Adaboy! embodies the pride and spirit of the Detroit Lions on “Uncaged.”

The Bay City, Michigan band pays tribute to the team’s resilience and success on its latest rock single.

“Have you ever listened to Dan Campbell, the coach?” said Mike Richards, lead vocalist and guitarist for Adaboy!.

“Have you ever heard him speak about his team and the mentality he wants his football team to have? He doesn’t necessarily speak on mental health, but it’s all the nitty-gritty of what it takes to be focused on your mental health.”

Along with Adaboy! bandmates Joe Balbaugh (vocals, bass), Vince Modern (vocals, guitar), and Steve Nyquist (drums), Richards celebrates that mindset through motivational lyrics and fiery instrumentation on “Uncaged.”

He sings, “Take your place / There’s something going on in here / Grit and glory / We’ve been waiting for all these years / Can’t stop, won’t stop / Come on people, get on your feet / It’s electric in the air / We’re the real America’s team.”

“Dan Campbell is putting all of these analogies out there about what his team is gonna be like,” Richards said. “It felt like he was talking to us because Adaboy! has that mentality of saying, ‘You can’t stop us, and we’re gonna fail. We’ve already made our peace with failing. We’re expecting the fail, but it’s how we’ve made up our mind and how we’re going to respond to the failure.’

“We latched onto his messaging of the Lions, and we’ve adopted it. It just aligns with the mission and messaging of Adaboy!.”

To learn more, I spoke with Richards and Modern about the band’s background and music ahead of a November 21 show at JJ’s Roadhouse in Saginaw.

Q: How does the band’s name represent your music and creative vision?

Mike Richards (MR): Adaboy! takes a big stance on mental health. I’m a suicide attempt survivor, so I tried to take my life when I was about 12 or 13 years old. One of the reasons I became an educator was that I wanted to take my life experiences and share them with my students.

As time went on, I realized I needed to go more public rather than just be in the classroom. I thought, “We need to be bringing this message to the adults.” I’m not the only one either; every man in this band has their own story and their own things that they’re grieving—even currently. It’s not even past tense. We’re living through it right now. It’s a good platform to carry.

Our mission is to offer [positive] music in a world of the music industry where sometimes the platform, the subject matter, or the messaging of the music isn’t always the best. We’re trying to put our heads down and carve our own Adaboy! way.

Vince Modern (VM): Doing things at this level, there’s always adversity and things to overcome. That’s really the mission and the model for Adaboy!. We sing songs that are uplifting, encouraging, assuring, and hopeful.

You never know what you’re going to encounter on your way to the gas station or the grocery store. There are so many things that we take for granted. When it comes to overcoming problems and obstacles, we want to have our minds made up in advance on how we’re going to handle it, and do it graciously and kindly with a smile on our faces.

Q: What was it like to write, record, and release your self-titled debut album in 2019?

MR: We wrote that album after only having been together for three months. We wrote the songs, and we didn’t let the songs simmer. We went right into the studio, and as time went on, those songs developed. Once Vince got into the band, that was the pivot. The 2019 album is something in which true Adaboy! fans will say, “Oh, that’s what they sounded like, but the new music is their real direction.” It was a litmus test of our platform, the subject matter, and what our messaging was going to be. It was very impactful, but we only play a handful of songs from that 2019 album.

VM: A special shout-out to Andy Reed, who produced that 2019 album. We want to acknowledge and promote him.

Q: Vince, you became a member of Adaboy! in 2022. Why did you join the band?

VM: My audition for the band was on April 23, 2022. I met Mike at his place, and we rehearsed in his living room in Bay City. The room was made for it with its wood floors and plaster walls. We talked about the songs he had written and some of the chord structures. I was asking him questions, and we just hit it off right away.

It was this instant familiarity. We got started, and the question was, “Well, what do you want to start with?” And I said, “Let’s run through that 2019 record you were talking about.” We ran the album down, and the first song we played started out really well. We did the verses, and then the song started to build. Once we got to the chorus, all the vocals came in, and the energy rolled up. The sound in that room was just resonating, and I thought, “Oh, my goodness,” and I got goosebumps.

Mike was so fired up, and he came over and high-fived me. We just carried on, and that happened song after song. It was undeniable. Two or three songs into it with the drummer, I saw tears running down his face. We had this connection, and we knew it right away. We finished running those songs, and we were standing around and looking at each other.  Then Joe said, “We could play live right away.” That was really encouraging, and what I saw in that, I knew I was in a room playing with musicians who were producers.

Q: How did that lead to recording in Nashville?

VM: We talked about going to Nashville and recording in a legendary studio … and working with producers. We arranged a session down at Castle Recording Studios with Joe Baldridge. He teaches at Belmont University, and he’s a multi-Grammy Award winner. We scheduled it six months in advance, but we didn’t have a new song.

