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Emily Zuzik - Age + Alchemy |
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Singer, songwriter and musician Emily Zuzik or as she likes to say,
rhymes with music, is a lot of things and has accomplished many things
during her life, some of which we talked about during a wide-ranging
conversation recently. Her current EP, Age + Alchemy, consists of
three co-writes with Ted Russell Kamp, two songs written solo and a
cover of John Lennon’s “I’m Losing You.” Referring to herself as a
seeker is an apt description and another might be a modern-day
philosopher who expresses her thoughts and experiences through music.
Her musical influences are just as eclectic as her other interests, with
David Bowie, John Lennon, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and Elvis being among
them. A palette that spans eight decades, and no if you are wondering
her life has not spanned anywhere close to that many decades!
In talking about what she means in describing herself as a seeker she
says, “That could mean many different things. To seek out adventures, to
seek out experiences, to seek out love, to seek out a way that doesn’t
hurt people, to seek out spiritual. To just be sensitive to where you
are in any given environment and your interactions with other people. I
think as you get older you understand or you seek out different ways to
make sense of things that happened in the past or people you have had
past relationships with, good, bad or whatever. Seeking is the process
of growth,” then she adds smiling, “I am a Pisces.
My family went to Japan for the first time and that is very much a part
of the cultural landscape there. One minute you will have some whacky
futuristic thing that will cross your path next to a 1,500-year-old
temple. How everything is racing with this deep sense of cultural
heritage but also moving ahead toward the future. Somewhere in the
middle is how people live their lives day to day. That is appealing to
me that we are not just finite beings. We are just part of a very long
narrative (She has a big smile) and hopefully we will make the right
decisions to not (she mouths the words) F#$ it up.”
That perspective about life appears to influence her musical choices
(for lack of a better phrase), as she enjoys mixing different kinds of
sounds with her musical creations.
“I have always listened to large amounts of different kinds of music
from different eras. I think it is difficult not to be influenced by
that and to try and play something similar or taking a bit of here (she
gestures with her hands as though picking pieces from the air) and a
bit from here and seeing what happens or working with players in
different genres and having them push you to create something unique.
I have never been a part of the label system in any established way. I
understand from other people who were and they were dropped or who
continue to work more in that world that there is a bit more “keep in
your lane” expected. I see it in my side career, because I also work as
a commercial actor. All the hair changes, it drives my manager crazy,
because I was just pitching you as a blonde and now you are brunette
with a mullet. That is who I am. I could be a real pain in the butt and
say if they really want me as a long-haired blonde, there is a wig for
that. Base it on something else. Base it on something that matters.
Going back to what you were saying, I definitely don’t stay in one lane.
I think it is exciting, I think it is challenging as an artist and it
keeps life interesting. We are only here for one turn, unless you think
otherwise and then (she smiles) you are here for however many turns
there are going to be. Why not? (about changing styles etc.) Some people
say if you stay in one area you can get better and better and better in
that one area. That is true, but I think the way my brain is wired I am
never going to be that good of a specialist. I have always been a
multi-genre, multi-application person, musically, what I like visually,
what I like to watch film wise. It is what I like to do with my life. It
is always (She looks back and forth in rapid succession.) I am always
firing on all cylinders. I don’t know if I even know how to be hyper
focused and specialized.
I remember that was a big theme when I went to college. I went to
college for media studies and everybody was like; it is all about
specialization and you have to hone your craft. If you want to be in
magazine that’s your thing. You get the experience and meet the people
and it will further what you want to do in magazine. It is so dumb. What
if I want to work in magazine, but then I want to do a radio show and
then maybe I want to be a film director. Why can’t I do those things?
I think in a lot of these worlds where they try to put you in a box you
see how having multiple specializations or interests, actually serves
you in ways (whereas) some people have to rely upon a publicist or
someone to help them book shows, because they don’t know how to do it.
