#the adjuncts

NARRATOR: Adam Hogue of the Adjuncts spent some time traveling after high school.

ADAM: I had lived out of the country for a couple of years in Korea and about two years ago we came back, and then we started playing music again. So, we started this thing called The Adjuncts.

[MUSIC STARTS PLAYING]

NARRATOR: What's it like to return to Rhode Island after traveling the world for a couple of years? That's one of the things we'll be talking about in today's episode of 'Tell Me About Your Song'.

[MUSIC CONTINUES.]

I left all of my memories / In a box over the sea ...

JAKE: Hello, and welcome to Tell Me About Your Song, the podcast where I talk to musicians and songwriters about a song they wrote. Today, I'm talking to The Adjuncts and the song they'll be talking about is named '2YRS' and versions of it are available on a number of albums on their Bandcamp page, which is TheAdjuncts.Bandcamp.com. So, introduce yourself, guys.

ADAM: My name is Adam Hogue and I play guitar and sing in The Adjuncts.

JASON: Hi, I'm Jason Dolbec and I play the drums.

JAKE: Okay, so where would you like to start with the song, guys?

ADAM: We've been playing in bands since like high school. We're both from Woonsocket; we grew up across the street from each other. So we go way back, we were in like a jam band in high school that I want to say was marginally famous but we weren't at all. [laughter]

JASON: At Mount St. Charles.

ADAM: At Mount St. Charles. At Woonsocket High we got third place in their battle of the bands one year.

JAKE: Oh hey. How many bands?

ADAM: There was a lot. We beat -- Well, the hip-hop guy did good.

JASON: Fifty dollars, I think we went to Applebee's.

ADAM: Yeah, fifty dollars, we went to Applebee's. So that gave us the taste of the, you know...

JAKE: Fame and fortune.

ADAM: The good life [laughter] So we did that and then I went to college and I had moved out of the country for a couple year, in Korea, and about two years ago I came back, and we started playing music again. So, we started this thing called The Adjuncts and just started writing songs kind of just together again, and Jay was playing drums and I was just playing guitar. And this one we brought because it's really the first song I feel like we wrote as a band with Jim after we brought Jim on as a bassist. Who's another Woonsocket guy that we knew for a long time.

JASON: Yeah, well when you came back I wanted to start playing drums and I thought it would be a good opportunity. There was always like a kit around maybe in a garage but nobody really knew how to play it. At that time though I decided to use it as an opportunity to teach myself the drums and it's challenging because he likes to write songs very fast.

JAKE: Mm-hm.

JASON: So as a new drummer just coming up...

Adam: I don't like to perfect a tune, just -- I find that I like to write things quick and to the point. Maybe part of it is because, like, I ... wait ... the idea of like a thesis you know get to the point kind of thing with songs, and like I just feel like a lot of songs, and rock songs, you know -- You do the three minutes, and you do your time with that, and the verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, chorus -- you don't need to. So a lot of our songs are like this ,where it's just like a linear kind of two minute thing, where it will be like a verse, a chorus-y thing, and then the end of it. That's it. So I like to just say what I need to say, have few lyrics -- because I'm not a very good lyricist. I just like to say what I have to say and...

JASON: I disagree.

ADAM: You disagree, thank you.

Jason: So, in the beginning, though, I didn't ever really know where it was going to go. I don't know if you're on the same page with that. It seemed kind of like...

Adam: Yeah, we were kind of...

Jason: It's fun and...

ADAM: ... fun. We were doing, like, a little bit more harder stuff, not really jam stuff anymore, more like songs with distortion, and it was just fun. It was fun playing music, and then we brought Jim in, and then we kind of came out with these, this little batch of songs. The ones that -- this one and that song "Didja" were sort of in that same boat, where we kind of wrote them together, and contributed parts, and so this one that we're really like all kind of in on that song writing process, and kind of put us in a sort of direction. I don't think we really have a direction, but that's sort of kind of I think what we shoot for in a song.

