INTERVIEW: ZACHARY LEO
23-year old Zachary Leo (Melbourne/Naarm) unites deliciously grooving disco funk vibes with modern pop structures in his latest single ‘Can’t Get Enough’. The Michael Parisi mentoree has honed his signature sound, bringing all the good vibes to wash away the tensions of life. Tori met with Zachary Leo to talk about the new single and being a musician in the post-covid world.
How's your weekend going?
Yeah, it's been good! Had a show on Friday night, which was really good. And then had a relaxing couple of days.
Where was your show on Friday night? How did it go?
Cherry Bar! The new Cherry Bar on Little Collins Street. It was great. We had a great, great night. Great turnout. Played well. That was the launch for the new song. There was a tour planned…and then there wasn't, it has been all over the shop. So I cut everything back and just did the show, but will probably announce some more stuff soon. COVID made it super tricky, which is a bummer. But the launch was great. So that's all we can ask!
Small wins in the music industry at the moment! You're talking about the band there, but you are Zach…. tell me where this whole thing started?
I think it was 2019, that was the first single and the first show. Before that I had been in bands and had done my own music. But I got to a point where I wanted to write a certain type of music and it didn't fit the band, it didn't fit my solo thing that I was doing, which was very acoustic and the band was heavy rock. So I made a decision one day to go on my own, but have a big live show with a band. It is like the band Harry Styles would have or any big acts would have. But I’m kind of finding my sound and finding my direction. I think I'm on a really good path at the moment, settling in and creating what I think is really cool.
I guess it's not really pop, but this new version of pop coming out at the moment, you talked about Harry Styles and I think of Billie Eilish. They're the new pop, which isn't such a traditional cotton candy kind of sound. Is that what you're aiming to go for?
I think definitely a type of pop I'm looking to go for, but a lot of my influences come from funk artists from the 70s and late 60s like George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic, when they spearheaded the rap scene for a while as well. A lot of that music was ingrained into the mainstream early on. It's kind of funk. But naturally, there's this pop structure there, I guess in the melodies. It's like you said, Harry Styles, Billie Eilish - it's not your traditional pop. They take influence from there. I've got my different inspirations in the soul scene, and the rock scene that I put in there, make it a little bit less poppy, but it's definitely still pop.
And so are you primarily a vocalist? Or are you an instrumentalist as well?
I started with vocals. But I would say guitar would be my strong point. I've been practicing the most since I was quite young. I always sang but I wasn't always very good for a long time.When I was in my early teens, I got some lessons and kept giving it a go. Now I think it's a vessel to deliver the music, rather than my strength, if that makes any sense? But the guitar, that and songwriting is one of my strengths, where I feel most comfortable.
And with this new track, was this one that you created in COVID?
Like everyone in Melbourne I was in lockdown. It was just before the big one last year, I had a meeting with Alex, my producer to decide on which songs we will record in the studio. The night before I had a spark of inspiration and quickly wrote this song, and came to him with it the next day. He was like, yeah, let's do it. Then we sat on it for a while. We've played a few shows with the song in it, we got into pre production and then lockdown. We had to record it after lockdown ended. I had time in lockdown to make sure that we had time to go through pre production and stuff then we came out of lockdown to record. It was a day before and Alex sprung on me that I needed to rewrite half the song and he's like, “You’ve got to cut all this out”. We had all lockdown for him to tell me, and he sprung it on me at the last minute! But what came out was the best result.
This is Alex from Delta Riggs?
Yeah, we started working together. It would have been a lot sooner but with COVID. Then we did, so good! Hopefully some more songs in the future as well.
He's definitely becoming one of the bigger producers and has an awesome sound.
He was incredible to work with, just seamless and easy. I've always been stressed in the studio, it felt like we weren't working hard enough because it was so easy. We got the take like “Yeah, cool. That's it. That's the take”. It was such a great and easy and stress free and creative process with Alex, he made it very, very easy, which was awesome.
Are there any other producers that you've got your eye on that you'd like to work with in future?
I think at the moment, honestly, I think what me and Alex created was really special. He helped me find ways to bring the songs to life. We connected musically in the studio. I haven't connected with someone like that before. We both knew what we needed in the songs. I think right now, I'd be keen to jump back in with Alex, I haven't even thought about someone else! Obviously, Mark Ronson for instance, producers that you dream of working with, Pharrell and all of them. Honestly, Alex - I'd be keen to get back in with him ASAP, we're working towards that, but everyone's busy.
Are there any artists that you are really keen to work with, or you've kind of started chatting with?
Not really at the moment, I'm always open to collaborating with other artists and working with other musicians, but I think I'm someone who writes very much on their own. I sit in my room and work on something then come out and show people and then go back and work on it myself. So there's no real talks with anyone at the moment. I mean, there's a few really cool Aussie artists that I would love to pick their brain and work with. Like Kesmar from Sydney, he's got this really cool synth sound that I just adore. I think it's awesome. I love his vibe as well. I'd love to work with him. We can make something really funky.
How are you feeling about the response to the single?
It's been awesome. Messages and love from heaps of different people. It's been really cool. Even the last week or so it's taken off, streams have been going off and giving me so much love. I'm feeling really, really positive about it. I think positive words and reassurance is enough for me to feel really good about it. I love this song and I'm really proud of it. Everyone's been so lovely.
Is there anything else that you'd want your new fans or people who are following to know about you or about your music?
I'm a pretty open book. I would just say thank you for the support so far. There is music coming and the show is coming. I’m keen to share it with everyone.
Before we go, what was the last thing you were listening to?
You know, it was Harry Styles. I think it was Daydreaming off the new record. I've been playing non-stop the last couple of days.