac Kuhlman 27:44
Yeah, you didn't sound horrible, sir. Like, alright, you can

Adam Fletcher 27:46
keep I mean, I did when I started. Yeah, I was terrible. And it takes a long time to like, figure it out. I don't think I figured it out yet. But I'm getting closer. Yeah, from the beginning, it was just like, I don't know. singing duets. Yes, they can play the bass. Yeah. I can shout, you know, it's a punk band. You can just shout.

Isaac Kuhlman 28:07
Yeah, exactly. And that's what most people do on their first few records is one that you guys didn't, but obviously, when you first get going, you're playing like thrash, like thrash punk or something like that. He's like, Yeah, yeah. It's like, you'll figure it out. Like, you don't have to know what the song is about. Just get up and dance around.

Adam Fletcher 28:24
Yeah, just get up there. And yell, yep.

Isaac Kuhlman 28:26
So speaking of fat guy, Fat Mike, you guys obviously sign on to fat records for this album. You did the no knocks EP back in 2014 with them as well, but just the first full length album with them. So kind of how did the signing happening? Because I read a couple things online. It's like, you know, they kind of turned some stuff away from you guys before and rejected some stuff. But obviously, during this one, you said that you obviously it's all production that you've done. So how did that come around for this one? Did somebody shopped that to them again?

Adam Fletcher 28:56
Uh, yeah, we had just been sitting on that on the record for a little while, like, and I Yeah, we, you know, we had we known the people that work at Fat Wreck Chords for so many years. Yeah, like 12 years ago, I remember helping them move shelves into their new building whenever they moved to this location. So we've been friends with them for a long time. So we and other Fat Wreck Chords bands. So you know, it wasn't too much of a stretch for us to sure to be in contact with them. But you know, we had recorded the record in around two through 2019. And, and then I just kind of wanted to take a little bit of time, like I wasn't quite ready to put out the record quite yet to like start that cycle all over again. And then the pandemic happened. And then we were like, forget about it. Let's just take a break and like, not even focused on band stuff. Yeah. So in that time period, you know, we had discussions with people at Fat and they were into putting out the record and then we're like, alright, well then let's do it. And then here we are.

Isaac Kuhlman 30:11
Didn't have to win like an arm wrestling competition with Fat Mike or anything like that.

Adam Fletcher 30:15
No, not at all. I've, I've barely bumped into Fat Mike only a couple times in my life. So yeah, we don't have that kind of relationship.

Isaac Kuhlman 30:24
Yeah. So now I think during the production process, basically, did you have to fine tune anything after the signing? Or did you just it was done. And then you just sign in and released it a couple months later?

Adam Fletcher 30:37
Yeah, we? Yeah, it was just, they were down to put it out. And we signed to the there was no signing, you know, it's just a handshake deal. And then, yeah. And then the record, had to sit and wait for a whole eight, nine months or something. Yeah. I mean, the vinyl isn't even out till January, because it takes so long for the record to come out. So yeah,

Isaac Kuhlman 31:01
the production actual. Yeah, it's just this crazy,

Adam Fletcher 31:05
just been a whole lot of waiting. So we played a few shows that came out on October 22. And that weekend, we played Indianapolis and Milwaukee and Chicago, and we got to play some new songs. And that was great, because we've worked him into the, you know, we're playing new songs. It's nice to be able to go play him. We didn't want to put on the record and I'm able to go play the song.

Isaac Kuhlman 31:23
Yeah, exactly. And then you guys just did Fest, right. So down again, we just got

Adam Fletcher 31:27
home from fest. Yeah. Yeah. It was great. How was that? Awesome. Great. Yeah, it's great. It's our 15th Fest in a row.

Isaac Kuhlman 31:34
Jesus, so you guys aren't even playing like just regular shows. You're just like, we're going only for Fests.

Adam Fletcher 31:40
Yeah. Oh, yeah. We just fly down there. Nice. But so we did two shows. This year, we did Boca Fiesta Secret show. And then we did like the Eight Seconds. Now. Yes, the big room. And both shells were great. Surprisingly enough. It was a weird fest, because everything is it. There were just less people and but there was also open container. So you walk around, and there was like outdoor, you know, tables and stuff set up. So it had much more of a nice, like, outdoor feel it was really great. It felt like an old Fest.

