Starting this Tuesday, the 31st edition of Canadian Music Week will showcase around 350 bands in 35 of Toronto’s live music venues. One of these bands is The Zolas, a British Columbian, alternative rock group fronted by Zachary Gray and Tom Dobrzanski. In advance of The Zolas’ gig at CMW, Gray spoke with The Varsity about his band’s sound, his latest music video, and his awesome lunch.
THE VARSITY
When did you start playing music? Did you always intend to do this or did it just end up this way?
ZACHARY GRAY
It certainly ended up this way. I didn’t really play music until after high school, which is kinda strange. When I was in high school, I was a theatre nerd and was more focused on playing sports and being good at school. I went on a trip to Asia and while I was away, Tom joined this band and when I got back, I joined them. We started out making music for fun.
THE VARSITY
Your music has been labelled as indie rock and alternative rock. Do you accept these labels and how else would you describe your music?
ZG: The way I see it, there is good indie rock and bad indie rock. Some genres become cool for a while. I think that the least cool genre is probably pop-rock. I mean, if someone told me that their band plays pop-rock I would probably be reluctant to listen to them, but at the same time, that’s the sort of music that my band makes. Some of the best albums and bands, like Radiohead and Weezer, are pop-rock. Most of what we listen to is pop-rock, even Rihanna’s “Umbrella” could be considered part of that genre. I think what matters is whether or not it’s good. Our music is pop-rock with some other elements.
THE VARSITY
Speaking of Rihanna, her songs get covered pretty often. How do you feel about people interpreting your own songs?
ZACHARY GRAY
I haven’t heard too many recordings [from other bands that have covered us]. When I hear our songs out of context, it’s fun. I’m not that good of a guitarist, but when I hear kids playing the guitar parts better than I can, it’s funny. I think it’s great!
THE VARSITY
When you play live, do you play any covers?
ZACHARY GRAY
We don’t play covers. Well, that’s not entirely true. When we were first starting out, we would be told to play an hour and a half or two hours, and we just didn’t have enough material at that time to fill up the space, so we would play covers. We once played “Billie Jean,” which is a great song, but it just… I promise anyone who comes to see our shows that they will never hear us play “Billie Jean” [laughs].
THE VARSITY
During live gigs, do you play a fixed set list, or do you just go with the flow?
ZACHARY GRAY
When we play, we like to have a set playlist so that we’re not playing a song and going back and forth, like ‘Well, we played this, now what’s next? Can we take any requests?,’ as nice as that would be. Playing a good set is like sex: you want to be responsive and human, but you also have to show [the audience] who’s in charge.
THE VARSITY
What are you guys doing right now? Recording? Touring?
ZACHARY GRAY
Well right now, I’m making this awesome wrap. It has vodka sauce, salami, broccoli, mozzarella, avocado, and Greek yogurt.
THE VARSITY
That’s a fancy wrap.
ZACHARY GRAY
It is! You just have to make sure that you use Greek yogurt that has less than 10 per cent [milk fat] — you can basically use it in the same way you use sour cream. Tomorrow we have to catch this 4 am flight to go play in Texas for South by South West, and then we’re heading to Toronto for Canadian Music Week. We’ll be playing on Thursday and Friday [March 21st and 22nd] at the Rivoli and the Horseshoe.
THE VARSITY
I recently watched your music video for the song “Escape Artist.” How much creative input did you have when it came to making the video?
ZACHARY GRAY
Our label is very accommodating, so if we have an idea they let us do it. We shot [“Escape Artist”] when we were in Brooklyn. We were there, and a friend gave us the idea and we put out an ad on Craigslist, and we got all these awesome people who responded, and we just shot it. Which was crazy! We had the final version down just two days before shooting [the video]. We’re involved in delegating the jobs for our music videos, but we’re hands off. We let the video people do their job because they’re better at it.
THE VARSITY
Do you have anything else you’d like to say to your fans at U of T?
ZACHARY GRAY
