Adam Driskell - It Ends Tonight w/Interview
Adam Driskell creates metal covers of popular songs on his YouTube channel, amongst other music-related videos. A gifted metal guitarist, Driskell has a lot of talent and potential to shine within the genre. Today we have the pleasure of sharing our interview with Adam Driskell as well as take a listen to his cover of “It Ends Tonight” by The All-American Rejects, which is part of Driskell’s Fiverr band project.
“It Ends Tonight” is a mainstay of The All-American Rejects setlists and Adam Driskell’s cover stands as exceptional. His choice in musicians allows for this project to thrive, with the vocal, bass and percussion performances being on-point. That said, the real star of the show is Driskell’s guitar work, putting a unique and strong spin on the original track. As a fan of the original track, I can say that Adam Driskell’s cover does more than do the original justice; it re-envisions the original in a way that makes this cover enjoyable as a standalone song that surely would have dominated the airwaves back when the original did - if not now.
Special thanks to Adam Driskell for being with us for this interview! Let’s dive in!
How did you get your start as a guitarist/producer? Take us through some of your background in music.
I started playing the electric guitar when I was 12 years old. I was very music interested in playing and learning, but I did not have a guitar to play with. So, my uncle wound up giving me one of his electric guitars to learn on. My uncle has been an old-school metal player since he was about my age. The guitar is older than I am by one year.
I started learning the guitar by learning songs from The All-American Rejects and Relient K. About a year after playing I discovered Dream Theater when I stole their "Train of Thought" from my dad's car and then snuck the mp3 on my original iPod. I listened their music nonstop and then slowly got into progressive metal by getting into bands like Symphony X and Opeth.
When I was 16 I really wanted to be a song writer, so I started copying Dream Theater's music. I would look up tabs on Ultimate Guitar and then start making my own riffs and licks by doing what John Petrucci (John Petrucci is Dream Theater's guitarist) was doing. I would see Dream Theater wrote a song and then I would copy it, but change notes around to make it "original" sounding.
Eventually, by the time I was about 17 I wanted to start recording myself professionally, but I did not know how to do it. I eventually talked my dad into buying me Pro Tools and I got private audio engineering lessons to start learning how to record myself. I got the basics down quickly. I began to ask my teacher if I could do this for a living. Once I figured out I could do this for a living, I looked into universities and figured out I lived only about 30 minutes away from Middle Tennessee State University, which at the time I was a student was the in the top ten universities for audio production in The United States. I would go on to learning and getting my degree in audio production from that same university.
You upload metal covers of popular songs on YouTube. Do you have any plans to release any original music in the future as well?
Yes! I absolutely have plans to release original music in the future. I have an instrumental progressive metal project, which I am the sole song writer of, that will be releasing its debut album either by the end of this year or early next year.
What inspired you to cover “It Ends Tonight” by All-American Rejects? In general, how do you decide which songs to cover?
The main inspiration for me doing "It Ends Tonight" by The All-American Rejects was because it was one of the very first songs that I learned how to play on the electric guitar. It was a major honor to put my own spin on a song that got me to get used to playing basic power chords. "It Ends Tonight" is still one of my favorite songs to this day because of its inspiration on me as an early guitarist. It is also a beautiful song and the audio production, which I came to appreciate more later on, is also incredible for the time period.
Can you discuss your “My Fiverr Band” video series with us?
My Fiverr Band series is a series where I hire musicians on Fiverr to help fill out the a cover song and then we all film each other playing and then I video edit everything together. I always loved watched 4 panel covers or 4 panel original songs on YouTube and thought it would be a fun, unique thing to do. I am currently working on 3 more cover songs for the My Fiverr Band Project.
I have one more song finished in the My Fiverr Band Series. It is "I Walk Beside You" originally by Dream Theater. The other three songs I am working on are "Stich" by Wage War, "Innocence Faded" by Dream Theater and "Ice Cream" by K-Pop idols Blackpink.
The other 3 songs are all somewhere in the process of being recorded, mixed or video edited currently.
You can find the "I Walk Beside You" Dream Theater cover at this link. https://youtu.be/HEcSoEsWJPE
What kind of projects do you have in the works right now?
Right now I am working a progressive metal project that will releasing its debut album by the end of 2020 or early 2021. The album is combining all of my influences, but I am very influenced by Plini's use tone and song structures, Symphony X's use of symphonic elements and Dream Theater's technicality. I am the guitarist, primary songwriter, mixing engineer and producer on the album. That is the only other major project I have going on right now other than my YouTube channel.
I will give you a hint and say that the intro music in the "It Ends Tonight" video, and all subsequent intros, is an Easter egg of one of my songs that will be on the album. So, if you want to hear 6 seconds of one of my original songs, then listen to the intro of the "It Ends Tonight" video. ;)
After speaking with Adam Driskell about his history as a musician and YouTube content creator, it is easy and relatable to understand where he is coming from. His projects in music are certainly exceptional and a lot of fun and I cannot wait to hear more from Driskell; I, for one, am looking forward to Driskell’s original tracks when they are ready for release and I am sure they will be exceptional, just like his cover of “It Ends Tonight” is. You can check out the song on iTunes and Apple Music and check out Adam Driskell’s Bandcamp, Facebook and Twitter. We have Adam Driskell’s Take on “It Ends Tonight” embedded below - check it out and take a listen!
