ZORCH (INTERVIEW 2013)
It has been five years in the making, but a comprehensive album from local electro-wizards, Zorch, has finally arrived. Known for their experimental electronic sound and hyper-energetic shows, Zorch, have been playing electrifying shows in Austin for over half a decade before the scheduled release of their debut, Zzoorrcchh, on July 23rd. We sat down with Zac and Sam of Zorch, to discuss the band and their upcoming album.
Interview By: Lee Ackerley
Spin magazine wrote that your band ‘demonstrates how good weird can be’. Do you strive to make avant-garde music or is it just the way it comes out?
Zac: We both make music in a bunch of different ways. I think it evolved naturally between Sam and I through improvisation, as far as what direction we wanted to go and where influences meet. As far as being weird, well that all depends what you define weird as or how normal you might be.
Sam: It’s what kind of music you consume. It’s all relative. It’s all about perception.
You put on an intense live show. What is your intention going into each show?
Zac: To create an experience. You answer this (Laughs)
Sam: For me, my intention is to do something different than what everyone else is doing. So set myself apart but also kind of force you to be in the moment you know, not in a mean way though.
You have played SXSW for the past few years and are very familiar with it. Would you keep playing SXSW if you didn’t necessarily have too?
Zac: I would play it unofficially forever. As far as officially, it depends if the show is right, if we believe in that particular show. I’m not sure where the official SXSW is going but the unofficial side is something that I really support and will continue to do.
Zac you are from Canada,and Sam is from Wisconsin, but you met in Boston.? How did that happen?
Zac: We were in the same dorm at Berklee in our first year. There was another roommate who was there for only a few days before he left. He came back to Berklee a year later and we became friends but now he’s playing in a crazy free jazz band called, Whoarfrost, in Baltimore and they just freak out the whole time.
Awesome, did you guys see that the Locust are playing FFFest?
Zac: Yeah I’m super excited about that.
So where did the idea to move to Austin come from?
Sam: We had been here before to visit and we liked it immediately. Judging from the little we knew of the scene at the time, we looked around saw that there weren’t any bands doing this same thing as us. We moved down here and did our thing and in my opinion I think that we did fill a gap.
How has the Austin scene influenced your music?
Zac: I mean Austin has definitely shaped the person I am so I would say respectfully it has shaped the music I am creating. We are pretty good friends with everybody around here. I don’t know about directly feeling that one particular band has made me right write a certain way, but its only good vibes towards the city operating as a social being here.
What do you think about the Austin electronic scene?
Zac: I run a place that has Exploded Drawing every couple of months and they are really good friends of ours. They definitely have a good thing going for themselves, but I feel that we are cousins of that scene not necessarily part of it. That’s how I feel about a lot of pockets of music in Austin
What is Exploded Drawing?
Zac: It’s a monthly electronic event that they have. Its 20-minute sets of six electronic producers, and our buddies run it and it’s a centerpiece of the electronic scene.
Sam: I am touchy about performance art, whether its rap or electronic music. I just want to see people perform and engage with the audience. So when I see an act, regardless of genre, just kind of standing there pushing a bunch of buttons, I’m going to be bored, unless the music is extraordinary, which is rare for me.
So do you think Austin has a deficiency of interactive bands?
Sam: I’m not necessarily saying that. I’m saying that it probably takes a lot to get engaged foe any band. I hold people to the same standard that I hold myself. If I’m not entertaining, then I need to improve you know
How does it feel releasing five years of material?
Sam: We’ve been so DIY oriented, we’ve been doing everything we can that’s possible to make it work. The most anxiety that we both feel is to just wait and see and trust somebody else to do everything for us. We’ve basically been focusing on writing more stuff. I feel good about the material but it’s a collection of material that we’ve been working on forever. It feels good to work on future stuff as well.
How was the recording process for the new album?
Sam: The whole process took a long time and by the time it was done, I looked back and wondered how I could have done some things better. So I think the next time we make an album, my hope is that it will just be one month in a place with no interruptions, as opposed to taking a long time over many years
How did you guys sign with Sargent House?
Zac: We toured the South enough that different promoters and booking agents around here were recommending us to other Sargent house bands on tour. The first band was Tera Melos, we did four or five days with them and became good friends and I think they put in a good word for us. Then we did a couple of other tours with Sargent House related bands, then we sent Kathy an email and she came out and saw a show in LA. It was a pretty long and organic deal though.
Sam: Well I think the first thing that ever happened was a bunch of kids tweeted at Kathy and told her to sign our band now and demanded it, I cant be sure but I think it was one of the first things. It happened in 2010, it took a long time and lot of show playing and relationship developing , opening for bands on that label mad getting them to put in a good word for us.
What are some of your influences on the new record?
Sam: I think Steve Reich is an ongoing influence for me.
Zac: In terms of form and themes, I pull from composers. In terms of texture and tone, that’s where more of the modern stuff comes in. My favorite stuff is just on a song-by-song basis. The way I approach things is that we establish a pallet of sounds that we want to work with and then within that, we improvise in certain ways when we want to experiment with different colors and textures within the song.
What would you be doing if you weren’t doing music?
Zac: For me, once I got out of school, and well basically my whole life, and Sam’s whole life, we’ve been playing music, and just playing everyday. Once I got out of school, I had student loans, debt and all these things. For me, if this totally failed and I moved to a different city and I wasn’t playing music for my life then I would put that on the failure list, you know. I will always continue to do that. Its just my life at this point, I have to do it to be happy, and its just where all signs are pointing too and what I’ve been working for.
You guys have a psychedelic motif. Do you guys use any mood modifiers that go into making the music?
Zac and Sam: (Laughs) Yeah Hay-ron, and trainquilizers!
Any advice you would give to young Wisconsinite or Canadian who just got to Austin and is trying to make it in music?
Sam: How the fuck did you end up here? (Laughs)
Zac: Doing music, writing original songs, or being in a band as a career is a struggle and you have to keep at it. Only do it if you have to do it, like you are not going to be happy if you don’t, because its’ hard.
Sam: You are going to get fucked over a lot
Zac: If you love it and you have to do it, it’s really satisfying when things do work out
Sam: Its important not to get bitter. Stay positive and good things will happen.
Any more clichés you got for me?
