[dropcap letter=”I”]ndianapolis-based musician Adam Anderson is the vocal powerhouse behind the metalcore band Glass Hands. The five person group of childhood friends boasts roughly 20,000 monthly Spotify listeners and tours regularly in the Midwest and Northeast. Their most recent singles were released in 2019, “Reason to Stay” and “Bouquet”. Currently Adam and Glass Hands are working on new music, so be sure to follow them on Instagram to be the first to know! In addition to his work with Glass Hands, Adam also features on other band’s songs and practices with vocal covers on the side.
Glass Hands is currently on tour, so don’t miss your chance to see them live! Tune into a playlist curated by Adam and read his story below.
Tell us about your musical background.
I’ve been writing music since I was twelve years old. My friends and I listened to classic rock and bands from the eighties. We just decided that we wanted to be a band because we loved all these bands and loved going to concerts. My friend played guitar; I played bass. So we’ve basically been doing it since we were little kids. I didn’t start singing until I was twelve, and the reason I started singing is because we needed a singer for our band and nobody else wanted to do it. So I was like “I’ll do it!” I sucked for many, many years. I literally learned how to sing from that pressure of wanting to make it. Ever since then, we’ve rebranded ourselves as Glass Hands. We’ve released an album, an EP, and three singles under that name now. Experience has been my number one teacher – being on tour and having to sing every single night.
Tell us about the mix you curated. Does it give off a type of mood? What should we be doing while listening in?
My music taste is all over the place and I think this playlist represents it pretty well. Naturally, since I’m in a metal band, there’s metal in it. Bilmuri, Dance Gavin Dance, and Polaris are some of my favorite bands right now. I also included a couple artists from Indiana: Christian French, Chief, and Dear Weather. The rest is pretty much pop, indie, and rock music that just came out that I like a lot. I usually like driving when listening to any music, so you should do that while listening to it.
What groups are killing the game right now?
Staying around our genre, there’s a band called ExitWounds. They’re touring a lot right now; they’re from Indianapolis. Let’s see… Relics is a good band. They’re a metal band. The Day After has been my favorite band of all time in Indy. They’re a pop punk band. They just got featured on Sounds of the Underground. They went out to California to shoot that. They’re fantastic to see live. Other local bands from Indy that are killing the game right now: Torn Confidence, Perceptions, Native World, Bitter Breath, Hail Your Highness, Tonguesplitter, Pickwick Commons, ForeverAtLast, Plans, and Travelers.
Tell me about your past and current music projects.
I’ve really only ever had one project, based around the same friend group. Our friendship is integral to our band. I work on little vocal covers on the side. I don’t really release any of them, I just like to practice my singing and production. I also feature on other band’s songs. Our album Dive came out in 2018 and that was my first time ever releasing an album. Throughout the past years, it’s just been EPs and working towards that was super intense. You have to save up so much money as an independent band and it’s hard. That album is a culmination of everything I felt throughout the past couple years before that. Right now we’re working on new music and that’s a similar story.
What are your interests outside of music?
I’m really into web design. I build websites for small businesses. I’m in school. I’m an intern at IU Studios and do their social media. I’m into podcasts. My favorite is probably the H3 Podcast, or Chris D’Elia’s Congratulations. I really just work a lot. I like craft beer – that’s a cool thing. I also just bought my first camera, so I’ve really been getting into photography and videography. I’ve wanted one for a really long time, so I’m using it all the time.