[EXCERPT FROM 2YRS PLAYS:]

Everybody knows, everybody knows, everybody knows how it ends (x2)

JAKE: I feel like the song has a few kinds of distinct sections. So, was it a situation where, like, different people kind of came up with the different sections, or did you more kind of collaborate on all of them?

ADAM: Yeah kind of like I had that beginning part, with the verse in the beginning, and then that kind of distorted part the [hums beat].

[MUSIC PLAYS, THE BEAT ADAM HUMMED SEGUES INTO A SOLO BASS SECTION]

ADAM: Jim came in with that bass solo as, like, something unrelated -- like, "Guys, check it out!", you know. He's tapping the base, like, with the thing, and we're like, "Oh, that's cool!" and kind of just, I think we just like worked it into the song. So that one sort of came out of just playing it and trying it out.

JASON: It mostly you guys upfront, I mean, writing everything. Adam usually brings it all, and then Jim will digest it, and he'll come back the next time and just, you know, have a total direction for it, and fifteen harmonies, and everything he wants to do with it.

ADAM: Definitely vocally he's the strongest guy in the band. He always is the one that will work out harmonies, or -- He has an ear for things that I don't necessarily have an ear for.

JAKE: Mm-hmm. We haven't really talked about the lyrics at all.

ADAM: A lot of times, like -- I think in the case of that song, I'll write something I like on guitar, and then mold lyrics to them. Like I'm not someone who just sits and writes out lyrics and is like, "OK, now how can I craft this into a song?" So, the lyrics pretty much came out of the rhythm of the song. So like that [hums beat again] made me want to have lyrics that had that very rhythmic kind of approach to them. So, a lot of times I'll sing, when I'm coming up with a song initially, I'll sing just words, sort of ad-lib them, and then kind of piece them together after that. So a lot of lyrics I write these days, I'm a very big fan of lyricists who can say something very real in a very witty way. Like, the first person that always comes to mind when I think of lyrics that I love is someone like -- there's a guy, Jake McKelvie. He's, like, a fairly local musician, but I love his lyrics, who has the ability to, like, just be able to say something that's like they would say and not try and be, like, overly poetic, or overly sentimental, or say things that should be in a song or used to be in a song. Like, talk about, like, hopping training or something like, "I'm getting the first train out town," like -- No one's taking a train out of town. You know what I mean?

[EXCERPT FROM JAKE MCKELVIE'S SONG 'YOU'VE GOT TO FIND IT IN THE DARK' PLAYS]

And it's not getting easier to go. It's a big do or die world. It's a lay down and cry world. And say, "What in the hell am I doing, and why?" world. And you have to leave much sooner than me.

ADAM: Long story short, a lot of the lyrics I've been writing just deal with the complex of aging, I guess, and where are you at this moment in your life? Is it where you should -- a lot of my lyrics deal with that I feel like: Where should I be? Is this what it is? Is this all there is? Is this it? Blah, blah, blah, that kind of stuff. So this one actually comes from -- I spent the two years in Korea, and that's where the title comes from, and just coming back, and having, like, a full two year gap from living in the United States, and coming back and starting a life here again, and picking up where you left off, with that gap -- or having a completely different experience living somewhere else that doesn't apply here anymore. So it's like -- I reference, like, you know hearing about, like, he was getting married, and just like kind of these things.

JAKE: So the first verse talks about leaving memories in a box over the sea..

ADAM: Mm-hmm.

JAKE: ... and then the sort of section after that big guitar riffs comes in, where it's a bunch of questions....

ADAM: Yeah, yeah.

JAKE: So those are, like, finding out what people have been doing while you've been gone.

ADAM: Yeah, catching up or just like having that complex of having to go through those small talk questions over and over again. At least, at the time I wrote the song, that's what it felt like, you know. Everyone you meet is like, "Oh! I heard you were in Korea! That must have been an experience, blah, blah, blah." Like all the stuff over and over and over again. Or -- or the same thing, "Oh, so what are you up to now," you know, "I saw on Facebook you finished grad school. Cool, what are you doing?" -- All those small conversations, happening over and over again, in very short span of time, because you're meeting everyone in person for the first time in years.

