Adeem The Artist
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ARTIST PROFILE | Adeem The Artist
As they began working on a new batch of songs, Adeem the Artist was busy thinking about the way a lifetime of experiences can pile up in a person’s brain. “Traumatic events and warm events leave psychological imprints — there’s this pattern to it,” says the Knoxville, Tennessee-based performer. “Different moments and different impressions throughout our lives will ripple out and demand repeated engagement. They play out in little holidays that we celebrate over and over.”
Those patterns and markers of time are a crucial thread running through Adeem’s new album Anniversary, due out May 3, 2024 via Thirty Tigers. Recorded live to tape over five days at The Butcher Shop (Nashville, TN) and produced by Butch Walker (Taylor Swift, Frank Turner) with the master musicianship of Megan Coleman (Jenny Lewis and Allison Russell), Nelson Williams (Jake Blount), Ellen Angelico (Wheeler Walker Jr.), Jessye DeSilva, Aaron Lee Tasjan, and Katie Pruitt, the 12-song collection is a stunning statement of empathy, humor, and deep introspection.
The groundwork for Anniversary began in earnest after Adeem met Walker for coffee, having caught the producer’s attention with some spirited shitposting on social media. Adeem had been a fan since Walker’s solo album Sycamore Meadows, which they heard while living in the Syracuse, New York, area after high school. “I was absolutely obsessed,” they say. “I was a Christian worship pastor and having all these doubts. The religious questioning and soul searching Butch was doing on that record was so important for me.”
Walker’s ability to blend sounds from classic to contemporary, commercial to experimental, gives Adeem license to play with a range of musical styles on Anniversary, while still remaining tethered to country and roots music. Fittingly, Anniversary also arrives on the date of Adeem’s marriage to their spouse Hannah, bringing with it a heightened sense of intimacy and urgency from a songwriter whose work is characterized by fearless, incisive lyric writing.
“This one feels a lot more personal and earnest — a lot of it is very close to the chest,” Adeem says. “This record is a marker as well as a collection of individual markers. I’m saying, ‘This is who I am as an artist and this is the world I want to try to help create.’”
Album opener “There We Are” weds a 13-year-old poem written for Hannah to an arrangement that sounds like indie-rock Ennio Morricone and recalls vivid imagery from early in their romance. “We went on a run of tour dates in my dad’s old Pontiac,” Adeem says. “I put it to music like a month and a half before we did the record with Butch and Hannah was like, ‘That’s it. That’s gotta go on there.’”
“There We Are” is immediately followed by “Nancy,” a surging rocker that looks at our shifting understanding of mental illness. “Hey, you know this world is crazy/It ain’t you and me, baby,” they sing, pointing a finger at a society that emphasizes the most brutal forms of competition without offering any aid to people ill-equipped to function in that environment. “It’s not so much that people are increasingly mentally ill as it is that people are forced to fit in a society that’s so inhuman and unlivable that it produces these results,” Adeem says. “What I wanted to do was normalize the idea of having a protagonist in a song who has borderline personality disorder, but who also isn’t exactly virtuous or heroic.”
Adeem looks inward in the shimmering folk-rock tune “Part & Parcel,” seeing how their “timelines interweave, creating patterns” that are laid out across their life, from childhood to marriage and childbirth. By “One Night Stand,” they’ve slipped into radio country clothing for a blushing ode to a guy who comes home for a hookup and stays for life. “It’s very Nineties camp country,” Adeem says. A few songs later, “Wounded Astronaut” employs a John Prine-style acoustic guitar melody to wrestle with the outcomes of misogynistic societal norms.
Adeem also looks at parenthood as another important personal marker on Anniversary. “Carry You Down” makes a promise to be a sturdy presence, adding some lovely horn shadings in the middle section. “Rotations,” which was almost the album’s title, presents a tender take on aging and the passage of knowledge that plays like a lullaby until a muted trumpet solo turns it into something magical and cosmic — an extra infusion of “woo-woo juice,” if you like. “It felt necessary to color in the caricature of Adeem the Artist that people have become acquainted with,” they say. “My kid was born on my Saturn return. Our next Saturn return, we’ll be synced up. When I turn 60 and go into my second Saturn return, my kid will be going through their first one. There’s something interesting to me about that sense of timing.”