We knew we were gonna write it, but it took us a few months to coordinate and schedule [things]. All the while, we were hopeful and confident. It was like a leap of faith; we knew what we were doing and knew what we wanted to achieve. We were really amused by that for quite a while, and then a song emerged. It was “Time (Voices Run).”

It was really emotional and impactful. It’s got everything you want; it’s got tension, a release, and a message. We knew it was something special, and we knew it would become the standard that we wanted to strive for and achieve. We had a great session down there. We went into the studio, ran [“Time (Voices Run)”] down, and tracked it. And then we played a live show the very next night at a place called Twin Kegs II. We had quite a Nashville experience down there.

It was also a special trip because that was Mike’s first time in Nashville. The first time he ever went to Nashville was to record a new single for his band, and [it was] “Time (Voices Run)” of all songs. After having that, we realized and saw the value of [working] with a quality team that’s committed to excellence and irresistibility.

Q: How did the band arrive at its current lineup?

MR: The name Adaboy! has been around for about 15 years, but then it died off about four years ago. I wasn’t doing much because I was a public school music teacher, so that took a lot of my focus. Later, I wanted to reboot it, and then [contacted] Joe Balbaugh, our bass player and vocalist. I took him out for a steak dinner, and I said, “Let’s try to do this for real.”

Then we started putting the band together, and we had a drummer at the time who knew Vince. He introduced Vince to us, and it was a match made in heaven. We were instant best friends. Life happens, and then we’ve gone through a couple of drummers. Now, we’ve landed with Steve Nyquist, who’s been a longtime friend of Joe Balbaugh and me. The three of us have known each other for almost 20 years. It now feels like a group of longtime friends and brothers.

Q: “Uncaged” was co-written with Chuck Alkazian and recorded at Canton’s Pearl Sound Studios. How did the track come together with Chuck in the studio?

VM: When we had this idea, we wanted to do it in Michigan. We started from scratch with that song. It was such a great vibe, and we spent the day writing it and working it out together. We approached Chuck Alkazian at Pearl Sound Studios. We had a conference call and talked about what we wanted to do. We went down and composed the song with him. Joe, Mike, Chuck, and I contributed lines to the song, and it was exactly what we wanted to say. Chuck also produced, engineered, and mixed it.

You don’t hear Adaboy! songs with this type of sound and energy. We were really focused, and we wanted to [have] an irresistible song that really rallied the fans, that the fans could get behind, and that would honor the team and where we’re at now. The Lions were No. 1 in the NFC last season, and they were depleted on defense with 12 players injured. It’s a different story this year, and the time is now. We want to be part of their success, and we’re really excited about this new song.

Q: “New Strings” explores starting a new chapter and finding new meaning in life. How did making a career change prompt you to write this song?

MR: I was a public school music teacher for the last 15 years, teaching high school all the way down to kindergarten. I was teaching elementary school music for the last eight years in Bay City. It got to the point where this band seemed like it was becoming a better platform for me. I told the kids, “I’m going to lead by example, so this is what I’m gonna do.” I left my job on August 1, and I’m living these words now.  I’m not trying to reinvent myself, but I’ve moved on to this becoming my full-time job.

Q: “New Strings” was recorded at Ocean Way Nashville Studios with engineers Tate Sablatura and Joe Baldridge. How did everyone contribute to that song?

VM: That was produced by Adaboy!, and we wrote it together. It’s a summer song with an island vibe, and it features Mike and Joe singing. These guys are like Lennon and McCartney, and they just have something special. Joe makes his entrance by singing, “I’m coming with the fire now,” in that first pre-chorus, and then in the second one with all the vocals. We really love that song, and before “Uncaged,” we [thought] it was one of our best songs.

Q: You’re performing November 21 at JJ’s Roadhouse in Saginaw. What do you enjoy most about playing at that venue?

MR: They’ve been really kind to us, and they really like us there. We’ve played there throughout the year, and they’ve been booking us a lot.

Q: What will your set be like?

VM: It’s 75 percent to 80 percent covers, and we play our originals in each set. We perform three one-hour sets, and we do about three songs of our own per set. We do multiple Chris Stapleton and Beatles songs. We also play songs by Jimi Hendrix, The Rolling Stones, The Killers, The Mamas & the Papas, and Pink Floyd. We do some classic songs that people love.

Q: What plans do you have later this year?

MR: We’re in the singles game, and every six to eight weeks, we’re going to release a new song. We’re excited to start writing new material in the next few weeks. We already have a full album that hasn’t been released yet. We’re going to have fresh music for the next three or four years. We’re a well-oiled machine as far as creating content and music.

Adaboy! performs November 21 at JJ’s Roadhouse, 9620 Gratiot Road, Saginaw, Michigan. The band plays from 8 pm to 11 pm.