Features : A.D.A.M. Project features game characters as stars of music

ORLANDO, Fla. — Artists can find inspiration anywhere — sometimes art inspires art.

In the case of Florida songwriter Adam DeGraide, electronic art, in the form of video games, has inspired him to gather more than two dozen independent singers and musicians to create great music based on characters in those video games.

DeGraide is the organizer behind the A.D.A.M. Music Project. A.D.A.M. stands for Artists Developing Astonishing Music.

“We’ve used over 25 different independent artists who have appeared on these first 20 songs that will be released by May 5,” DeGraide said. “Right now there’s 15 songs out. It’s been amazing, from all walks of life, all different genres they come from. I have a passion for hard rock, I always have. I’m also a gamer, I play tons of games. I play everything from Horizon Zero Dawn to Mario Brothers. So I really wanted to do a project writing songs about video game characters and I decided on the game Apex Legends because I play it a ton.”

The latest album, released in February, is called “Apex Rising - Part 2,” a seven-track album featuring five different artists and sounds based on 90s hard rock with a modern twist.

“We have a ton of variety and musical experience and musical preferences and it’s a really cool project to be a part of because we’re just trying to make the best music,” DeGraide said. “So we want to make songs in the classic sense of metal, like the way I knew it, the early 1990s but with a modern twist. If you listened to ‘Motherlode,’ we produced that track the way that Mutt Lange would. We approached it as if it was Motley Crue met Def Leppard and then with a modern twist on top of it.”

The first song on the album, a track called ‘I Bring Death,’ has a sound based on some of the heavy metal sound of groups like Avenged Sevenfold and Shinedown from the late 1990s and early 2000s.

“I Bring Death” was written by DeGraide and his friend, Dameon Aranda, from Oklahoma City, and was inspired by the character “Revenant” from the game Apex Legends.

“‘I Bring Death’ in particular is a cool song because I've always loved the Vincent Price, old scary kind of sound,” DeGraide said. “And then I love what Prince did, he said ‘Dearly beloved, we are gathered here to celebrate this life.’ So it just made sense to have a play on that in the beginning with ‘I Bring Death.’ And the character we wrote about, he’s very much like the devil, so when we were doing the song, I told Dameon when you’re singing this awesome, cool, seductive melody, I'm going to mirror you in a whispered demon sounding voice as if it’s in these two demons on your shoulder whispering the lyrics to you. And I feel like we nailed it, I feel like we nailed the feel, nailed the approach. It’s just catchy enough to be liked by people who don’t like heavy metal and it’s heavy enough to be appreciated by those who like the classic sound.”

Damon Aranda’s brother, Gabe Aranda, also contributed to the album as did singers such as Hartleigh Buwick, an actress who is currently working with Sylvester Stallone in the Paramount Plus show “Tulsa King.”

Buwick sings the track “Wrecking Ball” on “Apex Rising - Part 2.”

This EP also features Chris Jackson and Tyler Anderson from a “Lion Named Roar,” Neil DeGraide from “Dirt Poor Robins,” Lacy Saunders from Tulsa, Okla., David LaChance Jr, James Conner and many others who made this music possible. 

DeGraide called the A.D.A.M Music Project the “ultimate fan art project,” and said the most important thing for people to know is that they're not stopping with just the Apex video game.

“I’m already recording a new album and I've got songs about Bowser, Yoshi from Mario Brothers, Resident Evil, the Last of Us, Donkey Kong and others,” he said. “The A.D.A.M Music Project is committed to making a massive amount of music about the things we all love to do for fun, which is gaming. The most important thing for people to know is these are serious songs with serious melodies and serious musicians and the music has to stand on its own regardless of the subject matter.”

Follow the A.D.A.M. Music Project on these social media and streaming sites:

Websites:
A.D.A.M. Music Project
Spotify
Apple Music
YouTube

Socials:
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok