Irving's third solo album. Sobeit is the partner album to 2007’s acoustic Extant; all the tracks here are electric guitar based. Expect dirty distortion, bouncing arpeggios, blistering licks, riffs, sweeping instrumentals and a handful of odd time signatures.

REVIEWS:


Intamission Music - Sobeit Review September 2012 by CIRO GUADAGNO
There's loads of new artists out there, that are trying to make a name for themselves with new sounds that are meant to be some amazing creation, and more time than none they end up being the same as the rest. Not Adam Irving, his sound is outstanding, his album Sobeit is a collection of dirty distorted blues rock and roll, driven by effect ridden pedals that make this album, one flavourful pie to get your juices flowing, now this isn't a review about a burger or anything, but the licks in this album are the tastiest around.

One of the first thoughts when listening to this album are 'wow! Jack White has a run for his money', which is a bold statement which I happily stand by. This guy has amazing fight and potential about his unique melodic, raw and powerful guitar techniques shown specifically in two great songs namely why not? And the Journey; both excellent in their own right, flowing together so well in the clever line up on the album track list, which leave the feeling of being in your mates living room when suddenly they start jamming, making some sweet tunes. One of which being 'The Journey' an absolute corker of a song, with great use of lyrics and Adams masterful guitar work, that's shown off after the genius lyrics ' Until one day I came in the 249 pounds, plugged it in and played this' In one of the most best solos I've ever heard from a solo artist, but from a guy who has been in a number of duo's, trio's and bands its clear to see that Adam has picked up some tricks from the road and turned them into his own.

Sobeit is a very good sign of things to come from Adam. If I had to rate this original breed of excellence, I would give it a 10 easily, so if I were you I'd head over to DEAD WEBSITE where you can get your copy.
www.intamissionmusic.co.uk#%21adamirving/c176p


Blues in Britain Magazine June 2013
Sobeit Review - Mick Rainford

I have to admit to being more than a little confused with this record which assailed me with wailing, distorted, grungy riffs, a myriad of influences and to cap it all, an artist I know nothing of at all, apart from the fact he is obviously a multi-instrumentalist. There is no doubt that Irving is a talented musician and i found odd comparisons in his work to The Who (Swam), Steve Marriot (Soulful Mood), Bowie (Hug) and Modern Jazz (Why Not?).

Sobeit Review - Vibrations Magazine July 2012
www.vibrations.org.uk/recorded.php?fn_mode=fullnews&fn_id=167
Having previously been a drummer, a lead vocalist, a double bassist and rhythm guitarist for a number of bands,
Adam Irving has returned to playing his first love, the guitar, in his debut solo album. And we’re very glad to hear
it…Or try to. The album is very overwhelming on the first listen, but I implore you to stick with it, trust me, it’s
worth it.
Sobeitis a rollercoaster. Mainly because the high points of the album are in a league of their own. The sexy jazz
undertones, class. The quirky guitar riffs, amazing. The ambient acoustic sounds, gorgeous. The vocals, excellent.
And this heavy, dirty, distorted guitar is like sex to your ears. ‘Hug’, ‘Moby’ and ‘141’ are the titans of the album
and flaunt these qualities. By the time you get around to listening to the words you’ll either be already completely sold by the album or have binned it. Personally, I have faith that the quality and vision of the good tracks outweighs the down-right annoyance of the bad ones and there’s no denying Irving is a very promising and stupidly talented solo artist. He’s got the right idea.
Amy Walker


Sobeit Review - April 2012

By Manuel Ecostos music-dash.co.uk/releases/archiverelease.asp?item=7235

Jazz, blues and the sound of the underground sum up Adam Irving’s one man effort to reformat the singer / songwriter template. This 12 track opus is a home recorded catalogue of DIY blues riffs and abstract instrumental breaks. Tracks like “Soulful Mood” try to weave in a hook line but it’s the more interesting double bass driven
meanders of “Why Not?”, that propose a more interesting prospect - The acoustic strums of “No Other” provide a welcome change in direction whilst the DIY ethic begins to seep through. The title track adds in more of this edge to leave a mixed and rather enlarged bag of rather personal music sketches. “SOBEIT” is an interesting journey.




Interview taken from VerseVerseChorus Magazine 2012

After playing double bass in Folk/rap duo I Am Three, Adam Irving takes a moment to discuss his solo work with VVC and also get a little angry…..