Adeem’s incorporation of brass into their sound goes full blast in “Socialite Blues,” which mixes a Piedmont progression with rowdy second line horns out of New Orleans. Lyrically, it was written as an ode to Hannah, but it taps into the rich tradition of country and blues that mingled in the region of Adeem’s ancestors; drawing influence from Blind Boy Fuller & Brownie McGhee. “So many blues songs act as lamentations,” Adeem says, “and I thought it could be fun to give language to Hannie’s need to go out less now that life demands so much extroversion of us.”
The passionate activist side that has been a hallmark of Adeem’s work from the beginning is still very much present on Anniversary. In the heart-pounding anthem “Nightmare,” featuring Katie Pruitt, there’s a palpable sense of outrage and defiance over the wave of anti-trans legislation in this country. Adeem, who is non-binary and pansexual, flips the “don’t tread on me” sloganeering by right-wing types on its head by posing a hypothetical about their beliefs. “Suppose some senators decide your worship is obscene/All ages Sunday service is suddenly a felony,” they ask in one verse. “I used that language to be like, ‘Can you see how you are, in a real and tangible way, actually doing the thing you’re so afraid of somebody doing to you?’” they say.
In the uptempo, guitar-driven “Plot of Land,” that defiance turns downright joyful as Adeem dreams of a future where it’s possible to buy a little house with blueberry bushes out front. “It’s what so many people are looking for, to buy out of the second-class citizen loan system we’re born into and live a life of consistency and joy,” they say. “So many people are just living in survival mode.”
The album ends with a devastating one-two punch of “Night Sweats” and “White Mule, Black Man,” showing Adeem’s deep reserves of empathy and insight into how human patterns play out on a massive scale. “Night Sweats” was penned about observing nightly images of war on TV when the US invaded Iraq in the early 2000s, but could’ve been written yesterday. “It’s about seeing the lifeless body of a child and the effect that has on you psychologically and the way you perceive good and bad and right and wrong and justice,” Adeem says. “People think it’s about what’s going on right now, but this just keeps happening over and over again.”
“White Mule, Black Man” packs a century of Knoxville history in three verses, from a superstitious belief in a curse to brutal, unjust killings of two Black men, one of whom was a high school student, a hundred years apart. In both cases, their killers didn’t even pause to hear their last words, leading to a conclusion that will stick with you long after the record is over. “I’m drawing a connection between these two men’s pleas to be heard and how all these people keep saying, ‘I don’t know, I guess we’re cursed because of that mule,’” Adeem says. “Obliviousness is akin to criminally negligent here.”
Delivering impossibly heavy and deep subject matter in an empathetic and humane way, that’s the beauty of Anniversary— Adeem always digs deeper to find the complicated truths that are contained within.
READ MORE >>Supporting Acts
SHOW BY SIMILAR ARTISTS
About HI-FI | Indianapolis, IN
HI-FI is located inside the historic Murphy Arts Center in the heart of Fountain Square. HI-FI shows virtually every night of the week and is known for finding new artists on the rise. The venue is acoustically one of the best sounding venues in the Midwest. The entrance is located at the front of the building on Virginia Ave and the Indianapolis Cultural Trail.
Getting Around the Venue
Frequently Asked Questions About HI-FI | Indianapolis, IN
What are the age restrictions at this venue?
Most of our gigs are open to those 18 years and older, though there are a few exceptions. We’re also rolling out more all-ages shows to accommodate younger fans, but double-check our website for specific age requirements before getting your tickets. We’ve made it super easy to spot the age restrictions on each event listing.
If you are going to indulge in a seating upgrade in our VIP area, all guests must be 21 years of age or older.
HI-FI requires a valid ID for admission. For guests who will be consuming alcoholic beverages, a valid state or government issues ID is required. Everyone will be carded during check-in. Expired and temporary ID’s are not accepted.
Can I upgrade my to VIP seating?
