DD Hello Terence, welcome to Disco Droppings. What are you up to?

Z Thanks, man. Stoked to be a part of Disco Droppings, lots of good stuff on here. Definitely in good company. Just been working on Zoolab tunes as well as getting a new electronic project started with a good friend of mine. Been working hard trying to get a new track finished for the upcoming show.

DD Your latest release, the Voices EP is my personal favorite. Quite the display of cohesion, balance and moving emotions. What was your process finding the proper samples for this release? Did any of them come from unconventional or surprising sources?

Z Thank you, I truly appreciate that. I definitely agree that it is the most cohesive thing I’ve made thus far and am definitely happy with how it turned out. Well, the way I usually end up doing things is getting an instrumental pretty much done and framed out arrangement wise, then thinking about how the vocal samples are going to work out. I have a huge library of acapellas, so it’s just a tedious process of listening to the instrumental on loop while wading through loads of samples. What’s fun is that about half of the time if not more, the sample that ends up making it in is from a song I’ve never even heard. The exception to that process on Voices EP is the vocal on the song “That’s His”, which is an Arthur Russell sample from a song I heard on KEXP and immediately knew I had to mess with it. As far as the most unexpected, I won’t say where but there is definitely a Get Up Kids sample in the mix.

DD Me and you can relate. We both have experience working behind-the-scenes in the music community. How has your work with Neumos, Barboza and The Crocodile helped you evolve as an artist?

Z I’m glad we can relate on that. Not even because it’s “cool” or anything, it just really gives you a different perspective on the world of live music. What it did for me was get me off my ass! I’ve been tinkering with making solo music for probably eight years and only played my first solo gig in August of last year. I would always tell myself that I wanted to make something of it, but wasn’t actually making the moves to actualize it. Working at the venues, and seeing people doing exactly what I wanted to be doing night after night made me realize that I had no excuse not to at least give it a go. Since I’ve had that mindset I’ve been finishing tunes and playing shows semi regularly and really that’s all I can ask for. The only real challenges that I’ve faced regarding making music have been my own personal downfalls. I can honestly say that my biggest flaw as a person is impatience, which has definitely translated to problems finishing up tracks at the pace I could be. I’ve been working hard on getting better at it though!

DD April 10th, you’ll be at Seattle’s Kremwerk venue (FB Event), alongside Big Phone, Kiife and DJ Db Cooper. I looked at some KEXP show reviews, where you opened for Com Truise, Phantoms, Mas Ysa and Lawrence Rothman and you got warm receptions. You’ve said that you’ll be playing tracks you’ve never played out before, are these older productions or a preview of a Voices EP follow up?

Z Yeah Gerrit Feenstra from KEXP wrote up those shows and said some really kind words, which I really appreciate. But yeah opening for Com Truise was the last show that I played and was by far the best reception I’ve had thus far, and definitely the most fun I’ve ever had playing a show. It’ll be a combination of both old and new. I have another four song EP in the works and I’ve been playing versions of three of those songs live in my last few sets. For this show, I hope to bust out a version of what will be the fourth song on that upcoming EP, as well as some stuff from Voices that I’ve been leaving out of the live sets. I really want to play “That’s His” but its so down tempo and creepy. I’d rather get people moving and keep the vibe up.

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Photo credit: Brittany Brassell

– Jimi Jaxon