Adam Carson - Biography

Biography

Adam Carson was raised in Ukiah, California along with fellow AFI members Davey Havok and Jade Puget, and former members Geoff Kresge and Mark Stopholese. Carson acquired an interest in music as early as age three, by which time he had amassed a small collection of 45" records. As a toddler, Carson would also drag pots and pans out of his kitchen and assemble them into a drum set.

Carson's aspirations to be a drummer in a band were realized when he was eight or nine years old. He recalls, "I came home from the record store with Def Leppard's Pyromania, as well as a poster of them performing live. I remember listening to the record and looking at the poster on my wall and thinking that being in a rock band must be the best thing ever."

Carson played in his school band when he was in the sixth and seventh grade. Regarding his experience, he said, "I played the drums (surprise, surprise) and had hot pink drumsticks and thought I was totally rad. I thought because I owned a drum set and could play a rock beat that I knew everything there was to know. I got sent to the office a lot for messing around with the trombone players, and when we had substitutes I organized mass switching of instruments by the class. I think I ended up with a tuba at one point." However, he also believes his time in the band was misused, stating "I kind of wish I had paid more attention because I can’t read music and know very little about scales and that type of thing. I quit band when the teacher called me a flake. I think he was pissed because I didn’t want to join marching band, and I was pissed because he turned me down for jazz band and they had a drum kit. Even though I was a screw-up, I think being in the school band was educational and affected me positively."

Adam Carson met future band mate Davey Havok in the 5th grade. It was not until high school when the two became friends and started AFI. While still in high school, Davey Havok, Mark Stopholese, and Vic Chalker formed AFI in November 1991. Stopholese suggested his friend, who was Adam Carson, to be drummer since he owned a drum set. Chalker was soon replaced by Geoff Kresge, and AFI subsequently recorded their debut EP, Dork. Regarding the first AFI practice, Carson recalls: "The first practice was pretty funny because no one knew how to play at all. I remember my dad was in the garage and spent like an hour trying to get the bass and guitar in tune. We didn’t even know how to tune anything. I think we tried to play Angry Samoans and Germs covers. There really wasn’t any chemistry at that time—it came a little later."

AFI briefly split in 1993 after each of its members graduated high school and attended different colleges. Carson attended UC Santa Cruz, while Havok and Stopholese attended the UC Berkeley and the University of Southern California (USC), respectively. In December of that year, the band reunited and played a show for approximately 200 fans at the Phoenix Theater in Petaluma, California. Encouraged by their enjoyment and success at the show, AFI became a full-time band.