Jookabox steps up the volume

By JOHN BENSON

entertainment@vindy.com

Weird is the word Jookabox singer-guitarist-sampler David Adamson uses over and over to describe his Indianapolis-based indie rock act, which makes its Youngstown debut tonight at The Lemon Grove.

“I think young kids will like it because we play weird, loud, high-energy music,” said Adamson, calling from his Indiana home. “We call it ghost punk sometimes. It’s like a combination of hip-hop beats and punk guitars and maybe like folk-y harmonies and melodies. Some people say it sounds like Ween or Beck, which is fine with me. I like those bands fine, Ween especially.”

In talking to Adamson’s musical taste evolution, it appears to be a paint-by-numbers education beginning with the Beastie Boys and Public Enemy in high school, followed by The Pixies and Dead Kennedys in college and most recently Otis Redding and Sam Cooke. While diverse, this iPod playlist-esque list of influences has to count for something in the Jookabox catalog, which includes three studio releases. The most recent, “Deadzone Boys,” came out last year, while a new full-length is due out next spring.

“Our first album was more folk-y, while our last two albums have been kind of dirty underground, hip-hop sounding,” Adamson said. “For our new album, we have a good chunk of material written. It’s sounding more punk-ish to me, less pre-programmed beats and more organic sounding. I think it finds us as more of a full band, whereas before it was kind of like a one-man thing. So the new CD will just be raw and fluid. We’re playing new songs ‘Fast Forward’ and ‘Gonna Need the Guns.’ Those are good indicators of where we’re going. They’re both high-energy, loud, yelling songs.”

It’s no surprise Jookabox is in a yelling mood. Adamson said the band has been plagued of late with low attendance at its live shows. That explains why the outfit is expanding its horizons by booking a Northeast Ohio show. Is this a make-it or break-it time for the band?

“I don’t know,” Adamson said. “I do know I will always make music in some capacity. It’s hard to say. I think we’ve been having a good time so far, but we’re all running out of money and trying to figure out what to do because of that.”

Has Adamson considered the band’s music may be too weird for the masses?

“I guess it’s weirder to some people than to others, but it’s pop music,” Adamson said.