Isaac Kuhlman 32:13
Nice. Yeah. So you'd mentioned the vinyl stuff. And this is something it's it's obviously one of the things that are kind of keeping a lot of punk bands profitable in a lot of ways. Because, you know, the limited presses, you know, in seven inches and all this other stuff and wax releases and all that stuff. What do you think like how did I mean, I don't own a record player. I haven't since I was in like seventh grade. And I remember when digital and CD came out and I was like, oh my god, this is so much better than record. But now it's like everybody wants to go back to the actual vinyl and I'm like, okay, but it's more for like, I think it's more for collectible. And you know, obviously to listen to it once or a couple times, but not to like, play it out and then ruin the record. Right. So what's your take on this whole, you know, relationship between punk rock and, and vinyls?

Adam Fletcher 33:01
Um, there's probably a large collection selection of people that just collected for no reason. I guess other than just that it's a way to support the band. And it's, you know, a cool thing to own. It's a big record. I actually have a shitload of records. Yeah, like 1000 records. And probably a couple 1000 7 inches. And. And jukeboxes to.

Isaac Kuhlman 33:41
You were hoarding way before everybody else was hoarding.

Adam Fletcher 33:44
I don't know if I was hoarding. And I actually kind of feel like I got into the record game a little late, but around like 2004 2005 is probably whenever I like, buying a lot of things on vinyl. And it was just because like, I that was the first time I actually had a space where I was living to set up a record player. Yeah. So then it changed my relationship with how I was like listening to music. So then I started like, just sitting down and putting on a record and listening to it. And that's the thing that I still do. So I have like a record room over here. You can't see it. But behind me is the CD collection. All those boxes over there. Yeah. Those Those don't ever get played. I don't ever do anything with those, but I feel like maybe someday they'll come around.

Isaac Kuhlman 34:33
Yeah, well what about LaserDisc. I mean, why isn't that the thing that got popular again instead of vinyl?

Adam Fletcher 34:38
Oh, I don't know. But my one of my best friends in the entire world is a 5000 laser disc collection at his house. He has like 5000 Laser discs. It's insane. It's insane. But I so but the vinyl thing. It is like Tragically Hip and a point where like it is kind of fucking over like people that are trying to make records. right now. But you know, the everyone's blaming the Adele record for how many she's getting pressed? And yeah, I don't know. Like, I don't understand why somebody just doesn't open up their own Record Plant.

Isaac Kuhlman 35:14
Yeah, yeah, I mean, especially if you're gonna sell, you know, half a million copies yourself or something like that. It's like, just hire an entire company to do it for you. So that one company can do it.

Adam Fletcher 35:24
Yeah, I wonder if just so that many, you know, when it comes to punk records, like, there are a limited amount, and that's what makes them worth something.

Isaac Kuhlman 35:33
Yeah. Yeah, for sure. I mean, there's, they're, like, most of the punk stuff is like 500 or 1000. Like, that's usually what you see. And that's why they were like, you know, three times more than the albums were regular album. So I

Adam Fletcher 35:46
get it, I get it. i i Sometimes pay way too much for records that I shouldn't. I was just curious, I want to own because it's I want to own the artifact. Like, show me another one. Like, here's an original, you know, Danger House. Early punk seven inch, like, show me another one. You can't kind of buy it from you. Exactly what I spend that much on it. But I will say like a

Isaac Kuhlman 36:07
music museum or a library of sorts of the sound and in the piece of time, like you're saying like an artifact, basically. So

Adam Fletcher 36:13
yeah, good take. Yeah, that's my take on it. But I also listened to it on Spotify. Yeah.

Isaac Kuhlman 36:20
Like, well, then I don't blame

Adam Fletcher 36:22
anybody. I don't blame anybody for not buying into records. Like I would never like that's like, yeah, that's the whole thing is like, if you're buying it, it's because it's a limited amount of something here.

Isaac Kuhlman 36:34
And then that's, like, you buy that for the to support the artist and obviously, for the fact that it's limited release, but then you go play the stream. So that way, they keep getting paid for every single time that you play that so it's kind of like a double, a double supporting of the band. So if you guys are out there and you're like, Oh, should I buy actual physical copies? Sure, and then go stream it as well, because you're gonna keep rolling those clicks, as downloads over.

