Adema

Bakersfield, and the surname that came attached

Adema formed in Bakersfield, California, in 2000: Mark Chavez on vocals, Tim Fluckey and Mike Ransom on guitars, Dave DeRoo on bass and Kris Kohls on drums. Arista Records signed them in October of that year, before they had released anything.

The signing was quick partly because of where they came from and who was in the band. Bakersfield had already produced Korn, and Chavez, born on 15 November 1978, is Jonathan Davis's half-brother. That connection framed the band's first press cycle and shaped the category they were filed under, which has followed them since: nu metal, with alternative metal, post-grunge and hard rock also attached. The group's own stated reference points run wider than the tag suggests, taking in Nirvana, Led Zeppelin and Pantera alongside Korn.

One gold record, then a decade of attrition

The self-titled debut arrived on 21 August 2001, produced by Bill Appleberry and Tobias Miller. It entered the Billboard 200 at number 27, reached number 18 on the UK Rock & Metal albums chart and was certified gold by the RIAA on 6 March 2002. Three singles carried it: "Giving In", released on 8 June 2001, reached 14 on Hot Modern Rock Tracks and 16 on Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks; "The Way You Like It", out on 27 November 2001, hit 15 and 21; and "Freaking Out", issued on 15 February 2002, got to 25 on the mainstream rock chart. The Insomniac's Dream EP followed in 2002.

Unstable, recorded across 2002 and 2003 with Howard Benson at Bay 7 Studios in Valley Village, came out on 19 August 2003 and leaned on harmony and arrangement rather than the debut's density. It debuted at number 43 on the Billboard 200 and dropped off the chart quickly, selling roughly 400,000 copies worldwide. The reviews split hard — Metal Hammer and Rock Hard both gave it eight out of ten, while Rolling Stone and AllMusic gave it two stars. The title track reached 25 on Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks; "Promises" followed in October 2003.

Chavez left in 2004 and the band never regained its footing commercially. Planets appeared in 2005 on Earache with Luke Caraccioli singing; he was gone within months. Kill the Headlights followed in 2007 with Bobby Reeves. Ransom quit in 2003 and again in 2010, returning in 2009 and 2013. After the Topple the Giants EP in 2013 the band stopped releasing records altogether, and kept working as a touring act.

The singer problem, solved from inside the band

Chavez came back and left twice more, in 2011 and 2019. Ryan Shuck, of Orgy, then fronted Adema from 2019 until February 2024, a period that produced one physical release: The Cerberus, a three-track EP carrying "Ready to Die", "Violent Principles" and "You Wanted This", sold only at shows on the 2023 Nu Metal Madness 2 tour.

When Shuck went, the remaining four did not audition anyone. Fluckey, who had sung backing vocals since the start, took the lead with no rehearsal — the band went on, played three songs without comment and judged the reaction. Speaking in August 2025 he was blunt about how reluctant a move it had been: "No, I did not always want to do that. I didn't mind doing back-up vocals, that was cool." The decision to stop hiring frontmen was made in the same conversation that put him there: "Do you wanna sing again? I go, 'Yeah, let's do it. We don't need to bring anybody else in here.'"

Two years on he described himself as settled in the role — "I'm a little more confident with the crowd... I'm just gonna say whatever the hell comes to my mind." The practical effect is that Adema's current line-up — Fluckey, Ransom and DeRoo — is the founding instrumental core of the band, which is the thing Fluckey keeps returning to when asked about the new material.

Cruel Machine, and the state of play in autumn 2026

The fifth album was built slowly and in public. By 26 August 2025 drums, bass and some guitars were tracked, with Fluckey still owing guitars and vocals; he expected to finish after the band's Australian dates that September. The record was announced for Cleopatra Records, with David Gnozzi brought in to mix it.

On 14 May 2026 the band confirmed Cruel Machine was essentially done, due later in the year through Cleopatra, and announced they had signed with Worldwide Entertainment Group, whose president Dave Lory called it "a new chapter". Fluckey's pitch for the music is consistent and modest: "This new stuff, it sounds like ADEMA. It's the original band. It's everybody from the band... the songs are cool," placing it near the first two or three records rather than anywhere new.

A day later, on 15 May 2026, the band addressed Kohls's absence from the road. He played drums on the album but is not on the tours: "Kris recorded drums for the album. He didn't want to tour this year. We do." As of the most recent statements, the release was still pegged only to "later in 2026" with no announced date, which means the UK audiences in late October and November are seeing a band touring an album that has not yet landed.

The road back to Britain

Adema spent the spring of 2026 on a US support run with Powerman 5000, opening in their home town at Cali Culture in Bakersfield on 23 April, then Fresno on 24 April and Goldfield Trading Post in Roseville on 25 April, before a May stretch that took in The Observatory in Santa Ana on 28 May, Brick by Brick in San Diego on 30 May and Twin Rivers Saloon in Modesto on 31 May.

The autumn work is British. Adema are third on the bill of SOiL's 15-date UK tour, which runs from Chalk in Brighton on 30 October 2026 to the Hall by the Sea at Dreamland in Margate on 15 November, with Finger Eleven also on the package. It takes in KK's Steel Mill in Wolverhampton, The Garage in Glasgow, Rock City in Nottingham, the O2 Ritz in Manchester, the O2 Academy Bristol and the Electric Ballroom in Camden, plus a festival slot at Hard Rock Hell XIX in Great Yarmouth on 5 November. SOiL describe it as their longest British run to date, following a sold-out 2024 tour.

The billing has history behind it. SOiL bassist Tim King has noted that Adema were their tour partners on SOiL's first UK visit in 2002, which Fluckey confirmed from his side: "We did a tour with SOiL in the UK in 2002... we cannot wait to make more" memories with them. Twenty-four years on, the practical position is clear enough — one gold album a quarter-century back, a long-delayed fifth record in the can, and a band playing clubs and mid-size halls as part of a three-act nu-metal package rather than headlining them.