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Our friend Adam Joad has a new project called Scattered Hamlet. This band kicks some serious ass! The three songs I’ve heard (Warning, Shelter and Can’t Change Me) are some of the best back to basics rock I’ve heard in a long time. Scattered Hamlet is a refreshing change of pace. These guys take music back to the days of kicking ass and taking names with no apologies. So with no further adieu I present our follow up interview with Adam Joad.


Phoenix Always Rises: How would you compare Scattered Hamet to previous projects you’ve worked on?

Adam Joad: It’s way more me, this is the first time I’ve ever started a band completely from scratch. The other projects I’ve been in have had my influence obviously but this one was exactly what I wanted to do. I had an idea in my head, I consulted other musician friends about what they see me doing ect and the concept of Scattered Hamlet was born --- I just had to get the right cast of characters and once that happened, it got even better than I anticipated.

Phoenix Always Rises: How did you all meet?

Adam Joad: I met Clay first. He actually answered an ad I placed and he was in between serious projects since he wasn’t working on the Nick Black stuff anymore. I met him once, he played to the tracks I gave him and I knew right away he was the guy. We then took the original three tracks as like a guideline and started writing and looking for the other band members. Clay knew Kenny Dale and I loved that he had a country music background, and Kenny played in a band with J. Cole before so he introduced us to him. It was like each person knew someone else. Keep in mind this took a few months, it didn’t just happen. It was frustrating there for awhile - I would go through one sheets, mp3’s and emails every night and it was like the first day of American Idol....People didn’t even read the requirements or just had a warped self image of themselves, I’m not sure. It was fascinating though. We also had a lot of really good people we considered too but this lineup just seemed to work right.


Phoenix Always Rises: Scattered Hamlet has a completely different sound than your previous band 286. Who were some of your biggest influences for this album?

Adam Joad: That was the fun thing about SH, when I met the brothers from 286 it already had a sound. This time I got to do what I wanted to do with 286. I wanted it a little more melodic, a little more accessible to people and a little more fun but still keeping the outlaw vibe. I dipped back into the archives and listened to a lot of Lynyrd Skynyrd, Molly Hatchet, .38 Special, classic Aerosmith but also paying attention to more contemporary blues rock bands from Clutch to Down. I knew I wanted to get the music in that universe somehow. All of this required that I honed my own skills too. I had to get my voice in shape to sing more and also get better on the guitar so I could come up with ideas and such. It wasn’t a matter of saying, I want a band to sound completely different than 286, but I knew the sound I wanted and I knew if I got it right it would sound different. I’m actually really happy about that, no one likes to start something new and someone say, “hey, this sounds just like your old band” [laughs]. Someone just caught the last show and said it reminded them of Lynryd Skynyrd meets Sabbath with some Rob Zombie thrown in -- I’ll take any of those comparisons happily.


Phoenix Always Rises: How does it feel to know that Scattered Hamlet is getting radio play overseas?

Adam Joad: It’s awesome, it really surprised me. We just leaked the mp3’s to our friends and stuff and it really blew up fast. People were hitting us up for press kits and cd’s and we’re like, ummmm, we don’t have them yet. We definitely have a Southern rock backwoods kind of vibe too so it was interesting for stations in London to request the mp3’s - I think it’s great, just not what I expected. Shit I grew up in rural Appalachia, Clay is from a ranch like the mad trapper in Canada and Kenny Dale is from Southern Louisiana. J. Cole is the only SoCal native in the bunch. None of us have any European ties so people were picking this up out of genuine like for that band and that’s great.


Phoenix Always Rises: How is the recording process for the album coming along?

Adam Joad: We have a lot of the rough tracking done, we know how the songs are going to sound and how they are structured ect. We haven’t actually started laying it down yet. I guess you could say we have the map drawn and now we have to follow it and make it happen. Really, that’s the easy part, the performance aspect won’t be an issue, which is really nice. We still have to decide if it’s going to be an EP or a full length too. It all probably depends on how the next few months go down schedule wise.


Phoenix Always Rises: Do you have a release date planned?

Adam Joad: I don’t even want to speculate at this point. I’m sure we’ll be leaking some rough stuff though before the end of the year and hopefully have something together early next year. We have a “head full of ideas that are driving us insane” to pull a Bob Dylan quote out of my buttocks - which you should try to do once a week.


Phoenix Always Rises: What is your favorite part of performing live?

Adam Joad: Everything about it! That’s where it’s at for me and for all of us. SH is a live band and we all like to play live. That was a big battle for me in 286, I’ll play anywhere, I like playing music and entertaining people. I don’t want to play like 2 shows a month, I’m ready to play all over and tour as much as possible. I didn’t get into this for fame or money. I do it because I really like to do it. The rest is consequence...trust me youngsters out there, there are many many easier ways to make a lot of money than playing music [laughs].


Phoenix Always Rises: Are you planning a tour after the album drops?

Adam Joad: We are already brainstorming regional target shows and such. We’ll probably do some of those and hopefully hop onto some tours with other bands too. It’s a loose plan how about that.