Having been independent and having had interests in a lot of different
areas I am lucky that I have a bunch of skill sets that are applicable
to what I do and to what other friends do. I love connecting people. It
is right out of my journalism and PR background. If someone is looking
for something and I know the right person, I love to do that. It gives
me joy,” she says.
So, let’s take a deep dive into some of your musical influences and
focus on three, David Bowie, Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin.
Emily Zuzik begins, “All of those came to me during my teen years or
beyond. I came into Bowie maybe the latest of those three. Maybe, Pink
Floyd, up through elementary or middle high school. The Beatles were the
main influence on me as a songwriter and before that Elvis Presley as a
singer, because my dad was also a huge Elvis fan.
Led Zeppelin, I was given a mixed tape, as we did in the eighties (she
chuckles) and it had all of this classic Rock on it, some of which I had
never heard before. There was one in particular had a lot of Zeppelin
and I thought I really like this. I would geek out on the mono mixes of
The Beatles records on cassettes. I would listen late at night, in the
dark, in my room, with my Sony Walkman. I would hear how the sonics were
arranged in the song. At that point I already knew the songs that I was
listening to, but I was deconstructing in my mind with no visual
distractions how they were pieced together sonically and listening to
little things that might be buried in a mix. It was part of my obsession
with The Beatles.
My mind was already starting to do that when I was listening to music
when I was listening to psychedelic music, because I thought it was
interesting with the layering. The compositions and the arrangements
made them almost cinematic in scope and that was very appealing to me.
Zeppelin has a ton of that and obviously, so does Pink Floyd, which
explains those two right there. They used film and live footage to
create other worlds with their music. I like that stuff when you see the
8 mm film burned through with the light, layered over live footage.
Sonically I really got into it, because they could take you on a journey
Bowie, I put in the same category as Madonna. They are characters who
are constantly reinventing their sound and their visual and I always
found that to be really fun too. I was a theater kid and a performer. I
change a lot with how I write and how I present myself. If you caught me
a month earlier, I wasn’t this blonde. I have done this up and down my
whole life, different hairstyles, different ways of trying on different
parts of my personality through how I present with fashion and how I
present music production wise. Bowie had such a long-arced career. If
you start in the early days when he was the songwriter just making the
songs, he has that great psychedelic a la Kinks stuff (such as) (she
sings a line). Then you watch how he grows and progresses, changes and
innovates.
On the last Leonard Cohen album, there is this psychic thread of knowing
that artist is about to meet their maker. It is the thread of this plane
is coming to an end, whereas in a lot of parts of your life you don’t
even think about that. You are just doing life.
There are plenty of other artists whom I could say were inspirations as
well, but how long have you got for this question?”
Let’s go back to The Beatles for a moment.
“They are (also) artists who transformed over time and they evolved
their sound based on the album. I think my favorite period is the middle
from Revolver to Magical Mystery Tour. There is a special
place in my heart for Abbey Road. The early stuff has the energy
and the gusto and the charm of why we all fell in love with them, as
personalities and how they were presented in that manner. I think it
(the era she mentioned) shows the most amount of growth and it coincides
with my love of psychedelic music and melodically. They were doing some
really interesting things vocally. They were doing productions where
things were moving sonically that I found exciting when I listened to
their records.
The Beatles were a jumping off point (for other types of music). If they
hadn’t done what they did and some people would argue if Brian Wilson
hadn’t been pushing that envelope over here you probably wouldn’t have
the Syd Barrett Pink Floyd thing (Barrett was a founding member),
you might not have the guys from Led Zeppelin finding one another and
wanting to make something heavy. I was on a plane going to Japan when I
watched the documentary about the creation of Led Zeppelin and it was
fascinating to me, because I had no clue that a lot of those guys were
session players. It was so interesting to me. These guys could have
ended up in generic pub bands or just doing music for advertising or
soundtracks and never have found one another or created that whole body
of work,” she says.
