Interviewed by Brian Rademacher
Date: January 2011

Adam Load: Hey Brian… Adam here from SCATTERED HAMLET.

Brian Rademacher: Hey man, first off congratulations on the new EP "Hillbilly Harmony".

Adam Load: Thank you very much, much appreciated.

Brian Rademacher: Lets start off by telling me a little bit about the band DESPITE BEST INTENTIONS, which you were part of back in the day. How do you go from a punk band to a southern style rock band?

Adam Load: You’re really going back. It was a weird style of progression. I know it don’t sound like that but it was. We grew up in southern Pennsylvania. Almost by the Mason Dixon line; I mean I can throw something and hit West Virginia. At that time I wanted to get involved with music and in that town there was a punk scene and I just fell into it. I started singing in this punk band, they taught me how to play guitar and in that band we ended up touring all over the East coast. We played CBGB’s (NYC) and it taught me how to be in a band and when that fell apart I move to L.A. and got back to my rock roots. My brother had me listening to bands like SKYNYRD and DEEP PURPLE and everything growing up. That set the foundation and musical background and learned how to be in a band. I said yeah this is what I want to do. DESPITE BEST INTENTIONS was my first bands but I always hung out with friends that played guitar. I was the one always carrying the amps and stuff.

Brian Rademacher: So tell me about your first job and the dream you had to be a musician?

Adam Load: (laughing) I have the longest stream of day jobs; I was a teacher, I worked on bridge maintenance, a bouncer (laughing). Basically it was a means to get money to do what I wanted to do and when one job wasn’t flexible enough I would leave. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do but I knew it wasn’t those jobs.

Brian Rademacher: It’s good that you’re doing what you want to do. I would say that more than 75 % of the people can’t stand their job but you have to do what you have to do especially if you have a family. How does it feel that you can express yourself in music and don’t have to have a fucking piece of shit boss hanging over your head saying don’t do this, don’t do that, I’ll fire you. It’s the truth!

Adam Load: (laughing) I know it’s the truth but I took a long time to get to this point. It’s great being in this band but it’s also the unknown variables that you don’t know. If I don’t make enough money I don’t pay my bills. I don’t know that at the end of two weeks I get paid this much. So it’s kinda random too, it’s not the kind of lifestyle to be stable. I know for sure I get one crack at this and I know how to do it and there are positives and negatives in each thing.

Brian Rademacher: When I contact Bruce at The Inner Light Agency for this interview and it was approved, I started doing research and found out you were in the band 286 who we reviewed back in 2006

Adam Load: Yeah, Bruce forwarded me the review, that’s crazy and it was a good review too. (laughing) It’s funny how things end up, even our press contact Bruce how we met him. When I was in 286 we open for his band DESTROPHY and we opened for them in the Midwest. Their singer ended up producing some of the later 286 stuff and eventually Bruce stepped out of that band and opened up The Inner Light Agency to help other artists.

Brian Rademacher: So are you from Pittsburgh?

Adam Load: Actually I was born out in Long Island (NY) in Suffolk County and did my schooling in Pennsylvania. The closest town was Morganville, PA. It was great.

Brian Rademacher: So how was it growing up there?

Adam Load: I liked it. What was cool is school was closed the first day of hunting season. When SKYNYRD came to town it was a national holiday. So growing up I listened to Hank Williams Jr. and SKYNYRD.

Brian Rademacher: How were you in high school?

Adam Load: I was small and obnoxious and I played football. I did it because people wouldn’t mess with me. I figured that if I played football and take a beating people would leave me alone and I ended up playing football in college too and I grew a lot.

Brian Rademacher: I was watching some of the stuff you did on Adam TV and it looks like you put on some muscle weight from your earlier days.

Adam Load: When I was playing football it made my game better and when I moved out here to L.A. I did mixed martial arts and stuff.

Brian Rademacher: Seems to me watching the Adam TV you seem to enjoy yourself and have fun. Some of the high profile bands seem stale and so much into themselves. How do you feel about that?