HI-FI proudly offers our VIP Deck, situated at the rear of the venue. This elevated section features table seating and provides convenient access to the bar. Please be advised that all guests in this area must be 21 years of age or older. For seating upgrade inquiries, please contact the box office at boxoffice@hifiindy.com
What items are permitted or prohibited at this venue?
At our venues, we strive to ensure a safe and enjoyable experience for all guests. While specific rules may vary slightly depending on the event location, the following list generally applies across all venues.
Any illegal items found will be confiscated immediately. Guests discovered with prohibited items inside the venue may face ejection, and those attempting to enter with such items may be denied entry.
We appreciate your cooperation in adhering to these guidelines to ensure everyone’s safety and enjoyment during our events.
Permitted Items Include:
- All bags and possessions are subject to search and may be subject to metal detection. No backpacks are permitted at any of our venues.
- Clear tote or bag made from plastic, vinyl or PVC that does not exceed 14” x 14” in size.
- Personal purse, fanny pack or handbag so long as it does not exceed 14” x 14” in size
- A warm heart and smiles
Prohibited items include:
- Weapons of any kind: Firearms (with or without permit), knives (any size), multi-tools
- Pepper Spray or Mace
- Flares or Fireworks
- Oversized bags (Bag larger than 12” x 12”, including all backpacks, briefcases, luggage, or duffle bags)
- Illegal Substances
- Outside Beverages
- Laser Pointers
- Removable lens cameras or flash photography, tripods, monopods, selfie-sticks (unless pre-approved by Event Manager)
- Audio or Video recording devices (unless pre-approved by Event Manager)
- Signs larger than 11” x 17” or any sign attached to a stick or pole
- Skateboards, hoverboards, rollerblades, scooters, or bicycles
- Hula hoops, spray paint, silly string
- Noise Making devices (i.e. Air Horns, drums, whistles)
- Coolers or Ice Chests
- Animals/Pets (Except Service Animals)
HI-FI reserves the right to prohibit any item, including items not listed above, from entering the premises if deemed hazardous or disruptive to the event.
Can I bring a bag into the show?
Yes! You’re welcome to bring personal purse, fanny pack or handbag so long as it does not exceed 14” x 14” in size. No backpacks are permitted at any time.
What’s the parking situation like?
Depending on the day and time, finding a spot can be tricky. On busy show days we advise arriving early to ensure you get a good spot.
Parking is free on all of the surrounding streets in Fountain Square and most parking lots.
The LAZ pay lot directly across from the Murphy Arts Building (on Prospect St) offers paid parking by the hour and is the closest public parking to the venue.
We advise against traveling down St. Patrick St on show days, as it can become congested one-way with traffic coming from both directions.
Bike parking is available at any of the bike racks on Virginia Ave in front of HI-FI.
What is the camera/photo policy for this venue?
Our photo policy varies for each event and is at the discretion of the artist performing that night. This policy can change from night to night.
As a general guideline, we typically do not permit professional photography unless it has been pre-approved by either HI-FI or the Artist Management.
For approved photographers, you’re welcome to snap photos during the first three songs of the performance. However, please refrain from using flash.
Media personnel and professional photographers interested in covering our events can reach out to us at marketing@hifiindy.com to request media credentials.
Is there food and drink at this venue?
Absolutely! We’ve got you covered for some tasty bites to fuel your night.
Our very own Easy Rider Diner is your go-to spot on most show nights, serving up mouthwatering dishes right next door to HI-FI. With a convenient connection door open for most shows, you can easily hop back and forth without missing a beat. We highly recommend making a reservation in advance, as show nights tend to get busy. Please note that Easy Rider is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, but fear not – you can still grab some chips, candy, or snacks at HI-FI’s bar.
View seating maps for this venue
Check your show listing for information on the show’s seating configuration. The majority of HI-FI shows are general admission, standing-room-only. Depending on the show, there are a handful of tables available to those who arrive early. There is a limited amount of seating upgrades available on the VIP deck. Contact the box office to secure a seating upgrade for your show at boxoffice@hifiindy.com. Shows that are reserved or partially reserved seating configurations will have information or purchase options directly on the event listing.
Can I leave and re-enter the venue?