Phoenix Always Rises: Do you have any preshow rituals?

Adam Joad: I don’t have any superstitious things, I do like Melissa Cross Zen of Screaming warmups so my voice sounds good when I get on stage. I usually have a beer or whisky or something and just kind of get in the zone. I don’t like too many preshow parties before the show. It annoys me when I’m in our greenroom and there’s a bunch of people around me I don’t know or some random nimrod causing drama or something. We can do all that after the show, I want to be comfortable before the show so we can give people what they paid for. I have a lot of friends who let me go back stage at their shows too and from arenas to small clubs, I give them the same respect. I’m really polite though to anyone and if something I’m uncomfortable with happens I’ll explain my position and usually it gets solved. It’s important that we never come off as jerks, in my last project some stuff happened that I’m just finding out about now from bookers and stuff and it really bummed me out because it’s a bad reflection on what I’m all about and what I think music is all about. People working with SH will have fun and be happy working with us, that’s the way it should be.


Phoenix Always Rises: You’ve been a couple of TV shows in the past couple of years; do you have any more appearances planned?

Adam Joad: Yeah, the funny thing is I’ve never planned to ever be on TV, it just kind of finds me. I randomly stumble into stuff. I’ll just be somewhere and someone casts me or someone calls me up and asks me if I’ll do something. It’s fun though, I love it - I respect the craft though. I have friends that are real actors and if it were something I was actually pursuing I’d want to learn the craft and do it right. I’m just a bonehead who gets on camera now and then and plays Joad, which comes natural [laughs]. I would LOVE to be on Son’s of Anarchy, I think I could play a rad outlaw biker. Henry Rollins is on there this season and that’s epic. I’m sure you haven’t seen the last of me on camera, I’m just not sure when it will be or how it will go down.


Phoenix Always Rises: What bands and artists are you listening to the most lately?

Adam Joad: So I’m on this weird kick, I’m infatuated with Kanye West. Honestly, my least favorite type of music is R&B too and he seems like a total tool box, but he cracks me up. I just literally watched all of his videos on demand the other night - granted I didn’t make it through all of them from start to finish but “I ain’t sayin’ she’s a Goldigger” [ha ha]. I will say that if he ever tried to take my microphone I would clobber him though.

Each week I watch all the videos they have on demand in all genres. I’ll go from Toby Keith to Lady Ga Ga. I like videos, it’s crazy. I can watch a video for a song I like but if the video is bad I don’t like the song as much and vice versa. I really wish MTV would play videos again and lay off the sweet 16 bullshit. Someone sent me Clutch’s new album too, it’s great. I’ve been walking around Singing “Anthrax - ham Radio and Liquor” much to the dismay of my neighbors. Now if I meet those guys I have to pay them for the album. I have to pay Kid Rock for his album too I got for free. I like to make sure artists get paid for their work and those are two albums I really like that I didn’t pay for and I’ll definitely give them money if I run into them. Even though they obviously probably have more cash than me it’s about the principle.


Phoenix Always Rises: You work a lot with Ari Mihalopoulos of Destrophy, are you going to be working with him again in the near future?

Adam Joad: Oh yeah, I’m sure on some level, we both are getting pretty busy though. I’m really good friends with the Destrophy and Innerlight team. I heard the new album that they are releasing on Victory at the end of the month and it’s killer. They start their tour with Type O Negative in a few weeks too, that’s not to be missed. The distance between LA and Iowa is far but with video chat and such we stay in close contact. Damon from Innerlight has been working with SH from the start so all of those guys had a hand in helping us put this together from an idea I had after 286 split up.


Phoenix Always Rises: You’re a busy man, how do you find the time and energy to balance all the projects you’re working on?

Adam Joad: It’s interesting, there’s times where I have so little time I have no idea how to fit everything in coupled with spans of time where I’m absolutely doing nothing. I try to enjoy the down time but I get bored and can’t stop thinking about new ideas and stuff so even when I’m at rest my brain is flying. I tried to meditate but I either get bored or fall asleep, it doesn’t work for me. Really I’m just grateful for all the cool experiences that have come my way these past few years. It’s been epic!


Phoenix Always Rises: Any final words for your fans?

Adam Joad: If you live in or are visiting LA in November we’re playing 3 Friday nights in a row, Nov 13, 20, and the 27 at the Cat Club. It’s cool spot right between the Whisky and the Roxy on the Sunset Strip. Definitely come out and see some live SH action. For everyone else we are busting our ass so we can get the new stuff recorded and get out to your neck of the woods sooner than later! If you have any place you’d like to see us play hit us up on MySpace or Facebook. We make sure someone answers every message because that’s what all Jedis do.

Also thank you guys at Phoenix Always Rises too, you guys have been great to us and other bands out there trying to get the word out. It’s much appreciated!



Be sure to check out Scattered Hamlet on MySpace at http://www.myspace.com/scatteredhamlet and at http://www.scatteredhamlet.com

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