Adema is a nu-metal band that formed in 1999 and hails from Bakersfield, California. Its members are very tied into the Bakersfield music scene with vocalist Mark Chavez being the half-brother of Korn frontman Jonathan Davis, bassist Dave DeRoo having been a member of Davis' pre-Korn band Sexart, and guitarist Tim Flucky having played with DeRoo in his post-Sexart band Juice.

R&B producer LA Reid signed the band as one facet of his attempt to take over running Arista Records from the legendary Clive Davis. Adema’s self-titled debut album spawned three top 30 rock hits: “Giving In”, “Freaking Out” and “The Way You Like It”, which helped push the album to #27 and attain Gold certification within seven months. Two of the singles were also small hits in the UK.

But tensions not only began growing between second guitarist Mike Ransom and Chavez, but between Chavez and the rest of the band. Soon after the release of their 2003 sophomore album Unstable (named after the state of the band at the time), Ransom quit the group. Chavez left in 2004.

Unstable peaked at #43 in the US, with its title track being the only song to appear on the rock chart (and become their highest charter in the UK), but it ultimately sold just over 100,000 copies in its first year – about one-sixth the sales of their previous album. LA Reid, the man who signed them, left Arista in early 2004 and Adema were dropped from the label.

After several dozen singer auditions, the band chose Luke Caraccioli to sing on their third album Planets on Earache Records, but Caraccioli quit after only six months to rejoin his previous band Rewind Yesterday. The album peaked at #152. Its lead single only charted in the UK, reaching #82.

Level vocalist Bobby Reeves and guitarist Ed Faris were recruited for the band’s next album Kill The Headlights, which was released in 2007 on Immortal Records to little fanfare and no chart success. Later that year, Chavez and Ransom rejoined, but Ransom left again in 2010 and Chavez quit in 2011 after an argument about whether or not he could bring his wife on tour (a true Spinal Tap moment).

Guitarist Tim Flucky took over vocals for the 2011 tour and 2013’s Topple The Giants EP, which features three new songs and re-recordings of four of the band’s older tracks. In 2017, the original lineup reunited again for several dates and announced that they were planning to record and release new material, but Chavez left a third time. Orgy frontman Ryan Shuck replaced him for the group’s 2019 tour, with Shuck sharing:

I know the Adema community has essentially not been able to count on anything solid for maybe 10+ years? I want to end that. Now.