Adam Fletcher 37:00
That's right.

Isaac Kuhlman 37:01
Awesome. So, I do want to talk a little bit about Carbondale because we mentioned it before, it's an all right town. I think it's like 20,000 people with, like you said Southern Illinois. Is it Southern Illinois universities, there's that we said, That's

Adam Fletcher 37:14
right. Yeah, the southern SIU Southern Illinois University is here, it's somewhere around 20,000 people, just just local residents, and I don't know what the current class at SIU is the this year.

Isaac Kuhlman 37:29
Yeah. So a couple of songs on this album, reference it and obviously, you've referenced it through multiple songs in the past, do you kind of feel like your relationship with Carbondale is changing as you get older? Obviously, you mentioned that the rest of the bands left the city, but you haven't. So do you feel like maybe it's not so miserable? Or maybe it's not the thing that you need to escape from anymore? Like, you may have thought when you're younger?

Adam Fletcher 37:51
Um, it's a it's a, it's a love and hate, I suppose. You know, yeah, it's, for me, I am, I'm, I'm 40 years old I am, I'm a person that like, has a relationship with people that work at City Hall, and I'm active in like, trying to change some of the rules and the way that music works, you know, some of the laws that have been passed in this town have kind of like, you know, done some damage to the music scene and I, I've done some work to try to, like, fix those. We'll see if they work. But yeah, I'm an adult. Now. I have two children. My wife is a pediatrician. She has a practice here. You know, I'm a homeowner. So my relationship with Carbondale I guess has changed. Yeah, in that way

Isaac Kuhlman 38:48
it's kind of it's you have to because it's like you own part of it now. And so like, I want this thing to be better than what I why I thought it was when I was younger.

Adam Fletcher 38:55
Yeah, exactly. And ordered the way Yeah, I want it to be better and live here. And I just want to try to make it better. So that's kind of what I've been working to try to do for the past. I don't know five years or so.

Isaac Kuhlman 39:09
Awesome. Well, we're gonna have a little special session after this but I'm gonna wrap the actual podcast but before we do I'm gonna obviously we'll add some links to the to the music in the show notes below this episode, but you have anything you'd like to plug upcoming shows or anything or anything you want to say a fans that you know, or people who don't know about your music yet before we go to off off air today.

Adam Fletcher 39:31
Oh, well, I would say we have something to plug but we have no shows booked. Best was our last thing for a little bit. We'll see what happens at the beginning of the year. But, yeah, we have a new record out. It's called Alone in a Dome. You can find it streaming anywhere on any service. It's on fat records if you want to buy the actual Limited Edition vinyl, copy and check it out.

Isaac Kuhlman 40:00
Awesome. Obviously, I'm assuming I have to preorder it because it's not available right now. Right? The CD

Adam Fletcher 40:05
is available, but the vinyl will not be here. It doesn't ship till January. If you're looking for vinyl, we'll just blame Adele say it's a you can listen to the you can listen to the record anywhere. So give it give it a listen.

Isaac Kuhlman 40:18
For sure. So, Adam, I want to thank you very much for being here. This was awesome. Yeah. The band is awesome. Obviously, The Copyrights, if you haven't heard of them, I mean, it's been around for a couple decades now. And they've been

Adam Fletcher 40:30
20 years will be next year is 20 years. Yep.

Isaac Kuhlman 40:33
So they've been making great music for 20 years. And if you haven't been able to check them out yet, you definitely should check out the music in the show notes below. And if you like what you heard on the show today, please make sure to subscribe to the podcast and share it with friends on social media as well. So you can see the full interview on YouTube channel as well. So if you want to watch us actually talking instead of just hearing us talk, you can see that on the YouTube channel. Also, if you want to check out some of the written content we do, or any of the products or merch that we have available, go to poweredbyrock.com to read our absolutely free rockin blog full of album reviews, interviews, and lists to keep you entertained and find our gear as well so you can pick up some items to play and look like a rock legend. That's our show for today. We'll see you soon for the next episode. Until then rock on.