ZZIV: ALL THINGS ZIM ZUM: Interviews: Pulling Back the Curtains (part 3)

Pulling Back the Curtains
Part 3 of an exclusive Zim Zum interview by Rosie Green
October 11, 2004

With the first mention of The Pop Culture Suicides in Rock N Rock Experience Zim has sent over the third installment of this e-mail interview!
Enjoy!

ROSIE GREEN: Give me some insight in to creating an instrumental song. What is the difference between writing music with vocals as opposed to without?
ZIM ZUM: I feel that instrumental songs are boundless because everything that is going to be said is going to be done through orchestrations and melodies, not words. The texture of the music is more likened to the emotional response a soundtrack or a soundscape in a movie would have. For me Instrumental music is not about flying up and down the fretboard on an instrument. But I guess it all really depends on what your trying to say or make the listener feel. I am the listener with all my music so there are things I am cleansing/exorcising and uf I need to exorcise specific technique, then I guess I would/will. My current approach is minimalist, emotionally that is. I like to make things sound like your in a room full of people all speaking at once, each having something relevant and interesting to say and if maybe only once in your life, you will hear them all very clearly, all at once and the combinations of layered words and sentences (figuratively) are something each individually could never do.
RG: Who writes the majority of the music and/or lyrics in the band?
ZZ: At this point in time I write and record everything.
RG: When you started writing music, how did you choose this style of music?
ZZ: It chose me. That's what life does and that's what music does as well. You just have to be open to recieve that channel.
RG: What is your instrument of choice when composing a song?
ZZ: Guitar or piano though i've done alot of writing with bass and drums as the first instruments.
RG: Can you sit down to specifically write a song or only when inspired to do so?
ZZ: It changes and I tend to experiment with the process. I never force it as i've never had to.
RG: People may assume that your lyrics are autobiographical. How true is that?
ZZ: It's still assuming but in this case It's fairly accurate but i'm not always speaking about what I feel as I also speak about what I see. There are things in my head I have to get out regardless of the end result complicating the initial motivations. I cant listen to some of the music because it's too raw for me. Like touching open nerve endings. I'm not ready to hear what I knew I was telling myself 3 years ago specifically for this point in time (now). I send myself cryptic self analytical messages for the future, from the past....
RG: Since you have a home-based studio, how has it changed the way you create music?
ZZ: It certainly has made it a lot easier and much, much more personal. I think it has an alternate effect as well, especially for someone who can be eccentric when lost in his introverted ways....
RG: How do you maintain your enthusiasm for recording and performing?
ZZ: My enthusiasm for writing and recording is just part of who I am. I dont do either for anyone or anything but myself. If I was to lose that, I would be just that, lost. Performance is something entirely different to me and something I dont initially gravitate towards but find myself quite comfortable with when in the moment.
RG: An album is special to you at the moment of creation. Once released to the general public, do you feel you have to just let it go?
ZZ: Yes. At times that is much easier said than done, esecially since 90% of art is misinterpreted.
RG: Do you have any reservations about the release of your music and other creatations?
ZZ: Yes. I feel it doesnt need validation, especially from a society I dont relate to or try to understand. I think pop culture is mediocre at best and even though i'm not an elitist I dont want anything to infect my life by association.
RG: What is your one "Golden Rule" when song writing?
ZZ: Be myself for myself.
RG: What tools or what does a writer need today to have a chance to get noticed?
ZZ: I couldnt tell you because I'd like to say a certain level of musicianship and skill but that's just not what gets you noticed these days. Play what you feel, leave it raw and wear your blood on the outside.
RG: Song writing pet peeves (Things you dislike the most that you see writers trying to do.)
ZZ: redundant repetition, rewriting your last "hit" single for your next 3 albums because people will buy it anyway, irrelevance, no substance, doing what they see everyone else do because they are too afraid of the mortgage. Life is just too fucking short to not have sucker punched society when they were really, really not expecting it. I look around and I see one big sugar coma, a world in denial of the fact that if they dont like the world they see and hear the blame can only be placed on themselves.
RG: What was the first song you learned to play all the way through?
ZZ: I think it was "Since you've been gone" by Rainbow....though it could have been something by The Cars...I've never been one of those people who learns a lot of other peoples songs but I do analyze specific parts that I can relate to.
RG: What was the first song that you learned all of the lyrics to?
ZZ: Probably something by AC/DC or The Beatles, maybe something off The Wall by Pink Floyd.
RG: What is more important: The ability to read music and playing the notes or being able to play "by ear"?
ZZ: I think both ways work depending on what your going for as long as you can play what you feel.
RG: Name a song you used to sing as a child, but don’t sing anymore. Do you remember when you stopped singing it?
ZZ: Hmm.. I think I still sing them all.
RG: I always feel tears about to stream down my face whenever I hear "Imagine" by John Lennon. Tell about a time when a song/piece of music brought you to tears (happy or sad).
ZZ: Anything by Queen, The Beatles any of the songs that soundtracked my life just like music did/does for everyone else. I think of pivitol points in my life and I can always remember what song was playing because there was always music.
RG: How about a time when you couldn’t get a particular song, that wasn't your own, out of your head.
ZZ: THAT'S why I shut everything off for a year! (and still do)
RG: Tell about a time when a song quickly changed your mood.
ZZ: When it's a good song It will always change my mood for the better.
RG: How do you feel about other genres of music – like classical, jazz, and blues?
ZZ: I embrace traditional forms of music. I have always loved progressive Jazz and Blues and both play large parts in my own personal style.
RG: Would you ever be a music teacher OR instruct people via video/DVD/CD-R/Internet/a book?
ZZ: Honestly, I cant see it but i'm not really looking any further than the rest of today.
RG: Do you have any aspirations beyond those entertainment related things you are doing?
ZZ: Yes.
RG: How would you describe the energy that is created on stage?
ZZ: Personally I have no inhibitions. It's very Jekyll/Hyde. Nothing I do onstage is choreographed or even though about before the second I am actually doing it. The music and the moment become something much bigger than those performing it or those listening to it.
RG: With all of this new technology floating around, it seems that more and more original artists are being replaced with electronics. Do you think that the technology will ever replace a singer?
ZZ: If you frequent dance clubs, electronic music already has. It really depends on the music there will always be a place for everything.
RG: What is your studio setup?
ZZ: Chaos bordering on eccentric obsessive. Actually thats just me not the studio..lol..I'm minimalist as I like to spend my time creating not plugging things in and dealing with interfaces, software and hardware. I go into an Event Echo digital interface, stereo into the computer and I use Sonic Foundry for most of the rest. There is always a duplicate amp set-up (duplicate to my live gear -bass-guitar- etc) plugged in with a bunch of different 4x12 cabs as well as always having stereo channels ready for vocals and all the drums ready as well. That way everything is plugged in and ready all I have to do is turn it on and record.
RG: How will your record label differ from those out there already?
ZZ: The budget..lol! It's an Indie so it's all in house and self supported. I go for different music/artists so the bands/music on the label will be different in that they will have to know what they really want out of being on a label and being part of all this music "business", what that means and what that doesnt mean. The bottom line is the music itself, it has to be solid and unique, then getting it to people who want to hear it, "own" it and be a part of it by supporting it live.
RG: Would you ever be a DJ for a night at some club?
ZZ: Yes. I have and probably will again very soon.
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SPECIAL THANKS TO: Zim Zum for taking the time out to answer my questions.::top::