ODUCING: Adharma

One of the UK’s most interesting bands in the alt scene right now is undoubtedly ADHARMA. The five piece have been captivating listeners over the past few years with tracks like Rewire, Hush Hush and Porcelain. We caught up with vocalist Charlie Draper about the band’s sound, how they write music and why.
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For the uninitiated, ADHARMA’s sound is subtle, it initially appears gentle and poppy, but settle in and there’s some tasty progressive crunch under the serene vocals. “I think it’s definitely a gap in the in the industry,” Charlie agrees when talking about their music style. “We definitely always wanted a bit more of a pop like approach to it. It’s a little bit more commercial and more universal, to kind of invite people into the heavier scene. And because I can’t scream, I only do cleans, I think it automatically kind of boxed us into an area. So, we thought, well, how far can we push this with cleans? So yeah, that’s kind of where we went.”

They’re instantly an unusual find in many ways, which can be polarising. “I find people either love it or hate it, and that’s absolutely fine,” she notes. “I think that’s a good way to be as an artist, to be honest. Yeah, some people are really ready for that kind of different tone and style of voice in the industry, and some people just aren’t, and that’s how it goes.”

ADHARMA is a band that keeps a sharp focus on what they’re projecting into the world in all aspects of the production. “It’s a kind of a character,” Charlie explains about the various cinematic incarnations of the band there have been in their music videos. “It’s self-expression – the costumes and makeup example, it’s another art form. We live in a world where we can change our appearance and I think that’s really cool to just play around. So yeah, each video, I kind of want to be a completely different persona in a way.”


The personas of each of the band’s music videos obviously play as symbols or metaphors for the subject matter that Charlie writes about. ADHARMA’s music has a pretty focused theme of women’s oppression and the issues that go unresolved and often ignored in society. “Growing up, you kind of don’t see a lot of representation,” she recalls about the rendering of women in the alt music scene, and in prominent positions in general. “I felt like, and I always felt as a woman, that my voice was not as heard as a man. So I definitely thought I need to combine the two and just preach about it. And there’s something really nice about seeing grown men sing along or dance along to the songs that are all about female empowerment, because that’s what it should be. We should all be helping each other and striving for equality between everyone.”




Presenting the issues that are unbelievably common for countless women every day, that go without research, or representation in a supposedly equal community is a big passion for Charlie and the boys. While they are artists and musicians, they also want to educate and meet people in an open and friendly way to break the taboos. “I think discussions and art in general was meant to slightly make you feel uncomfortable, to be honest. And if it doesn’t, then I don’t think it’s doing its job, I think it’s meant to make you reflect.”

While there’s an obvious through line in ADHARMA’s music, it’s not necessarily a conscious construction, more so that the consistency is in the process that allows the results to be so consistent. “I honestly feel like it changes from song to song,” Charlie explains about the way she and the rest of the band write. “There have been some songs where I’ve kind of gone up to the boys and like, ‘right, this is what I want to write about,’ and then we’ll just kind of come up with something with that in mind. But I think majority of the songs, the boys have been working on songs in the background, and they’re they present it to me. I’ll just kind of listen, and whatever strikes an immediate, ‘oh my gosh, this makes me think of this, or this evokes some kind of emotion in me’. I’ll run with that and just sit and listen to it for a while. And I think the best thing about writing is if you just start writing without any intention of what you’re writing about, eventually your brain will just start spilling out your subconscious, and you start thinking about things that you thought you processed or weren’t even aware that you were upset about or feeling a certain way about. It’s definitely an emotional, quite spiritual thing in a way, but it’s important to do. It’s like therapy in a way.”



ADHARMA seem to consistently have new material for people to listen to, with a back catalogue that’s been growing constantly over four or so years. While they’ve made waves with their sound, style and intention, playing Reading Rising and RADAR Festival to name just a few. “Oh, honestly, to me, it still feels like this is a fresh baby that’s just been birthed into the world,” Charlie laughs earnestly. “Honestly, we’ve been doing it for about four years, but only performing for like three. So in my head, it’s still really new. And I kind of have to pinch myself and be like, ‘no, we have actually achieved a lot. We’ve done a lot. Look how far we’ve come; everything we’ve written, look at where we’ve played’. It’s, yeah, so it’s an odd one, but to me, it definitely still feels new and like nobody knows we exist!”

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