Re-entry is allowed for HI-FI shows once you’ve been stamped or wristbanded by a member of our staff.
Do you offer ADA, handicap or special needs options?
There are 2 handicapped parking spots in the lot located across Prospect St. closest to El Arado Mexican Grill. The box office handles any special needs or ADA seating requests at boxoffice@hifiindy.com.
Where is the box office located?
Getting tickets to our shows is super easy! You have a few options, depending on how you like to roll:
Online: Grab your tickets in advance from our official websites, hifiindy.com and mokbpresents.com, or through our trusted ticketing partners tixr.com and seetickets.us.
In Person: Swing by one of our convenient box office locations around the Murphy Arts Center building and grab tickets with no service fees:
Main Box Office at Virginia Ave Mercantile: Located at 1043 Virginia Ave Suite 2 (between Easy Rider and La Margarita). Open Monday through Friday from 10 am to 6 pm and Saturdays from 9 am to 5 pm.
HI-FI Box Office: Found at 1043 Virginia Ave Suite 4 (at the main entrance to HI-FI). Open only on show nights, starting 1 hour before published show times until 10 pm.
I lost something at the show. Who do I contact?
Have you misplaced something during one of our events? Don’t worry, we’re here to help reunite you with your belongings! While we can’t take responsibility for lost or stolen items, we’re committed to assisting you in any way we can.
Found items are securely stored at our Virginia Ave Mercantile & Box Office until they’re claimed. Please note that items lost during late-night events might take until the next morning to reach our lost and found. We know you might be eager to retrieve your belongings (like that phone you’re pinging outside our door at 6 am), but our team typically wraps up late-night events and may not be available until later in the morning.
For lost items, please follow the outlined process rather than popping into Easy Rider in the early hours. They’re open early, but our restaurant team is busy during weekends and can’t assist with lost items during busy service hours.
To inquire about lost items, shoot us an email at boxoffice@hifiindy.com. Mercantile hours are Monday through Friday, 10 am to 6 pm, and Saturdays from 9 am to 5 pm.
Let’s work together to get your goods back to you as quickly as possible!
What is your refund policy?
What’s Your Refund Policy for Postponed Shows?
If a show gets postponed, don’t sweat it! We’ll shoot you an email to let you know about the change, and if you’re cool with the new date, no further action is needed on your part.We’ll be working diligently to find a new date for the show, and we’ll keep you updated every step of the way. But if you can’t make it to the rescheduled gig, we’ve got your back. You’ll have a generous 30-day window following the announcement of the new date to request a refund.
For those who paid with cash at our box office, just drop us a line at boxoffice@hifiindy.com for further instructions on processing your refund.
Please bear with us as we explore rescheduling options with the tour. Your patience is much appreciated as we work to present the best possible show experience for you.
What’s the Refund Policy for Canceled Shows?
In the unfortunate event of a canceled show, don’t fret! If you purchased your tickets online, your refund will be processed automatically. Just sit tight and allow 3-5 business days for the refund to appear in your bank account.
No need to lift a finger! However, there are a few scenarios where you might need to reach out to our box office:
- If you paid cash at our box office.
- If you’ve received a new or different card since your original purchase.
- If you haven’t seen the refund in your account after 5 business days.
What Happens if a Show Gets Rescheduled?
No worries! If a show you’ve already grabbed tickets for gets rescheduled, your tickets will still be valid for the new date. We’ll shoot you an email to let you know about the change, and if you’re good to go for the new date, no further action is needed on your part.
However, if you can’t make it to the rescheduled gig, we’ve got you covered. You’ll have a generous 30 days from the announcement of the new date to request a refund. Just reach out directly to our box office to kickstart the process.
Beware of counterfeit tickets. How do I tell if my ticket is valid?
It’s crucial for all buyers to exercise caution when purchasing tickets from unauthorized sites and ticket resellers. Tixr and SeeTickets are the only two ticket vendors supported at our venues. Unfortunately, this is a widespread issue affecting venues nationwide, and true fans often find themselves at a loss. Regrettably, there’s little we can do in such situations. Since the original transaction didn’t occur through our authorized ticketing partners, we lack the necessary information to assist. It’s disheartening to witness fans being taken advantage of, especially on platforms like Craigslist, Facebook, StubHub, VividSeats, SeatGeek, and others. We are only obligated to honor valid tickets purchased through our approved channels.