Adam Load: It’s funny, the more we get out and play we are near folks like that and it’s funny to see (but I will never mention any names). Once we bring the camera out you see folks scatter. They know if they do something wild or funny they know it’s going to end up on Adam TV. We don’t put everything on Adam TV because we don’t want to offend anybody but we do have fun with it. Here’s my take… if you’re playing rock music on the type of level some of these guys are you have to get up everyday and get excited with what we are doing. Like you said you don’t have a boss screaming at you everyday; it’s a dream. We are not brain surgeons and saving people lives, we are entertainers making people happy.

Brian Rademacher: How’s the EP being received so far?

Adam Load: Really well. It’s been pretty amazing between iTunes and word of mouth we been picking up fans all over. We’ve been in the studio tracking some new stuff and we basically have the full-length CD done but we’re not sure if we are going to take these four songs and combine them and put it out but we are sitting on a lot of material.

Brian Rademacher: So have you been to the East coast for any shows?

Adam Load: Not yet but I really want to bring this project East but I want to do it right. Maybe jump on a tour with some friends that are successful already. I feel confident with this band to call in for favors with some of our high profile band friends.

Brian Rademacher: So far what is your biggest memory in this band?

Adam Load: The wake-up for me, I take this band serious. I took my other bands serious too but this was the wake-up call and only five shows into SCATTERED HAMLET we played The Warped Tour. I said to myself I have to look at this a little different. I’m like the tone Nazi in the band (laughing).

Brian Rademacher: I love the four tracks and I feel it can reach out to many different fans. I can hear sounds of Rob Zombie and many others in music.

Adam Load: Thanks, I appreciate that and that’s what we tried to do. Comparing us to Rob Zombie that’s great and I heard that a couple times and it was never one in my head. I think Zombie’s "Thunder Kiss 65" is the best song of the 90’s.

Brian Rademacher: If you can mention three things that people might not know about you what would they be?

Adam Load: One, I was a teacher. I taught at Pittsburgh Technical Institute. I actually still carry around my ID Badge because people don’t believe it, so I whip it out and say look at this, three is rough… I’m a free-lance writer and I don’t know a third thing.

Brian Rademacher: Well, I really hope this takes off as you guys deserve it. I congratulate you once again on the new EP. Would you like to say anything before I let you go?

Adam Load: I’d like to thank people like you who are helping us out. It draws attention to us. It’s cool to make something cool but you have to have a great team to keep it going. You can’t do it yourself. Out here in L.A. people come off a bus or train and they stand there and wait for stardom or some to notice them. I’m just standing here and someone is going to hand us the world, hey you can win the lottery too, it can happen (laughing). I prefer to work hard I think that’s a better bet to bust your ass. When I go to bed I think about this, when I wake up I think about this, everyone has a passion.

Brian Rademacher: Has Facebook helped the band at all because MySpace seems dead in the water these days.

Adam Load: What a mess MySpace is as you can’t even check a band on there anymore, it’s so slow. We keep it because some press people ask for our MySpace page. Facebook is really not set up for bands and I kinda like that it’s not because it makes you have to work harder at it. What I like you have to come to us, bands can’t harass you and bother you and I like that. I think that makes it special not like MySpace bands keep sending MySpace blogs and crap like that. I guess it was cool in the beginning when you wanted people to follow you but than everyone and their brother would be bothering you.

Brian Rademacher: So what do you miss about the East coast, I know it can’t be the fucking snow because it hasn’t stopped here this winter.

Adam Load: (laughing) You know what I miss about the East coast is people are genuine and all my west coast people are going to get on me for this. In the East there is a realness that doesn’t exist in L.A. In the East they have quality, I’m not saying in L.A. there isn’t quality but in the East it’s a different kind of quality. Out here a lot of people are in the entertainment field and they just tell people what they want to hear. I know if I go to New York and I suck, someone will tell me I suck. I appreciate that and thanks for telling how you really feel (laughing). I think that’s cool and I can respect that and I like the honesty, but not the weather (laughing). Yet I call my relatives in the East and they say it’s snowing again, I reply with its 65 degrees here, ooh it’s chilly.

Brian Rademacher: Would you like to say anything before we end?

Adam Load: Just wanted to thank everyone for the support and tuning in. Thanks a lot!