As for the path this collection of songs took to arriving on this record
Emily Zuzik says, “You can’t help but imbue them with where you are in
your life. I am definitely at, I shouldn’t say crossroads, as that
sounds too dramatic. The hustle that had been going since one’s twenties
has definitely hit a point when this doesn’t feel right for me anymore.
I have said this to a number of people that I am very close with, which
is I don’t necessarily know where the next passion is yet. I have a
certain amount of stuff that I have been doing for some time that I just
know how to do it at this point. I am not necessarily fired up about it
and I have made some choices. I don’t want to go into this feeling
resentful, so that means I am going to pull back, I am going to put my
focus where I want it. I am not going to be like I need to play two or
three gigs every month, because I feel like I have to or I feel like I
have to be out there for people to see me. I don’t feel like I have to
prove anything at this point.
I have never been on a major label. I have not had any long indie label
deal that has materialized into some greater level of fame. I don’t
necessarily make a working income doing it. I think a lot of people
maybe younger, maybe older or whatever, use those as monikers for how
successful you are for what you do. I held onto that for a long time and
over the last few years I have let go of a lot of that, both because I
have no control over how the industry has changed and I can’t go back in
time and make different decisions. Maybe if I had taken somebody who
wanted to be a financial backer at a period when I was in a band and
they only wanted to work with me, but I was, no I am in the band. If I
had made that decision and (decided) I was ready to cut the band out and
been a solo artist, maybe something good would have happened. You don’t
know those outcomes and you can’t beat yourself up over them.
There is also, as was in my case when you say I am going to work to be a
musician, then you open it up and you think maybe it is not a live or
wedding band musician or a singing session musician, you say I am going
to be open to any of those or you write for a TV program or a film that
isn’t necessarily attributed to you as an artist. When you are doing it
for so long, which I have – I have always had these side jobs, but they
were never passions or super important to me. There comes a time when
that passion is no longer driving you like it used to. A lot of people
burn out or go into depression. I don’t feel that is where I am, but I
don’t know what the next great adventure is (she has a big smile). I am
doing a lot of work to get to that place. I haven’t always been as
receptive, joyful or open to it. (She laughs) I have been very closed
down about it. I am hopeful. I am not dying anytime soon. My plan is not
to die anytime soon. There are unexpected adventures that will just
cross my path or people who are in my world who will bring something of
their life towards me. I am also being a bit more forthright in taking
risks and just saying yes. That is scary and it is great. It just
changes what the next reality is and (you find) I am really enjoying it.
(We told you she is a philosopher.)
It is a shift in perspective. It is post-pandemic and I have a kid and
there was a lot that trickles down with having a (daughter) during a
pandemic, socially, academically and going into different stages of
their lives. In many ways I felt I had to pull back. I felt my
attentions needed to be closer to home, because they were going through
some tough stuff and you don’t want to feel adrift as a young child. I
am very protective of her and I want to show up in ways that maybe I
wasn’t always shown up for when I was that age.
It is like everything, you have one pie and you cut up your time however
you want, but you don’t get anymore pie. You have one. During different
parts of your life things take more of your time or less time. I am
coming into a place when I have more time for me and what I want to do.
Taking on another physical release was part of that. Trying to be
thoughtful (about) what I had done to get there in order to do that.
When you go into it thinking it would be great if everybody loved this
and everybody started playing it but not being tied to that result and
not kicking yourself, because of it.
Being curious about the title of this EP, Age + Alchemy we asked Emily
Zuzik how she settled on the name.
“I like using symbols and I didn’t want to use an ampersand again.
As we talked about, there is a lot of this theme of transformation. I
love a good bit of science nerdiness and I am also fascinated with magic
and spirituality. Because I was raised strict Catholic with people who
liked to stay within the lines, I never thought you could have one and
the other. It seemed like you are either religious or you are part of
that mentality of the enlightenment. I like both of those ideas and I
was thinking about these songs and transitions in life and even
transitions outside of a life writing music, where have I come from and
where am I going.
