A Chat with Shadowbanned & Adam Divine (15.08.2022)
Shadowbanned and Adam Divine are combining their musical talents for an album that has glam rock meeting folky singer-songwriter vibes. Shadow Sides is the result of the two artists turning to musical creation to make it through the long months of the pandemic. Mixing Divine’s poetic style with Shadowbanned’s rock sensibilities, the album offers a wonderfully unique sound that will have you hooked from the start of the album to the very last note. We had the chance to talk to both Shadowbanned and Adam Divine about the album, merging styles, creative processes and the future!
OSR: Both of you have established yourselves as songwriters and musicians in your own rights, but what first drew you to make music?
Adam: Once upon a time I loved vinyl and mixtapes, reading lyrics and sharing music, but the process is what hooked me in, the zone-making element, that creative space where creativity happens and you surprise yourself and each other, you feel it in your brain and heart (and viscera), you don’t think so much about it but you catch it in the web of the recording.
Shadowbanned: My dad taught me some chords on the acoustic guitar, and the rest is history.
OSR: The pandemic had us all re-evaluating the connects in our lives, but it drew the two of you together. How did you first connect with one another?
Adam: Chris and I have known each other from way back, from my previous life before I moved to India! We have made music before, (but had a 16-year hiatus). Chris would always send me his latest musical ideas and Collages and asked me my thoughts or if I would be up for adding vox, but for years I hadn’t been able to get really stuck in. During the pandemic, I sent him a little video of me playing ‘So Lonely’ on the guitar, and he immediately makes a backing track and “magics together” a rolling piano loop with soundscapes that sounds like its descending from the heavens – I’m immediately in awe, the backing track alone plucks the heartstrings and it sounds and feels more relevant and emotive than ever.
Shadowbanned: The internet has a lot to answer for, but it made this collaboration possible.
OSR: This connection has led to the creation of the album Shadow Sides which is a glam rock, EDM, trip-hop mash up. Would you say there is a deeper story to the album?
Adam: The backing tracks alone hit a nerve, you syncopate, the music plays with your head, your heart and your feet, the vocals are devotional and as I’m anatomy-inspired (being an anatomy teacher) it’s also about feeling it in your bones. Never stop exploring your edges – physical and mental – let your demons dance, celebrate regularly, and shine a light on your shadow sides – by the end of it hopefully you’ve found your way back home. As well as Devotional Rumi-inspired lyrics and mystical poetry, there are tracks exploring themes from split brain patients and consciousness, to Jungian archetypes and neuroplasticity! We are soft-wired, adaptable & can create new paths.
OSR: You initially started with a rework of the Police track ‘So Lonely’. When did you realise that you wanted to create something larger?
Adam: We were playing ping pong with wav files, the rallies went on and we never got bored! We would literally just bounce off one another, except I would give him an idea or vocal and had no idea how it would come back, layered, more space, entirely new angle, Chris was omnidirectional and outside of the box, it was exciting and kept the juices flowing. We had an EP’s worth before we knew it.
Shadowbanned: It became clear to me that Adam had some great lyrics pent up inside him, and part of my job was to try to help summon them out.
OSR: You have very different musical styles, was it difficult to combine them for the album?
Adam: I’m a believer that cross-breeding styles and genre strengthen the musical gene pool. Chris would send me ideas and I would try to push outside my comfort zone, I would put on a mask or a hat to fit the theme and embody the track. He was also an open book, and I could send him a backwards cello sample with neo-classical ideas and a vocal, he would feel into that. Not knowing if it would work was fun! He also raised the bar for me vocally I was doing vocal gymnastics by the end of it.
Shadowbanned: It is sorta difficult to simultaneously celebrate and ignore musical genre, but that’s a big part of why I make music – it’s like I physically have to do it.
OSR: As you are both songwriters, what was the creative process for the album? Did you each write certain tracks or was the album as a whole a combined effort?
Adam: Dual efforts, even when I planted the seed of an idea with him I had no idea what would happen, he could grow it into something new entirely and I would feed off that.
Shadowbanned: There are exceptions, but generally speaking Adam is responsible for the lyrics and melodies, and I came up with the harmonies and arrangements – most of the songs are co-writes, but they are all about Adam’s take on the world!
OSR: While you each have different influences, are there any that overlap?
Adam: Ha, not really maybe a bit, but I like it that way, keeps things fresh. I’m more folky and neo-classical in my tastes currently, but I like my grunge and indie too at times, whereas Chris is everything!
Shadowbanned: Nick Drake is where we most overlap. Otherwise, I’m like an old-school AM radio dial – anything and everything goes – and tbh it doesn’t even need to be officially “good”, you know? The cheesier the better, I reckon
OSR: Shadow Sides is all about connections, but what is the one emotion that you would like people to feel as they listen?
Adam: An arc of emotions a real journey, but a sense of being held at the end – a sense of contentment and togetherness. We are all one of the same.
Shadowbanned: A sense of wonder.
OSR: The first single from the album is the high-octane blast ‘North Star’. What made you release this particular song as a single?
Adam: ‘North Star’ is the invocation, the intention, the tone-setter, like tuning in the dial! Do you know where you’re going? After singing this and playing it I’m like a sailor that’s immediately oriented, the North Star for some civilizations opened the gate to the heavens for the gods and goddesses to pass through, there’s magic there too.
Shadowbanned: It rocks!
OSR: Other than ‘North Star’, is there a track on the album that you feel perfectly captures what you are trying to achieve?
Adam: ‘Take Me Home’, it’s an evolution of mantra. Pushing boundaries, exploring edges, yet hypnotic and healing.
Shadowbanned: For me, ‘Hearts & Arrows/Ask Me No Questions’ is the quintessence of our collaboration and the Shadow Sides album. It’s (more than!) inspired by the great Bridget St John, and it’ll be the second single from the album, coming out in early September!
OSR: Are you looking to collaborate more in the future?
Adam: There are still ideas in the ether, fresh and original. I love my cut and paste, William Burroughs-style lyrics and Chris’s musical collages without borders – the energy is always good. Whilst we continue to surprise ourselves and each other, I’m there!
Shadowbanned: Always.
OSR: What do each of you have in store for us in the next 12 months?
Adam: Won’t be able to give a name to it or put my finger directly on it, but creation will occur. A somewhat something moving dreamlike on a fading road (laughs). That should keep the energy going!
Shadowbanned: Shadowbanned will be releasing a series of singles and EPs over the next year or so, each featuring a different, amazing vocalist (Adam features heavily, of course!) – it’s been a prolific past 2 years!
Thanks to Shadowbanned for chatting with us! You can find more about him on his Instagram and Spotify.
Thanks to Adam Divine for chatting with us! You can find more about him on his Instagram and Spotify.
