Adema

As part of the nu-metal scene of the early 2000s, Adema were a raging concoction of scowling, distorted riffs, bouncing, aggressive energy and grungy, brooding breakdowns who briefly crossed over into mainstream popularity. Led by Mark Chavez (half-brother of Korn front man Jonathan Davis), the band came together in Bakersfield, California in 2000 from the ashes of legendary local act SexArt. After a year of rehearsing and making demos, a string of record companies were vying for their signatures. They agreed a deal with Arista Records, who sent them to a rural cabin in snowy, northern California to write songs for their debut record; they returned with their self-titled debut album and singles 'Giving In' and 'The Way You Like It'. The album went on to reach number 27 in the US Charts and the band were a big draw on the Ozzfest tour, before their second album 'Unstable' in 2003 which captured their raw, emotional, explosive sound.

The volatile creative rivalry between Chavez and guitarist Mike Ransom ended with Chavez leaving the band to form Midnight Panic, but they recruited former marine Luke Caraccioli to take his place and went to Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait to play for US troops. Caraccioli also featured on the more polished, rock strut 'Planets' in 2005, but the band split three years later.

During several stalled attempts at a reunion with Chavez, they released EP 'Topple the Giants', but really found their feet and returned to full force in 2017 (with Chavez) when they performed a sold out show at Hollywood's famous Whisky a Go Go nightclub.