Wunky Zine Interview with Zombie Season
Wunky Zine is a just released local zine that features interviews conducted by former Sharp Teeth frontwomen Erica Krumm with various local bands. There was a release show recently to celebrate the completion of the Zine and you can now get your very own copy at Treehouse Records and Extreme Noise. Erica was kind enough to share the interviews with us, so if you enjoy what you read this week as we roll out the interviews, make sure to support our local art scene and pick up a copy. For updates check out the Wunky Zine Facebook Page. Today we have a chat between Erica and Zombie Season.
July 5, 2010
On a warm evening on the sidewalk outside Butter Cafe, I talked to Ali (vocals, guitar), Ryan (drums), and Abby (bass and vocals). Over Iced drinks, and many, many cigarettes, we covered everything from record labels to Peter Gabriel, and stretches for carpal tunnel.
Erica- Generally speaking when you guys are songwriting as a band, is it difficult and frustrating yet satisfying, or is it pretty easy?
Ryan- I think between the three of us it’s been pretty easy.
Abby-Yeah.
Ryan-There’s been disagreements…but by and large there’s never been any raised voices, there’s never been (to my knowledge) any hurt feelings or anything like that.
Ali- Well actually that’s only during recording. When I try to do sweet Peter Gabriel shit he just like, doesn’t let me .
Ryan- I told you this before I’m just giving you my honest take on those things.
Ali- You know how Peter Gabriel does that synth flute shit?
Erica- yeah?
Ali- I was trying to do that shit and he was not having it.
Abby- I think it generally goes pretty well when we all sit down to work something out cuz how it usually starts is he (Ali) has a song that he’s already written and we just work it out. I’ll come up with a bass line first before we bring it to Ryan so that I know what I’m doing. We did have one really memorable experience where Ali brought a song up and it just wasn’t working and we re-worked it over the course of at least an hour and in turned into “Lazer Beam.”
Ali- Yeah it usually goes pretty well and sometimes ends up being completely different.
Erica- If you guys could say one band that was your most influential band when you were a teenager specifically, that made you want to be in a band, who would it be?
Abby- The Pixies. That was my turning point, up until that point I had no interest in ever playing music and then I started listening to the Pixies and I wanted to drink heavily and go to lots of rock shows. That was that.
Erica- Were you in a band before this band?
Abby- No.
Ryan- My earliest that I could say is probably Led Zeppelin. If I’m being honest. I have like vivid memories of being in third grade and air drumming to The Ocean. Kiss as well. Kiss was big in like actually wanting to be in a band.
Ali- In addition to the Pixies, which is what made me want to start listening to interesting music in the first place, I’d also say the Flaming Lips.
Ryan- There’s a big fuckin qualifier.
Ali- Yeah.
Ryan- That had nothing to do with the question…o.k. o.k. I’m just giving you shit cuz that’s my lot in life… I got into Run DMC and the Beastie Boys in second grade. I remember when Check Your Head came out, having to hide the tape because nobody else thought it was cool, but then a year later it was the biggest fucking deal in the world.
Ali- I’m obsessed with Yes.
Erica- Can I print that?
Ali- Yes. Not as an answer to your question, this is a corollary somewhere. Are you doing sidebars? That could be a sidebar.
(everyone laughs)
Erica- Have you guys ever played a cover live and if so, why those covers?
Ali- We’ve done two covers. The first cover we didn’t play it very much but we learned it for our cd release.
Abby- “The Fantastic Voyage,” David Bowie.
Ryan- On The Lodger album.
Ali- That’s my favorite David Bowie song ever which probably means that it is my favorite song ever but I don’t want to commit to that. I decided just the other day that the greatest records ever, it’s a tie between Heroes, David Bowie and The Drift by Scott Walker. But anyway, the other cover song we did was
Abby- and we still do it…
Ali- Yeah, we just played it the other day.
Abby- “Don’t let it bring you down,” by Neil Young. That’s my favorite Neil Young song of all time.
Ali- I already knew it
Abby- When we played it at practice it just got really heavy and sounded really cool.
Ryan- Not quite, but close to how Black Sabbath would have played it.
Erica- What do you do to prepare for a show?
Ali- I do a complex routine of carpal tunnel stretches referred to as nerve sliding, because it slides the nerves in your arms to prevent the development of scar tissue.
Abby- I like spring rolls.
(Everyone laughs)
Ryan- I don’t do anything. I used to do stuff all the time.. If there was a green room I used to try to do rudimental exercises and I found that all that stuff did was make me over play. So I just try to approach it as it’s no different from playing at the rehearsal space because I feel that my performance will be better because I’m relaxed at the rehearsal space.
Erica- What is your fantasy record label?
Ali- Besides Matador, probably like… Constellations’ really sweet or Absolutely Kosher. There’s a lot of really sweet bands on there.
Ryan- A label who was really interested in what we are doing and was really supportive of that and got how to promote it and help us get it out there the best way possible to the people who would listen to that record.
What is the band’s spirit animal?
Abby- I’m going to say a kitty
Ryan- We can’t say for sure that that’s what it is. Nobody’s gone to the medicine man. (laughing)
Note: After this interview Zombie Season underwent a few lineup changes, and in Dec 2010, decided to break up. Look out for Ali’s new band, Hollow Boys.
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