Adams Traktor is a music project formed by JR Smith from Seattle, Washington to explore, expand, and in many ways bend the music genres that have influenced progressive modern music. The project brings Smith together with experienced musicians who have collaborated with artists such as Lou Reed, Tears For Fears, Suzanne Vega, and Julian Lennon. We’ve featured the band over the last year and look forward to hearing their soon-to-be-released album “Quench”. In the meantime, we had the opportunity to speak with JR about the band, music, and more!
Thank you for agreeing to this interview with Occhi Magazine. Congratulations on your career to date. Adams Traktor is a music project, but how did you choose the name?
It’s my pleasure, you would have to lock me in a cell to keep me away from an interview opp like this. Thank you! Concerning the name “Adams Traktor”, the name came into existence quite a few years ago while partying with friends on a Saturday evening in Prague. We were joking about how domestic we had all become cuz we had an actual small patch of grass to mow every week (our yards) and someone at the party said, and I quote: “Have you seen Adam’s Tractor?” They were referring to my neighbors driving lawn mower… I was a bit puzzled until figured out what they were actually referring to. No matter, my friend Gunner and I looked at each other and were like… “that is a cool band name”. So, as much as I would like to say Adams Traktor has a deep profound meaning with a great back story, it’s really just kind of an amusing one. The neighbor, Adam, does not even know this story. We intentionally left off the apostrophe between the “m” and the “s” for effect and spelled Traktor with a “k” instead of a “c” since we spend a lot of time in Central Europe and that’s how they customarily spell it. For the record, Adam has zero biblical connotations, and Traktor no farming ones.
You explore, expand, and in many ways bend the music genres that have influenced progressive modern music. Whilst many will argue that’s what musicians naturally do, how is Adams Traktor unique?
The answer to this has a few parts IMO. We’ve thought about this a lot… as in… can we really get away with saying that?
First, the statement is a result of our struggle to define the genre(s) that we could fit the eleven tracks on the Quench album into. It’s really frustrating because we still struggling with it. It’s simply not possible – or at least obvious to any of us. There is a common thread running through all the tracks, but we are all over the shop – in a good way. Sometimes we find it hard to even define the genre of a specific song. Take “Need” for instance. It has a fairly easy intro and initial verse, then Fernando kicks in with a very funky bassline that almost mimics a heartbeat, then Olda comes in with a kind of pop like guitar strum, then at the bridge it just goes all sideways into a heavy riff and solo (that is a little “wackadu” as Gregory would say) that really puts the song in a different place, only to then drop out to nearly just quite vocals and then drifts into the funky/pop like verse and outro. Elements of pop/rock/funk all in one.
Two, we’ve all been lucky to have been exposed to so many different genres of music – they have all influenced us, you know, left a mark on our styles. The early ’80s to the present have seen so much diversity, evolution, and recycling it’s hard to keep track of it all. I’ll just rattle off some band names to make my point…. James Brown and Marvin Gay and George Clinton to Van Halen and Foreigner and Bon Jovi and Guns and Roses and Heart to Duran Duran and The Smiths to NIN and Ministry to Moby and Joey Beltram to The Melvins and Nirvana and L7 and Sonic Youth and Alice In Chains and Soundgarden to Dr. Dre and Easy E and Eminem to Green Day and Nickelback to Billy Ellish and Ed Sheeran… the list is just freaking infinite. And then there are artists like Bowie, who evolved and created through it all. Put a simpler way… rock, metal, hair bands, new wave, dance/EDM, industrial, funk, soul, modern pop, etc.
Three, as musicians, Gregory, Manny, Fernando, Olda, and me all have a lot in common, but we also have a lot of differences. Manny with Tears for Fears, Fernando with Lou Reed, Slash, Heart and Jeff Beck, Gregory with Tony Visconti and Darling Cruel, me having been a professional DJ spinning records, promoter, and an underground record store clerk in Seattle in the early 90s, Olda growing up in Prague and playing hard rock and more recently funk and soul, and so on. A lot of different perspectives all at the same table.
So when you put all those elements together, and as a result, really struggle to define the genre(s) both the album and the songs fit into, it feels like we might be altering, expanding, and bending genres just a little. Or maybe we’re just combining them in some way. But we leave it to you to decide.
The band comprises the talents of Manny Elias (drums), Fernando Saunders (bass), Gregory Darling (producer and keyboards), and Olda Kreycoves (lead guitar). Please tell us how you managed to assemble these artists.
The credit really goes to Gregory Darling, the producer who I met out and about in Prague. After we laid down the basic rhythm guitar and vocal tracks we worked with various drummers and bass players but really struggled to find our sound/groove. So eventually we decided to shoot higher, as in sending the basic outlines to Manny and Fernando to see if they would be willing to come into the studio and work with us. Gregory has worked with Manny and Fernando for years so we figured the chances were high. Believe me, with this pack, I generally feel like the amateur in the room and am extremely fortunate.
