The Adorkables are an upbeat and cheerful pop punk outfit hailing from the ideal climates of floral industry and grape vineyards of Salinas, California. We caught the singer and bassist of the quartet Eric to discover how did the catchy tunes end up in Devi Snively’s feature film “Trippin’”.
Eric: “We got an email on our Myspace page from a guy who said that if we wanted to be included on some soundtrack we had until the end of the week to get our submissions in. I had no idea who the guy was, or what he was talking about, so I messaged him back, asking him what he was talking about. He sent me a message back explaining that he had booked a show we played in the Sacramento area, and that he just thought we would like a chance to be involved with the movie. I thanked him, and then got in contact with Devi. She liked what we did, and asked for us to send her some of our songs that she could choose from.”
The songs on the film are “The Evil Dead” and “Without You”. Would these be the sort sort of the tracks that the band personally gone with?
“I really don’t know, since we haven’t seen the movie yet, but from the descriptions of the scenes that Devi sent us, I can definitely see where those songs would fit.”
The band seems to follow a strong tradition of US punk. What would you say are the main influences?
“The Adorkables are influenced by The Descendents, Ramones, Huntingtons, Teenage Bottlerocket, Lillingtons, Darlington, etc… I had the idea to start the band in early 2005, when I decided that no one was ever going to ask me to join the type of band I wanted to be in, so I decided to start his own.”
My research shows me that Salinas is known for being an agricultural centre. How is the punk scene generally around there?
“Yeah, Salinas is the home of the great American author John Steinbeck, and most of his stories took place in and around the city. The punk scene in Salinas basically doesn’t exist… except for us. There are a few young bands around town that are just starting out, but all of the bands that we came up playing with have since broken up, and moved on.”
Your single “In The After Hours” 
is a 7″ vinyl (accompanied by a cd-r). Do you think vinyl would be the format punk should be released on? And what would be your view on the vinyl versus compact disc debate?
“I like vinyl simply from a collector’s standpoint. I own a bunch of records, but I don’t have a record player. I listen to music pretty much exclusively in my car, so since I can’t have a record player in there, I go with my Ipod. I do buy both records and CDs though, depending on the release, or collectability of the vinyl. There are just some albums that I want to look at, and display, as a 12″ sleeve.”
What have been the biggest highs on lows of the bands career?
“Highlights include recording at The Blasting Room, playing with Karl Alvarez’s band in Colorado, getting signed to Insubordination Records, and touring the East Coast in the summer of 2009. Lows would include constantly seeming to be looking for at least one new member, and the way that some people treat us and react to us simply because of our name.”
If the Adorkables would be a drug. What drug would it be?
“Drug? Probably like a warm soothing cold remedy. I have no idea how to answer that…”
Get the cough! {laughter}
“Exactly. We’re catchy like a cold, but soothing like the relief…. or something like that.” {more laughter}
The band hasn’t seen the film yet and therefore are still uncertain about what “Trippin’” related tattoo they would go for, but you are not leaving out the option of getting one on your neck?
“Is there a dragon in the movie? If so, then we are SO down!”
“We’ve never met [Devi], but from what I’ve seen via email, I would say that she’s very thourough, professional, and driven.”
Think you hit the nail on the head there.
“Plus, she seems to have some pretty good taste in music!”
Agreed! When she makes it BIG what classic book or comic she should go and adopt for the silver screen?
“The Rising by Brian Keene.”
The novel won the Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel. What are your thoughts on Bram Stoker? Devi being the official deviant film maker of the film festival carrying his name…
“From what I’ve read, The Rising has already been sold to a studio to be developed into a screenplay, but that has been the word for a few years now, so who knows what’s actually going on with it. As far as Bram Stoker goes, the only that that I know about him is that he wrote that Dracula book that was really popular. I don’t really care for vampires, so I’m not that up on his library of works. I’m more of a zombie man, myself.”
What film character would you want to have join the Adorkables?
“Probably Ash from the Evil Dead films. He could add some high pitched girly screams – like in ED2 where he gets locked in the basement and Henrietta pops out of the floor.”
What you describe there would look great in a music video as well. Have you thought about getting one done?
“We’ve talked about making a video before, but never really seriously. Our guitar player, Jason, had a cool idea a couple of weeks ago. He said that our song “It’s Not Me” reminded him of Scooby Doo and that we should edit together a Scooby Doo montage as a music video. If I had the time, I just might…”
Eric picks Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash as the next “versus film”, who would be the last man standing?
“I imagine the last man standing would probably be either Freddy or Jason. Ash is supposed to be a real guy with no supernatural powers, or anything. Just a shotgun with seemingly unlimited ammo.”
And if it would be a tag team match who else would’ve you brought along?
“If Ash could team up with The Tall Man from the Phantasm films, then we might be more of a fair fight.”
Who would win in a street fight the Sex Pistols or the Ramones?
“Ramones. The Sex Pistols wouldn’t even exist without them.”
Don’t you think that might be an overstatement as the Sex Pistols also drew a lot of influence from bands like the New York Dolls and early Glam, like Bowie and Roxy Music?
“Possibly, but the Sex Pistols were influenced by the Ramones, not the other way around. If anything, the Sex Pistols were more of a hinderance to the Ramones, and punk music in general. If not for the Pistols and their stage antics, punk would’ve been more widely accepted in the first place.“
Yeah the record companies tried to market it under New Wave and steer away from the label punk.
Is there a question that you’ve not been asked that I should’ve asked?
“What was the 2nd place name for the band? Answer: The Simpletons.”
Would you regret not going with that name instead?
“I know a lot of people don’t like us, even before they hear us, based only on our name. I get that, but I think if those same people actually gave us a shot, they would be pleasantly surprised by what they heard. Is our name the best ever? I would never claim so. A lot of people hate it, but a lot of people say they like it too. I don’t know. The Simpletons is kinda a stupid name too though…”
End the sentence: “Kids, do not take drugs…”
“… oh, who am I kidding! Of course they do!”
Nice twist!
“Not to mention pre-marital sex and drinking! Ahhhh…. kids today! I tell ya!”
The Adrokables are going to continue to play shows, do more tours, and record more music. Meanwhile you can you can check out few of their tunes, including “The Evil Dead” from “Trippin’” on their Myspace site at www.myspace.com/theadrokables and order their debut album “…She Loves Me Not” along with a t-shirt or two along with a few badges to along with them!
Interview by Jyrki “Spider” Hamalainen