Q: Can you tell me a little about your musical background, how did you start making music?
A: I've been playing guitar since I was five years old, my first guitar was a crappy little acoustic which I took great delight in smashing up and setting on fire in the garden when I got a proper guitar. I was the drummer and lead vocalist in a band, the rhythm guitarist in another and I also played bass and then double bass for a while.
Q: So is returning to guitar a natural move then?
A: Of course it is. I played drums and bass out of necessity to replace a missing part of a band. My love has always been guitar.
Q: Can we get technical and talk about your equipment for a moment?
A: Sure, I still have my first electric guitar, a 1980's Korean Strat with a really thin neck and I also have a modified Mexican Strat. It has a little push pull device on it that gives it more interesting pickup combinations and I melted some of the electrics inside by accident and had to replace bits with different parts. I use a 70’s Wah, a Boss Loop, Boss distortion, a Muff, an octave pedal and a Rothwell Hellbender, all of which are on the front cover of the Sobeit CD.
Q: Is that your view from onstage?
A: Yeah, that’s what I see when I look down.
Q: And influences, who did you listen to growing up?
A: There’s too much to list. I had my older brother’s massive record collection at my disposal; Zappa, Beatles, Floyd, King Crimson, Jazz and a hundred other artists. Before I was ten I’d pretty much worked my way though all the vinyl and started to listen to Steve Reich, Prince, Bjork, Tori Amos, Hip-Hop, Afrobeat. I listen to lots of stuff and how this influence emerges in my music I don’t know.
Q: You’ve been described a number of times now as having more Punk aesthetic than many Punk bands, how do you take that?
A: I don’t know whether to take it as a complement or a diss to the many bands who think they are Punk and aren’t. I wouldn’t describe my music as being Punk but I’ve certainly felt more comfortable playing gigs with other Punk bands than with Rock, Rap or singer songwriters.
Q: I notice that your first album Extant states that it’s all recorded live.
A: No, it's not live, it’s just that i didn't use any electric instruments or loops or samples when I recorded it, with the exception of one track. I spent years recording and relying on a particular compression, a specific distortion or a set of samples and effects. You end up falling back on being able to make mistakes coz you know you can just drop in on a particular phrase and do it right later. I wanted to record with no electronic trickery, just a guitar, vocals etc. So there is overdubbing obviously because I play several instruments on some of the tracks, but it’s not sampled, looped or going through any effects to make it sound good.
Q: Your second album, Beautiful People Eating Pastries is the opposite of this.
A: Correct, is totally electric, full of samples, music concrete, loops and a whole host of devious editing going on there.
Q: It’s a bit overwhelming on a first listen
A: Good, rather that than forgettable crap.
Q: And now your latest CD, Sobeit is another direction change, it’s all electric guitar.
A: Yes, it’s like the sister album to Extant.
Q: What electric delights does it hold then?
A: It’s a mixed bag of electric guitar stuff, a lucky dip. There’s some conventional songs, some instrumentals, some odd time signatures and some sweeping ambience, licks, riffs, dirty distortion and solos.
Q: I hear that I Am Three have broken up now, what happened there? I saw you guys live a couple of times and thought you were fantastic.
A: I Am Three sort of self destructed.
Q: That sounds like a very diplomatic reply, care to elaborate?
A: Not really.
Q: So you’re currently gigging solo, what’s the set up?
A: It’s nice and simple; me, an electric guitar, an amp and some pedals.
Q: No lugging a double bass round this time then?
A: No, everything feels like doll’s house scale..
Q: Any dates you want to plug?
A: At the moment I’m still sorting out the rest of the 2012 dates. It’s like pulling teeth though, I’m so sick of promoters.
Q: How do you mean?
A: Well briefly, when I was 16 or 17 I used to gig and got paid at the end of the night. Then promoters appeared all over, handling the bookings for the venues, which was good for the venues as they didn’t have to handle bookings. However, the vast majority of promoters basically do no promoting whatsoever, they rely totally on the bands to sell tickets and bring audiences and then take most of the cash in return for doing nothing. It’s a fucked up situation when the bar staff are paid, the doormen are paid, the sound guy is paid but the bands aren’t. And it’s sad considering people are going to the venue to hear the bands in the first place. It’s an even more fucked up situation that most people don’t even remember there was ever a time when bands did get paid at the end of the night. Anyone who started gigging after around 2001 just accepts it as the norm that to play somewhere you have to sell tickets for the promoter and won’t get paid anything unless they bring 25 people. Promoters are an unnecessary cog in the whole process. They skim the little money that’s there and serve no purpose.
Q: You sure you aren’t being greedy?
A: I'm positive; I’ll do free gigs if the promoter is doing it for free too, which incidentally I’ve never ever seen happen, but if they are being paid, why shouldn’t I get paid? Do bands ask promoters to come and sing backing vocals or play bongos? No,. because it’s not their job, next time a promoter asks a band to buy tickets from them to sell on their behalf they should tell him to fuck off and get on with doing what they’re supposed to be doing, the clues in the their job title.
Q: Any more analogies?
A: Yeah, does anyone tell a chef if he doesn’t bring 25 people to the restaurant he won’t get paid?
Q: I think you’ve made your point now.