Your latest track Noth’en explores the emptiness you experience when you are faced with loss. The loss of a relationship, a friendship, a loved one, or something you cared about or valued. Unfortunately, this is something many people can relate to, particularly during this pandemic. Can you tell us a little more about this track?
Sure, Noth’en was written quite a few years ago shortly after Chris Cornell’s death; it’s my memory of him, my recollection of the loss, the recognition of all he gave through his music; it was inspired not only by his passing but also by a lyric he wrote early in his career: “Nothing to say…. I’ve got nothing to say”. I still get a little choked up when I talk about it.
In the end, when you lose something you really value, which is more times than not, a person or relationship, there are so many emotions involved… emptiness, loss, regret, and sadness to name a few, but it seems like after you’ve processed it all, there is a period of time where you just feel nothing at all. That’s the space this song resides in.
Adams Traktor strives to create music that is unique and true to its sound. Particularly in light of the pandemic, what do you think the industry will look like in the future, particularly for independent musicians? Has the lockdown, the economic downturn, streamed performances and the increased use of online platforms changed the industry for good?
In short, it definitely has. I love this question, mainly because I work with a group of really talented entrepreneurs at a music discovery, streaming, and ticketing platform out of London called DICE. They are disrupting the ticketing industry massively and providing great music streaming content to fans who are live show deprived due to the pandemic. This is the new normal. I’m not going to use your platform as an advert, but instead, I want to use them as an example of a company that the pandemic nearly destroyed, like so many others in the hospitality and entertainment industry; more specifically clubs and music venues. When shows ended, they did a 180 and dive into streaming and more streaming. This, combined with their drive and determination – but more importantly, by providing an outlet for artists and fans all over the world, means they, and the clubs they support, are surviving. They, along with all the other streaming platforms, have provided an outlet for artists to be seen, heard, and to make money. Streaming has now evolved 20x more rapidly than it would have on its own pre-pandemic and has now become part of mainstream music culture. Through live streaming, an artist’s audience has expanded to the entire planet – not just the city of London. Clubs and promoters are installing permanent streaming gear in venues and will be taking it on the road so shows can be local and global at the same time. $50 for a live ticket on the floor and $10 to see a sold-out show you could not get a tic for. The steam can be global or simply the local geo to meet the demand generated by a sold-out show.
To some extent streaming also cuts out the middle-man (label and promoter). This means the fans pay less and the artists make more. I’ve nothing against promoters or labels, but the ecosystem has been disrupted and it ain’t going entirely back when clubs and venues open back up. The ticketing industry has been ripping off fans and artists since I was ten, it’s good to see this correction.
The pandemic has reached havoc on so many, but our field, music, has been especially hit. I don’t mean just financially, but it’s also impacted artists’ energy, creativity, writing, etc., and also fans’ ability to engage with their favorite acts and just go out to gigs. But I love the way artist have stepped up and moved to other forms of engagement, 3x the engagement on social media and streaming, not just performances but also making their exposure more personal, more real, in the studio, unshaven and unabashed! David Grohl is a great example of this, love what he and the other members of the band are doing on their own and in collaboration with other accomplished and up-and-coming artists. In what I hope is just a few more months, I believe the lid will be blown off the live music industry in the form of festivals, concerts, club gigs, you name it. Can’t wait.
So what’s in the pipeline and what can we look forward to? and the topic/general themes we can expect Adams Traktor to cover?
We’ve released only three of the eleven tracks from Quench. We will be releasing one single approx. every other month with some remixes in between. For example, Julian Shah-Tayler (The Singularity) just finished remixing “Noth’en” and it’s a completely different take on the track so EDM fans might get a kick out of it. “Need” has also been remixed by a young insanely talented group of DJ/Producers out of Turkey called Depart Musique. Can’t wait to release it over the next couple of months.
Concerning the remaining seven original tracks, they range in style wildly. There is one softer balled similar to ”Time To Wake Up”, a few that go very dark and skirt the border of Industrial, and the rest fall somewhere in between. All are heavily influenced by my youth in Seattle and spinning underground dance music (to this day actually). Ya see, how do those fit together….
Themes vary from the lighter side in “You Found A Way” to the darker side of the human tragedy in “Let It Rain”, “Down” and “Feed”. In life, none of us that have been working on this project are particularly dark souls, the opposite actually, but maybe it’s this moment in time that brings it out.
Where can our readers find out more about you and your projects?
The best place is right here through you! Again, thank you.
We post regularly on IG and FB, IG being the most prominent, and have a website that is always up to date and all our releases come with a vid so YouTube is a good option. All current and future tracks are and will be, on Spotify and SoundCloud as well. Links below.
- Website: https://www.adamstraktor.com
- IG: https://www.instagram.com/adamstraktor/ (adamstraktor)
- FB: https://www.facebook.com/adams.traktor.1/ (adams traktor)
- Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0bxkS8BDIInKRx9IyeukVx?si=IR1jrOsZTIi0bkVj7UD-zw
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCitM44wIUEEhfKM36QfoFfQ
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/user-263359563
- Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/adams-traktor/1532638072
Images provided courtesy of Adams Traktor
About Author
