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At the time of a band split up it might
feel like the end of you and your world. But there are definitely times when departing from your beloved music and reforming soon after can turn out to be
the right thing to do, even if such a realisation is far from being instant. It is a beautiful thing when a traumatic event happens to lead on to
something stronger and the end result feels so much better for it. It feels fresh and new.
Three piece punk rockers
Adrenaline Animals have literally been there and done that. Towards the end of
2017, following some busy spells of touring with the likes of Welsh band Pretty Vicious and The Hoosiers, Adrenaline Animals went their separate
ways. But this was only to be for a short while.
Earlier this year, following
a good rest over the Christmas period, the three musicians got back together. Ad Edwards (vocals and guitar), bassist Alex
Combe and drummer Mark Fennelly are really excited about making music and playing
together again.
Recording tracks at Monnow
Valley Studio in Wales, filming and finalising their video for the soon to be
released track This is England in London are all among activities which have
been keeping the three band members busy again, with one clearly defined focus.
Alex: In a way, I think
we kind of needed the break up because we had been going so hard working away almost
non-stop. When you are unsigned you are doing everything yourself, driving up
and down the country. I think over December we had a nice time with our
families, enjoying Christmas like everyone else, we felt refreshed and felt ready to make music again.
But prior to the split
up something else happened. Keen to expel some of his inner demons, Ad went
into rehab for a short period of time.
Spending a short spell of time there led to strong bursts of creativity
and prolific song-writing. In fact, Ad wrote five songs during that time and
the band members hope to release some, if not all, tracks on an EP, due out later this summer.
The close friendship with Pretty Vicious also led to some collaborative work such as Brad Griffiths playing lead guitar on Adrenaline Animals’ track
Music In Me.
Ad: I wrote Music In Me
while I was in rehab. It totally made the song. It feels like it was actually
written the week before I entered rehab but I wrote it there. We went in and
put the guitars down on it soon after. It is one of them songs that just kind
of happened. It was written and we
recorded it almost straight away. The song is about drinking.
Ad: It made me realise that
it was not just me who worried about things, it was my family as well. The day I
got out of rehab I took a three-hour-long taxi ride to Merthyr Tydfil where I met with Brad Griffiths and Jarvis Morgan of Pretty Vicious. Soon after we went to the studio for three days. So
it was like a bit full-on, straight from rehab to making music, in a very short space of
time.
There is little doubt that the band have enough stamina and endurance in equal measure, and these qualities seem to go incredibly well with type of music Adrenaline Animals write and produce so well. The band have definitely taken what they could use from punk and made it their own.
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| Adrenaline Animals playing at Dublin Castle earlier this year Photo: Rhona Murphy |
As Ad rightly points out
“We don’t make pop music”. Equally, simply playing cover versions is not in their DNA,
it has to be their own material in order to keep them interested and engaged.
Ad: We do not play
covers because it is not at all what this band is about and we do not want to do
so either. But I might well write a song and have someone coming to us and say ‘that
sounds a bit like someone ‘ but this is very much something we would take as a
compliment and it has already happened to us a couple of times.
Being influenced by and
taking inspiration from some of the greatest pop masters in the history of
music does not stand in Adrenaline Animals’ way, rather the opposite, they adore
iconic artists and bands and happily refer to the likes of John Lennon, Sex
Pistols, Oasis, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Eminem as well as Abba.
Having This is England set
for an early June release, to suitably coincide with the World Cup
starting, this may well be the tune giving us what we need this summer. It is a
fabulous piece of rock ‘n’ roll punk music and for all its energy, swagger,
melody and lyrics, the track displays the essential elements of an
Adrenaline Animals tune.
As well as being
essential to the band’s sound and genre of music, the drumming itself and the
personal touch of drummer Mark Fennelly, have both proven to be key in keeping
things together, adding both structure, precision and support.
Ad: Mark is the back bone
of this band. He is always doing stuff, always hitting the drums well. He
is really committed in a very positive, constructive
way. He can also handle me and Alex because we can be quite wild sometimes.
Alex: When the three of
us first got together we didn’t even pick up the guitars for months, we just
kind of sat and talked about what we wanted as the band. When Ad and I were
looking for a drummer a lot of people would call up and say things like ‘I love
your ambition, the drive and the songs’, saying stuff like ‘you guys are
brilliant can we come down and enjoy it’ but when it gets to the actual rehearsal
room they suddenly got a bit like funny but Mark actually came down straight
away and we all got on immediately.
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| Photo: Rhona Murphy |
Ad: I was selected out
of the entire country to attend a songwriting course where I wrote 32 songs. Willy
Russell is one of my biggest influences. All of my friends at
school studied Blood Brothers and Educating Rita but I was actually working
with him and writing songs. He is huge influence.
The band’s close to brotherly
bond with Pretty Vicious is probably one for life, but Adrenaline Animals are highly
autonomous and are totally independent as a band. In fact, so far this
year, they have hardly collaborated with the Welsh four piece at all.
Touring with them last
year was very enjoyable and a lot of fun though and getting to play at Glasgow’s
King Tut’s venue was a bit of a dream come true.
Ad: It is one of the
venues I always knew I wanted to do, it is an amazing space, the crowd there was
wicked and Pretty Vicious obviously looked after us so well. They are great
mates of ours, so doing that was just a dream.
The future is looking bright for Adrenaline Animals and the rest of the
year looks set to be a really good one.
Alex: I consider the
video to be the most important thing for us right now. it will get us rolling,
get us into gear. As soon as the video is out there we will hopefully start to
get people offering us more gigs. I think it is down to us to like take
advantage of that situation and get more songs released.
Single Release ' This Is England'
is available now on YouTube, Spotify, iTunes