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Interview by Jake Thomas Rogue Wave: Zach Rogue March 2004 Jake: Let's start with the big one first: you guys got signed to Sub Pop! Care to take us through how it happened? How did they hear about you guys, what are your release plans with them, and just how damn excited are you about the whole thing? Zach: Back in September we played some west coast shows with the Clientele. Someone from here (I think it was Jordan Kurland) sent one of Sub Pop's A&R guys a copy of our album and told him to check us out when we played in Seattle. We played the show and I met one of their people, but it was a pretty brief exchange and I didn’t think too much of it. But apparently, our album started to get circulated around the Sub Pop office and a lot of people there started talking about the album and it just sort of snowballed, I guess. A couple of months later, Jonathan Poneman (!) and Tony Kiewel (A&R) flew out here to see us play in San Francisco and tell us they wanted to work with us. They said they were really excited about our record and wanted to talk about what we were looking for, etc. So, they sent us a contract not too long after that. When we were up in Seattle in January when we were on tour with Mates of State, we spent a lot of time at Sub Pop, getting to know their people, getting a feel for their culture, and it just seemed like a great fit. So after we left Seattle, we signed a contract with them. We'll see how it goes... It looks like they are gonna re-issue “Out of the Shadow” in July. We have talked about trying to put out an EP before that, but I'm not sure if there will be enough time. I would imagine we will record the follow up at the end of the year, or sometime early next year. A lot of that depends on how much touring we are doing - oh, and if anyone buys the record when it comes out! We are all really happy with how things are going. Sub Pop puts out so many great records, and I am pretty much stunned by the whole thing in general. When I was making the record, I had hoped that people would be able to hear it, most importantly my family and friends - but having any labels (of that stature in particular) express interest in putting it out and distributing it just seemed kind of far-fetched to me. What a weird world. Strange and beautiful, but weird. Jake: Yeah, I'm pretty excited for you guys about how much you've blown up, you totally deserve it. I knew there was something there the first time I listened to your CD. Let's talk about the CD - you did the whole thing pretty much by yourself right? Obviously, you've since fleshed out an entire band to help you perform those songs. Has the songwriting process changed for you now that you have all these other folks to help out? Do they contribute a lot to the writing or is it still mostly you writing the songs? Zach: I did the basic tracking for “Out of the Shadow” with my friend Bill Racine at his house in Woodstock, New York, as well as some other area studios. When I came home to California, I did the rest of the overdubs in my friend Alex Sterling's basement studio (I used to play with him in a band called Desoto Reds). Anyway, he and a couple of other friends also played some extra tracks, some keys, handclaps, harmonies, lap pedal steel, etc - and then I went to Hitwall in South San Francisco, where my friend Nathan Petty played drums for about half the songs. The songwriting process hasn’t really changed for me with respect to recording. I mean, I am always trying to shift my focus and not get comfortable with any given way of coming up with a song concept, but having a band to play with live hasn't altered my songwriting habits or anything. The difference now is that there is a band to make the song fully realized for a performance. I still sit in my kitchen and write songs and if I like them after a few weeks, I'll try to finish them. Usually I will bring a song to the band with a lot of the live arrangement already kind of planned out in my head. But the longer we play together, the more collaborative that approach has started to become. Jake: So how exactly did you go about putting the band together? Was it Craigslist ads, friends, friends of friends, etc? Was there a particular moment when you decided you really liked the group you had put together, or was it a slow, gradual process? Zach: A few months after I finished the record, I figured it was time for me to move on from Desoto Reds and start my own band. So I started posting stuff on Craigslist. I started getting responses from people and began sending the record out. I began jamming with a few people, but it wasn’t all that inspiring at first (I started playing with a couple of people that were seriously deranged) and I kept looking around. I eventually got an email from Sonya, and as we started emailing back and forth, I could see that we had the same taste in music and were basically looking for the same things. We