I saw this house about halfway between my house and Ted Russell Kamp’s
house and it is probably from the early 1900s. I remember seeing houses
like this in the Midwest. It is a basic house that you might see in
Kansas or whatever. It is a blue teal color, but it has gold
ornamentation and there is some magenta in it. It has this whole whacky
color scheme. It probably drives my husband crazy. It is wild. They also
have this ten-foot skeleton that you see at the Halloween stores. They
painted it gold and they made it whatever the holiday is. For a while
they also had this old minivan that they painted to match the color
scheme of the house. I thought I have to meet these people. I don’t know
who these people are, but I feel like they are my people. I was driving
past it going to my house and I noticed on the van there was a bumper
sticker that said Science and Magic. I thought, that is the universe
sending me the title. I have stories like that for several different
albums like something just dropped it in my lap. I thought that was too
black and white.
I thought let’s chew on this a while. I also like alliteration, so it
was kind of the bridge between magic and science. It worked so well and
it was the two comparative words. It is a combination of magical things
that happened and all of these magical moments,” she explains.
There is an emphasis on percussion and bass in the song “Easy,” and she
talks about that, “I wanted a Rock song to kick things off. That was the
last one written for the EP. We had already gone into the studio and
produced the other five tunes. They were already kicking around in some
form of overdubbing or mixing and I wasn’t feeling the kickoff song.
None of those felt like the first song on the album. Because I grew up
in an era where there was an intention, as to how you arranged the songs
on a record and going through life making mixed tapes there was this
idea I need something to start and then it goes up, then you need a
penultimate moment and you need a closer. I wasn’t feeling that with
that batch of songs.
Then the other thing was as I have been telling you about my life and
how I got here, I thought I need to write that song. I just took some
moments of me transitioning from being a younger adult to an older adult
and putting that spin on it. I thought okay that feels about right. That
is how “Easy,” came about.”
She then goes on to explain how the verses were influenced from her
times living in New York City in the East Village and also in San
Francisco.
“Each of those vignettes are like plucked moments from (my life). There
is way more than that in all of those places obviously. I just pulled
the stuff that rose to the surface first. The San Francisco stuff and
the early New York one is mixed. I had a lot of East Village exploration
the first time I lived in New York, but I lived in the East Village in
New York in the early to mid 2000s too. I was probably drawing more from
that period. It is like a time stamp of where I am at now,” she says.
The song “Love’s About Taking the Fall,” combines narrative with
painting really good word pictures and Emily Zuzik creates a cinematic
feel, with the listener being able to both listen and to visualize the
story as it unfolds. “I think there is truth in that. That is a song I drew from years of living that perspective. It is not like the game of feeling out of control and the headiness of the chase. There is definitely intention. I was also trying to write a song like The Pretenders, not necessarily in sonics, but with that cool delivery that Chrissie Hynde does.
I can tell you exactly how that song came together. My family was on its
first trip a year after the pandemic shut down the world. I think it was
in late December or early January of 2021 and my husband booked an
Airbnb in Cambria California, near the beach. I brought a small, travel
size guitar with me. I didn’t know what we were going to find and I had
never been there, so I had no visual reference. One of the days had this
golden hour that was approaching. You could see that the sunset was
going to hit in about an hour. I was outside on the porch which was just
across from the beach and I was hammering on like an A Major. I had this
idea of a Bluesy Rock rhythm. I was trying to play with that Chrissie
Hynde delivery. Then the words came. Then you go in and you hone them a
bit. There was definitely a “Brass In Pocket,” vibe that I was going for
(editor’s note: This is the name of a song by The Pretenders).
There is intention in that narrative (and with her fingers together
to emphasize the point). The woman who is singing that song is not
worried about what she is doing. She knows exactly what she is doing. I
felt like that’s going to be fun. I have written a million of these
chase love songs where the game is there, but let’s have it a bit more
confident and a bit more in control of the story.