[EXCERPT FROM 2YRS]

Are you still making money? Are you still getting by? Are you still running from the indians? Are you in another life? Heard you were getting married. Two years really flies right by. I heard you grow old and patriotic Wave those flags way up high

JAKE: "Still running from the Indians?"

ADAM: That's kind of referring to, like, the -- I don't know, just like I was bringing into account the, the mentality of some maybe older generations, or different people. That's just more of a social commentary line. I don't know I just liked the way it flowed, that's all.

JAKE: You've said four different things about that line now.

Adam: [Laughter] it's a very mobile line, as can be.

JAKE: Right, well it does sort of go into the, you know, "I heard you grew old and patriotic..."

ADAM: "Wave those flags way up high." Just in terms of, like, as -- I feel like, generally, as an American species, when people get older and older, they cling more and more to their patriotism.

[EXCERPT FROM 2YRS]

Don't wait until your body breaks. Until your mind escapes. Until you're out of time.

ADAM: I put this song as more of a manifesto.

JAKE: OK.

ADAM: I just feel like, I was just putting a lot of ideas out, without really one cohesive statement. The lyrics don't really have a linear story to them; it's not really necessarily one point in time. Just at the time that it was written, I think the lyrics -- I just wanted to have something that got it out all out there, sort of a general emotional feeling, or a tension I kind of had going on. Or maybe even a little bit of, like, an insecurity about where I was, or like, if there were any 'should have done's or 'should do next'.

[EXCERPT FROM 2YRS]

Don't wait until your body breaks Until your mind escapes Until you're out of time ONE! TWO! THREE! FOUR!

[SONG ENDS]

JAKE: I do want to talk about the drums. So, I mean -- Since it's a song of parts, and, also, it doesn't seem like it has a real regular structure. So, how do you approach figuring out what's appropriate and are you also making suggestions to other people about what they should be doing, or things like that?

JASON: I will. Usually they won't listen.

JAKE: Yeah, well, fair enough. [laughter]

JASON: Sometimes I make some suggestions. Because I also play guitar, so I have ideas there.

ADAM: Well, sometimes we listen. Like that ending --

JASON: Sometimes.

ADAM: -- that ending of 'Chemtrails'.

JASON: I got one, yeah.

Adam: That was it -- yeah, he was like, "I want to do this, like, punk ending." We did, and we love it!

[EXCERPT FROM 'CHEMTRAILS']

And even if you are Everything I want ...

JASON: For the most part, though, I don't -- There's nothing I think needs to change. They just write it, and I follow along, and I try to follow Jim -- drum, bass lock in.

JAKE: Mm-hm.

JASON: That's why it's always interesting when it's just you and I playing.

ADAM: Yeah.

JASON: Then I'm just following you going off...

ADAM: I always mention this: When we have the chance to play as a duo, I like that -- Even live, I like the kind of spontaneity, because I'll try and do things a little bit differently in the songs. When you have all three, you kind of do like you rehearsed more, because then it's three people depending on each other.

JAKE: Right.

ADAM: But when it's, like, two -- like, I might try palm muting a part for a change, where it's actually normally, like, distorted, or louder.

JASON: I kind of take a page from, like, Dave Grohl, where it's just, make nice little fills that are memorable, but don't -- I don't try to overplay. You know, I really just try to keep it solid on the recordings. And then, maybe live, you know, we can develop some more stuff. As you get comfortable with them, you naturally just go off, and do some other things. But I keep it pretty simple, and just kind of follow along and...

JAKE: So, if people want to hear more of your music, what should they do?

ADAM: The best way to hear the music is, we have a Bandcamp and a Soundcloud, so...

JASON: ...theadjuncts...

