You know the face. But you don’t the man behind it.
Fans of the original music scene around New Jersey will recognize aBIRD as Adam Bird. Bird made his name as the charismatic frontman of Those Mockingbirds. Wearing influences of 90s grunge on their sleeves the band was one of the premier, must-see acts in the scene.
After Those Mockingbirds called it a day, the Bird embarked on creating solo music. Eschewing from the trademark guitar driven rock of TMB, and embracing a lyrically driven synth based sound —aBIRD was born. For the past year Adam has been toiling at the new project’s first album — Hard Times in Two Dimensions — which just dropped before Thanksgiving.
We caught up with Adam to talk about the new record as he gets set to play Happy Mondays at The Wonder Bar in Asbury Park, NJ tonight at 8:45 p.m.
Let’s talk about the musical influences on this album. For those who knew you from Those Mockingbirds, you guys had a grungy, hard edger. This definitely leans on synth.
I heard Black Moth Super Rainbow and decided that guitars weren’t the coolest sounding thing to me anymore. That, or maybe all the marijuana I’ve smoked has finally caught up to me.
Why make the change in style and sound?
Imagine a standard band with guitar, bass, drums and a vocalist. That’s basically four different colors you get to paint with right there. Adding effects pedals, cymbal hits, or harmony vocals might change the shades a bit but you’re still working with four baseline colors (excuse the pun). Add a synth to that band and you didn’t just add a 5th color, you added hundreds of new colors. I wanted to explore where all of those paths could go.
Let’s talk about the meaning behind the album’s title….Hard Times In Two Dimensions.
“Hi everyone these songs are about the fact that I’m in a challenging period of transition, holy shit this keeps getting worse! What is life? is consciousness even real? Do I exist? WHEN DOES THE FUN HAPPEN?!” didn’t seem like it was as catchy of a title.
Bonus fact: the title is Hard Times IN Two Dimensions but Spotify got it wrong. The fat cats at Mint400 are working to rectify it, but there we go. At least Apple got it right.
It was a little over a year gap between the release of the first single to the actual release of the full-length. Can you talk about why you decided to take a year to get the record?
The first single came out when it was fresh from the oven, and nothing else had been recorded yet. So that took time, and there are a few more songs that weren’t done cooking yet, which will see the light of day soon.
Who was involved in the making of this record — musicians specifically — and why were they chosen to be a part of this project?
Dean Baltulonis was the producer and helped guide everything to their final destination. He brought a lot of ideas and influence to the table that profoundly shaped things. I believe he also played bass on “A Cool Island Song.”
Kevin Walters played drums on a few things because he is in the top five drummers in the state of New Jersey. Period. Anyone who had ever seen Those Mockingbirds live and enjoyed themselves can thank the rhythm section for keeping that train on the tracks.
Emily Locklear sang backing vocals on a few songs… she’s got a very strong voice and lots of character she can call on with it, so her versatility was a big asset.
Nick ivory plays live with me and played more keyboard on the record than anyone but me. He’s been with me since the beginning and has helped make aBIRD what it is. I truly could not be doing this without him.
You released this record on Mint400 Records. Why’d you decide to go with them?
I think Neil (owner) is putting a truly admirable amount of effort into contributing to NJ’s music scene however he can, and who wouldn’t want to work with someone doing that?
Gleaming from other interviews, and your social media…this record seams like an incredibly personal record. Did you find the creation of this album to be a necessary life experience — a way to cathart, or to explore emotions, or a document of a time in your life?
I view it as a document that covers the events of 2015-2017. For instance, “If I Had A Gun” is a blunt representation of what I was thinking in a depression. I was fantasizing about killing myself, thinking that if I did in fact have a gun maybe I would’ve done it. I was able to look back on how dark that was and attempt to sort of write a song to myself saying “Hey, remember how bad this was?”. It’s definitely cathartic to be open about that, but my driving force to just REALLY come out and say it all was how alone I felt that day, and who knows? Maybe someone will feel that alone too, and hear this song and know that other people go thru it too.
Now that the record is out, how you do feel?
Anxious and vulnerable, but also proud of the work. I am very aware that this idea to completely upend this thing I was pretty good at, is now available to be dissected and it’s not going to appeal to everyone who liked what I used to do. So, its an internal battle of trying to remind myself how to take in both the good and other reactions in a healthy manner.
Will we be seeing more of aBIRD on the scene now that the record is out?
As much as the scene will allow it, yes. I’m not on a quest to be a rock star, just to keep writing songs that I find interesting until I’m dead.
How have you evolved as an artist, and performer since we spoke a year ago?
I’m getting better at taking my hands off the steering wheel and pushing down on the gas.