met one night at a bar, and I knew I had a bass player and harmony singer. She rules. Some friend of Pat's saw the Craigslist ad, so he gave me a call and told me to meet him at a bar. I met up with him and we talked about music we liked. When I saw his facial expression when talking about the Who, I figured we were on the same page. We jammed one night at Lennon Studios, and he seriously knew almost every drum hit from the album, so I knew I had a drummer. [There was] just phenomenal feel in the way that he played the songs. Little did I know at the time that he can sing and play pretty much everything else too. Gram was a buddy of Pat's and saw us play our first show at the Ivy Room. He told Pat that he really liked the record, and we knew we needed one more person to fill out the sound, so we invited him to rehearse with us. Turns out, we had scheduled this show at Kimo's (our 3rd show I think) and Sonya was gonna be out of town. So after one night of practice, Gram played with us at Kimo's. And it was a great show! He played drums, bass, guitar, everything. The guy has such amazing energy and has this love of music that seems to just course through his veins. So after a few months, the band was born, I guess you could say. I've been happy with the group since our first rehearsal. It all works. Everything is there. Jake: I know from seeing you live lately that you guys already have a lot of new songs that have been getting played a lot (for the record, that one new song "10 to 1" might be the best thing you guys have ever done and one of the catchiest tracks I've heard in ages). Do you have any big plans for recording soon? Zach: We've been recording off and on - in New York and Oakland. We've actually done two different versions of "10:1" - hopefully they will find their way to being released sometime in the future. One is fast like the way you heard it live. The other one is the sleepy version. It’s kind of like taking the fast version and running it through some pump organ molasses or something. Pat sings a harmony that sounds like an ethereal bunny rabbit.... Jake: I know you mentioned a possible EP, which may or may not happen depending on time constraints. Are you eyeballing a quick turn-around after the re-release on Sub Pop for your second album? Zach: Right now, it’s looking like there may not be enough time to put out an EP before the record gets re-released in July. At this point, I can't really say when the next full length record would come out. If it were up to me we would be recording the new record right now, but we haven't even toured yet in support of the re-release, so we need to wait a bit I think. A lot of it probably again depends on if anyone buys the record. If people buy it and show up when we play on tour, Sub Pop may want to wait a while so “Out of the Shadow” can get around. Jake: How much say does a label have in those sorts of things anyways? Zach: I’m not sure how other labels are, but Sub Pop will probably have a lot to say with respect to release dates. They are taking the risk by putting it out and promoting it, so it’s pretty much up to them when they feel comfortable releasing something. However, we haven't been working with them for that long, so for all I know it could become a collaborative kind of thing (I feel like this whole interview is just littered with me saying "I don't know" and "I guess" a million times. What a joy for the readers!). Jake: Well, sounds like I'm just going to have to bootleg one of your shows if I want to hear those new songs soon, but it's fully understandable. So, any big hopes or dreams riding on all of this recent success, or are you just taking it day to day and remaining cautiously optimistic? I know Gram said he cannot wait until the day he finally gets to quit his job and play music full time. How do you feel about it all? Zach: Well, I am sure we would all like to quit our day jobs and be able to focus on the band full time, but you know, I want to take it one step at a time. The album hasn't even come out yet on Sub Pop, so I am just trying to focus on songwriting and performing right now. I want to write better songs, learn how to sing better, be a better musician - that's what I am concentrating on; working on the things that I can control. Jake: All right, let’s wrap this up - you and the band have already been a part of some quality tours in your short existence (The Clientele, Mates of State, as well as sharing the stage with plenty of other big names like Spoon and Super Furry Animals). Now that you are on Sub Pop, which group/performer from the roster would you like to hit the road with? Zach: Dream band to tour with… hmmm… well, I just found out we're going on tour with the Shins in June, so that's not too bad! --- Check out our previous Rogue Wave experiences: January 27, 2004 @ Thee Parkside October 9, 2003 @ Bottom of the Hill February 4, 2003 @ Make-Out Room August 15, 2003 @ Café Du Nord ©2004 playinginfog.com |