ADAM: ...theadjuncts.bandcamp.com and SoundCloud is soundcloud.com/theadjuncts. Or, it's probably easier to search 'The Adjuncts', and we'll come up.

Jake: And I'll link to it -- I put together show notes for these things and post them online, so I'll put link to all of that.

ADAM: And we do have a Pinterest, so, if you're --

JAKE: Awesome.

ADAM: If you're into pinning, we have a few boards.

JAKE: Boards such as?

ADAM: We have a Bruce Springsteen board. We have one I think on beards. I have one for banjos, because I play banjo.

JASON: Some recipes.

ADAM: Some recipes, some foods we like.

JASON: We're going to develop, and put, like, all of our instruments. I thought that's interesting for somebody. I know a lot of people might go, like, what kind of pedal is that, what kind of sound is it; to have that kind of information out there.

ADAM: It's an unexplored -- We made it just to grab that, you know, Pinterest, The Adjunct, before someone else did. It's largely unexplored. I think I picked all those boards day one, and then just told people we had a Pinterest.

JASON: The thing about that Pinterest was, too, when we were considering, like, a Facebook, or something like that, or like a Twitter, is that it's less like "me, me, me," you know what I mean? It's like go on there...

ADAM: I'm very anti having a Facebook page.

JASON: He is.

ADAM: But I guess on like Bandcamp you can list your shows.

JAKE: Yes, that's true.

ADAM: Maybe we can make that a new feature we add. We'll throw our upcoming shows on Bandcamp. (laughter)

JAKE: All right. In the meantime people in the Providence, or greater Rhode Island area, can look for posters on, uh ... Telephone poles! That's what they're called! [laughter] And things like that.

JASON: Yup, on all the main streets.

JAKE: Well, if people want to hear my music, you can go to music.jwgh.org, or probably just Google my name, Jacob Haller. And my music's there, my upcoming dates, and whatnot. And I also have website for Tell Me About Your Song -- it's tellmeaboutyoursong.com -- and I post the show notes on Tumblr, at yoursongpodcast.tumblr.com, and I'll put links to the bandcamp page and whatnot there.

ADAM: I do have a Tumblr.

JAKE: Oh!

ADAM: coldsoupy.tumblr.com. So maybe we can...

JAKE: Cold soupy?

ADAM: Soup, it's Cold Soup is the title, but coldsoup.tumblr was taken, so cold soup with a Y --

JAKE: Yes.

ADAM: -- dot tumblr dot com. So I -- and I do, do a lot of... I post a lot of our concert posters on that, and stuff.

JAKE: Oh perfect. So check that out. And, with all that said, we're going to listen to the song we've been talking about: 2YRS by The Adjuncts.

[2YRS plays.]

[solo guitar intro, descending riff] I left all of my memories In a box over the sea It's not really what's in your hands It's what's in your heart Everybody knows, everybody knows, everybody knows how it ends (x2) Call out to me in your darkest of dreams You know nothing can hurt you now You know everything you need to know And your dreams can't hurt you in the morning Everybody knows, everybody knows, everybody knows how it ends (x4) [thrashing guitar riff] Are you still making money? Are you still getting by? Are you still running from the Indians? Are you in another life? I heard you were getting married. Two years really flies right by. I heard you grow old and patriotic Wave those flags way up high Oh, woah oh oh, woah oh oh, woah oh oh [drums and bass into distorted guitar] CODA: (x2) Don't wait until your body breaks Until your mind escapes Until you're out of time ONE! TWO! THREE! FOUR! [guitar riff]

[SONG ENDS]

JAKE: Did the lyrics sort of come at the same time, or --

ADAM: Yeah, a lot of time -- [sound of Adam bumping the microphone] -- Oh, sorry.

JAKE: Watch that pop filter there. [laughter] That thing cost ten dollars.

JASON: It's a nice filter.

ADAM: It is a nice filter.

JAKE: Yeah.

ADAM: Uh --