Adema at Fete Music Hall, Providence, RI – September 11, 2021

The Noise Ordinance tour came to Fete Music Hall in Providence. Fete turned this night into “Providence Rock Day,” with a total of 16 bands playing across two stages all night. After all of the amazing local bands played, the three bands that made up the tour were The Oddeven, Flaw, and Adema.

When was the last time you thought about the band Adema? It’s probably been a while, and that’s ok. Their 2001 self-titled album sold over a million copies, and produced the hits “Giving In,” and “The Way You Like It.” Their second album, Unstable, did decently, as well, but after that, they’ve featured a lot of lineup changes, and never quite hit that success again.

If this band ever has a shot at achieving that level of success again, it will be in this current formation.

Singer Marky Chavez left after Unstable, and the band went through many lineup changes over the years. He rejoined in 2017, only to leave again in 2019. The band’s new singer is friend of the website Ryan Shuck. If you’re not familiar with Ryan, he was one of the original guitar players in Orgy, co-wrote several early Korn songs, such as “Blind,” and currently fronts the electronic rock band Julien-K.

We had a chance to talk with Ryan before the show. He said he had been working with the band to get them to sign on for some big tours with the full original lineup. As the discussions went on, he came to realize that Marky was not interested in performing. When the band got another tour offer, they reached out to Ryan to see if he had any interest in fronting the band. A couple of rehearsals later, and here we are. Watch the full interview below to hear more of this story, as well as how his joining the band has affected them writing new songs.

The band came out to the title track of Unstable, and the audience was immediately taken back to the early 2000’s. They only played one other song off of Unstable, “Co-Dependent,” as well as “Immortal,” off their EP released between the first two albums. Other than that, the rest of the setlist was made up of songs off their debut album, Adema.

Well, except for one more song. In the last few weeks, Adema released their first new song in over a decade, “Ready to Die.” Obviously this is their first new song with Ryan on vocals, and there’s no doubt it sounds like an Adema song. I remember when I heard Ryan was going to be signing for the band, and I just said “wow, that makes perfect sense.” This new song shows I was right. Before performing the song, Ryan asked who in the crowd had heard it, and only about half the audience had. He was excited that they were getting to perform it to people for the first time.

As we got to the tail end of the set, they played the songs that people really to hear the most, such as “Freaking Out,” “The Way You Like It,” and of course, they finished the show with “Giving In.”

Their set was a solid performance. The band is playing as good as ever, and Ryan sounds right at home singing these songs. The average fan may have been completely unaware that he’s not the original singer, the fit is that good.

Will they hit the level of popularity they did in the early 2000’s again? It’s hard to say, but with over 100k streams of “Ready to Die” in under two weeks, they are primed up to take their shot. We can expect to hear more new music from them soon, and I look forward to seeing what they do!