I have been a
bartender, I’ve been in bands, I’ve been in bars since my early
twenties. I know that stage, so to speak. I had seen this scenario play
out a bunch of times, so just write it down. I had Ted come in and help
me near the end. How do we get back to this idea. What ideas should go
and what new ones should come in. That is how the lyrics got done. We
need something for the solo or the bridge. What are we doing? He may
have a suggestion of chord changes. That is really how that one
materialized.
Within confidence there is ownership of all that you are. Maybe it’s
your brain, maybe it’s your sense of humor or your sense of cunning, (it
could be) your charm or owning your sensuality. Knowing how to use it
(sensuality) not necessarily to be manipulative, but you know your
skills, you know your talents and you know your gifts. Going in and
owning one’s gifts is very sexy. I also know what different ranges can
convey performatively,” she says.
Emily, you covered John Lennon’s song, “I’m Losing You,” and you have
been a big fan of his music and a student of who his life and music for
what seems like most of your life, so why was this the right time for
you to cover one of his songs and this one in particular?
“Because I hadn’t yet. For the longest time Lennon is the one I point
to. The way I approach singing in some ways and the way I approach
writing in some ways. What I value in songwriting and singing I point to
him. Maybe trying to choose a song is what kept me from doing it and
maybe lacking the confidence to trust my instincts, as to how I would do
it or not being able to hear what I could do that was not totally
informed or was not totally influenced by how he did it.
There are moments when that song gets into some really gritty stuff and
the production is so slick. I didn’t want to do it slick. Maybe that was
the right decision for Lennon at the time.
To me it felt a lot like the “Cold Turkey,” era. The content felt like
sonically it should be treated like “Cold Turkey.” That was another old
Lennon tune. It was really raw, kind of punk in a way and jumping into
the lost side of things. I have spent a lot of time, cramming
information into this noggin (points a finger at her head) about
that guy (Lennon). There have been a lot of listening hours and trying
to figure out the quirks.
Getting back to our recording of it, it seemed to me that it would make
more sense to dive into that side of it, to strip away the slickness and
to find something kind of raw underneath. We have all been there and had
that sense of helplessness that something is going away that you
desperately want to cling to and you are just messy,” says Emily Zuzik.
“Taking A Walk,” is more peaceful and reflective with the lyrics
sounding like the person in the song is saying if you want to be mine,
you have to take to listen to me and to get to know me.
She agrees, “I think that is fair and I think there is also a bit of
letting go of the game. It seems like a perfect one to book end with
“Love’s About Taking the Fall.” There is definitely a peace to taking a
walk. There is an acceptance in age and experience from the perspective.
There is this newfound vulnerability. There is this experiential
confidence, but not in a blatant way. Through your living you become
more emboldened and through your living you bring down your walls. With
that comes accepting little things about yourself, accepting things
about a potential partner and seeing the whole picture. What I may have
seen in the past is maybe this.”
There is that philosopher again.
Please visit the
website for Emily Zuzik and remember it rhymes with music. There are
links on
her
website
through which you can purchase her music.
You can also follow Emily Zuzik
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#EmilyZuzik #EmilyZuzikInterview #RivetingRiffsMagazine #RivetingRiffs #EmilyZuzikMusic #EmilyZuzikActress #WomenInMusic #MujeresEnMusica #EntrevistaMusica #EmilyZuzikEntrevista
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I
like how “Love’s About Taking The Fall,” and “I’m Losing You,” are
rockier numbers, but it felt like there is only one of me there, but the
other one is the Lennon tune. There has got to be another one kicking
around. Nothing felt sonically like a good fit for where I wanted to go
with it. Then I found these two or three years of song bits in the phone
[She holds up her phone]. I found something that Ted and I had started,
that sort of riff and I thought huh.