Can I purchase tickets in person without fees?
Yes. HI-FI box office is located at the main entrance off of Virginia Avenue. The box office is open 1 hour prior to the published door time. Additionally, our new and primary box office is located two doors down from HI-FI in Suite 2. This box office is open Monday through Friday 10 am to 6 pm and Saturdays from 9 am to 5 pm for fee-free ticket purchases. HI-FI accepts cash as well as all major credit cards for ticket purchases.
Do you have free WI-FI?
Yes. HI-FI offers free WI-FI during all shows. Simply select the HI-FI Free WI-FI network and you are all set!
Adeem The Artist
Start Time: 8:00 pm
Buy Tickets
ARTIST PROFILE | Adeem The Artist
As they began working on a new batch of songs, Adeem the Artist was busy thinking about the way a lifetime of experiences can pile up in a person’s brain. “Traumatic events and warm events leave psychological imprints — there’s this pattern to it,” says the Knoxville, Tennessee-based performer. “Different moments and different impressions throughout our lives will ripple out and demand repeated engagement. They play out in little holidays that we celebrate over and over.”
Those patterns and markers of time are a crucial thread running through Adeem’s new album Anniversary, due out May 3, 2024 via Thirty Tigers. Recorded live to tape over five days at The Butcher Shop (Nashville, TN) and produced by Butch Walker (Taylor Swift, Frank Turner) with the master musicianship of Megan Coleman (Jenny Lewis and Allison Russell), Nelson Williams (Jake Blount), Ellen Angelico (Wheeler Walker Jr.), Jessye DeSilva, Aaron Lee Tasjan, and Katie Pruitt, the 12-song collection is a stunning statement of empathy, humor, and deep introspection.
The groundwork for Anniversary began in earnest after Adeem met Walker for coffee, having caught the producer’s attention with some spirited shitposting on social media. Adeem had been a fan since Walker’s solo album Sycamore Meadows, which they heard while living in the Syracuse, New York, area after high school. “I was absolutely obsessed,” they say. “I was a Christian worship pastor and having all these doubts. The religious questioning and soul searching Butch was doing on that record was so important for me.”
Walker’s ability to blend sounds from classic to contemporary, commercial to experimental, gives Adeem license to play with a range of musical styles on Anniversary, while still remaining tethered to country and roots music. Fittingly, Anniversary also arrives on the date of Adeem’s marriage to their spouse Hannah, bringing with it a heightened sense of intimacy and urgency from a songwriter whose work is characterized by fearless, incisive lyric writing.
“This one feels a lot more personal and earnest — a lot of it is very close to the chest,” Adeem says. “This record is a marker as well as a collection of individual markers. I’m saying, ‘This is who I am as an artist and this is the world I want to try to help create.’”
Album opener “There We Are” weds a 13-year-old poem written for Hannah to an arrangement that sounds like indie-rock Ennio Morricone and recalls vivid imagery from early in their romance. “We went on a run of tour dates in my dad’s old Pontiac,” Adeem says. “I put it to music like a month and a half before we did the record with Butch and Hannah was like, ‘That’s it. That’s gotta go on there.’”
“There We Are” is immediately followed by “Nancy,” a surging rocker that looks at our shifting understanding of mental illness. “Hey, you know this world is crazy/It ain’t you and me, baby,” they sing, pointing a finger at a society that emphasizes the most brutal forms of competition without offering any aid to people ill-equipped to function in that environment. “It’s not so much that people are increasingly mentally ill as it is that people are forced to fit in a society that’s so inhuman and unlivable that it produces these results,” Adeem says. “What I wanted to do was normalize the idea of having a protagonist in a song who has borderline personality disorder, but who also isn’t exactly virtuous or heroic.”
