45 Adapters are a relatively new band breaking down the barriers of conventional Oi! R&B and soul obviously play a signifigant role, and they're just warming up. Here's an interview with G. Pickabar, the singer/songwriter of the band.
1.How did 45 adapters come about? Was it a long process to get to the current line-up, or has it stayed consistent?
G: Well, I had been recording solo songs on my computer for a while just for fun and I really wanted to get a real band started. I had a band called "Bottom of the Barrel" in High School, but I hadn't done anything music-wise in the intervening years. I went out to a reggae night near my house and bumped into Julio, who was also looking to start a band. We roped in a friend named Pat on drums. When Craig moved to New York from Pittsburg, our first line-up was set. Craig played bass in The Traditionals for a long time. We started having band practices, wrote a bunch of tunes and drank a ton of cheap beer. Unfortunately, Julio had to drop out to concentrate on his family and real world responsibilities. We shut down for about a year after he left the band.
Eventually, Dave convinced me to start the band up again with him on rhythm guitar. I'm glad he did, because since then we've released two EPs, a split with Stomper 98 and some compilation tracks. We've also had a ton of fun playing shows all over town.
James, who was also in BOTB, is our fifth Beatle, but he lives in California now. He only gets to play with us a couple of times a year. He's pretty much my little brother, except he's always the one teaching me stuff.
We've since split with Pat and have had a fill-in on drums. If I have any advice to the youth, it's get a pair of drumsticks! You'll never be without a band.
So, yeah, not consistent at all, unfortunately. If we had had more of a solid line-up, we'd probably be working on a second LP by now.
2.What are your primary musical influences as a band? Are you inspired by any current acts?
G: It's really hard to pin down a specific musical influence as being the primary one. We're all music nerds and we've all got varied interests from glam, to R&B, to reggae, to garage rock, to psyche. Of course, at the root of all that we do is a mix of British working class punk music and Black dance music. We like to tell people we play Maximum Oi'N'B. Our aim is to be a truck full of Cock Sparrer records crashing into a truck full of Stax records. We just want to keep making songs that make people say, "wait, who are those guys?"
I don't listen to a ton of current music, but I really like Noi!se from Washington State, Pennycocks from Spain, Marching Orders from Australia, Sydney Ducks from San Francisco and Dirty Spiders from Brooklyn. All of those bands are doing stuff that makes me excited. The Pennycocks song "Burning Down My Youth" is probably my favorite song of the last few years.
3.As far as Oi! related bands go, 45 adapters seem to really be breaking out of the mold. Have you had any negative reactions from people deeming you not proper skinhead music? How has the feedback been generally?
G: Well, I can understand that some people want that pure three chord chug sound. Heck, a lot of times that's what I want to hear! We're just not that band. We write the songs we want to write, sing about the topics we want to sing about and we never try to follow any particular genre rules. I think there will always be a crowd of old school music nerds like myself who enjoy hearing a band take risks. Of course, there are going to be people who don't like us. The negative reactions don't bother me. I'd rather stand out from the crowd and let people judge us on our own sound than try to be everything to all people.
The funny thing is, when we play with garage bands, people describe us as streetpunk. When we play with ska or hardcore bands, people describe us as Oi!. When we play with other Oi! bands, people say we're a rock and roll band. We're looking to play with some straight soul bands at some point, just to hear some new opinions!
We plan on incorporating organ, maybe some sax, I don't know...maybe I'll get a glockenspiel or something. We're never going to be the most popular band, we just want to be the most popular band with old skinheads with big record collections.
4.Have you been playing out much? How is the NYC punk/soul/reggae scene in general, any standout bands?
G: We try to play out once or twice a month. There are very few things that I enjoy more in life than getting up on stage and shouting my head off in front of a rock and roll band. I highly recommend that anyone who can start a band do so! Live music is where it's at.
The scene in NYC is odd. On one hand, it's a huge scene. There are tons of skins, mods, punks, hardcore kids, skaters, etc. On any given night, there may be three soul nights going on, or four punk shows. On the other hand, stuff is really fractured, partially because of all of those options. Everyone has their own little circle of friends and a lot of people only come out once or twice a year for big shows.
I mentioned Dirty Spiders. Some other bands I recommend people check out are The Arkhams (Rockabilly, maybe the best band in the city), Schweinehunde (girl and boy punk), The Forthrights (rocksteady), The Stalkers (sleaze rock), Offensive Weapon (Oi!), Mighty Fine (Soul) and FED UP! (NYHC, RIP). I could go on and on, there are tons of great bands playing around the city.
5.What are your releases to date? What's in store for 45 adapters?
G: Our first EP was "Not One More Day". Our second was "Don't Trust Anyone Who Doesn't Dance". Both of those were co-released by Longshot Music and Contra Punk Records.
We've also released a split with Stomper 98 on Randale Records.
I know a lot of people don’t have turntables (the shame!), so we’re happy to be releasing all of those songs on CD via Rebellion Records. That should be out early in 2012.
If we can get a solid line-up going, we'd love to record a full length in an actual studio. We haven't been able to afford to record in a studio, yet. We have about 30 songs, it's just a matter of getting enough people to buy the existing records so that we can afford to make more music!
6.Any last words, thanks?
G: Thanks to you, Mike, for helping to get our name out there! Thanks to everyone who has supported us with their hard earned money. DTAWDD!
To get ahold of any releases, go to http://www.45adapters.com/
All photos taken by Otto Yamamoto http://www.flickr.com/photos/otto-yamamoto