Adeem looks inward in the shimmering folk-rock tune “Part & Parcel,” seeing how their “timelines interweave, creating patterns” that are laid out across their life, from childhood to marriage and childbirth. By “One Night Stand,” they’ve slipped into radio country clothing for a blushing ode to a guy who comes home for a hookup and stays for life. “It’s very Nineties camp country,” Adeem says. A few songs later, “Wounded Astronaut” employs a John Prine-style acoustic guitar melody to wrestle with the outcomes of misogynistic societal norms.
Adeem also looks at parenthood as another important personal marker on Anniversary. “Carry You Down” makes a promise to be a sturdy presence, adding some lovely horn shadings in the middle section. “Rotations,” which was almost the album’s title, presents a tender take on aging and the passage of knowledge that plays like a lullaby until a muted trumpet solo turns it into something magical and cosmic — an extra infusion of “woo-woo juice,” if you like. “It felt necessary to color in the caricature of Adeem the Artist that people have become acquainted with,” they say. “My kid was born on my Saturn return. Our next Saturn return, we’ll be synced up. When I turn 60 and go into my second Saturn return, my kid will be going through their first one. There’s something interesting to me about that sense of timing.”
Adeem’s incorporation of brass into their sound goes full blast in “Socialite Blues,” which mixes a Piedmont progression with rowdy second line horns out of New Orleans. Lyrically, it was written as an ode to Hannah, but it taps into the rich tradition of country and blues that mingled in the region of Adeem’s ancestors; drawing influence from Blind Boy Fuller & Brownie McGhee. “So many blues songs act as lamentations,” Adeem says, “and I thought it could be fun to give language to Hannie’s need to go out less now that life demands so much extroversion of us.”
The passionate activist side that has been a hallmark of Adeem’s work from the beginning is still very much present on Anniversary. In the heart-pounding anthem “Nightmare,” featuring Katie Pruitt, there’s a palpable sense of outrage and defiance over the wave of anti-trans legislation in this country. Adeem, who is non-binary and pansexual, flips the “don’t tread on me” sloganeering by right-wing types on its head by posing a hypothetical about their beliefs. “Suppose some senators decide your worship is obscene/All ages Sunday service is suddenly a felony,” they ask in one verse. “I used that language to be like, ‘Can you see how you are, in a real and tangible way, actually doing the thing you’re so afraid of somebody doing to you?’” they say.
In the uptempo, guitar-driven “Plot of Land,” that defiance turns downright joyful as Adeem dreams of a future where it’s possible to buy a little house with blueberry bushes out front. “It’s what so many people are looking for, to buy out of the second-class citizen loan system we’re born into and live a life of consistency and joy,” they say. “So many people are just living in survival mode.”
The album ends with a devastating one-two punch of “Night Sweats” and “White Mule, Black Man,” showing Adeem’s deep reserves of empathy and insight into how human patterns play out on a massive scale. “Night Sweats” was penned about observing nightly images of war on TV when the US invaded Iraq in the early 2000s, but could’ve been written yesterday. “It’s about seeing the lifeless body of a child and the effect that has on you psychologically and the way you perceive good and bad and right and wrong and justice,” Adeem says. “People think it’s about what’s going on right now, but this just keeps happening over and over again.”
“White Mule, Black Man” packs a century of Knoxville history in three verses, from a superstitious belief in a curse to brutal, unjust killings of two Black men, one of whom was a high school student, a hundred years apart. In both cases, their killers didn’t even pause to hear their last words, leading to a conclusion that will stick with you long after the record is over. “I’m drawing a connection between these two men’s pleas to be heard and how all these people keep saying, ‘I don’t know, I guess we’re cursed because of that mule,’” Adeem says. “Obliviousness is akin to criminally negligent here.”
Delivering impossibly heavy and deep subject matter in an empathetic and humane way, that’s the beauty of Anniversary— Adeem always digs deeper to find the complicated truths that are contained within.
READ MORE >>Supporting Acts
About the Venue
Upgrades: A limited amount of VIP seating upgrades (21+) are available for select shows. Contact the box office to purchase or check availability: boxoffice@hifiindy.com.
Ticket Support: Box Office opens 1 hour before published door time. For ticket related questions please email boxoffice@hifiindy.com.
Parking: Street Parking, Bike Parking
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