All Things Zim Zum: Interviews: The Process of Creation (part 1)

The Process of Creation
Part 1 of an exclusive Zim Zum interview by Rosie Green
November 10, 2005

Wow! Where do I start! So much has happened since the last time I interviewed Zim Zum. The Pop Culture Suicides members have been introduced to the fans/world via MySpace.com, you can find new music on their profile AND brace yourself! You can also find a couple of gig dates there!
Here you go! Enjoy!

ROSIE GREEN:How are you these days?
ZIM ZUM: I am excited about the future but I firmly grounded in the moment.
RG: You're about to do a live gig with The Pop Culture Suicides. What do you think the crowd is going to react?
ZZ: They cant possibly be expecting what they will see and hear. I am not even sure anymore how exactly to describe it. I am looking forward to the reaction and the interaction.
RG: Are you at all concerned with those that may be there who are not so appreciative of your efforts to progress/evolve?
ZZ: I can see the world around me, even though I dont choose to participate in the creatively void ways of the media obsessed culture. I know full well that there will be people who dont get it at all. I'm not trying to prove anything to anyone. I simply come from a different angle and those who are open minded will appreciate this incredible journey I have whole heartedly submersed myself in. I wouldn't change a thing. I wouldn't have moved things along faster or catered to any social expectations. I love my music and I am appreciative when others share those emotions with me, the emotions that I have quite openly exposed to everyone that truly listens.
RG: What do you like most about performing live?
ZZ: The paralyzing fear that gives way to truly feeling like I am alive and sharing time with a room full of people. Creating memories. I dont participate socially very often, but when I do I do it in a big way.
RG: How does it compare to playing in the studio/rehearsal space?
ZZ: I really like both of those experiences. I like the whole process of creating music. I've been fairly vocal about my ability to write albums and albums worth of music never even considering sharing it with anyone else but that's my way of doing things. I dont feel art is validated by success. It's validated in the process of creation, the ability to create something that never existed is a very heavy experience. I love to explore the studio and make sounds and melodies and noise and things I've never heard before. I feel like a mad conductor at times, more often than not because from time to time I take a moment to take in everything around me and the realization of taking the music into rehearsals and working out all of the orchestrations with the rest of the band and seeing it become "human" like a warped orchestra or seeing a completely different kind of musical come to life is uncanny. I feel as though I am looking in through a window.
RG: Which do you prefer?
ZZ: I love the studio but I have a new found appreciation for the entire process, whatever the process reveals itself to be.
RG: What guitar set up do you use in the studio? Onstage?
ZZ: I am open to using just about everything I can get my hands on but dont really, specifically, speak of the exact things I use.
RG: Do you use amp-modeling plug-ins or do you mic the amps yourself?
ZZ: Yes.
RG: Tell me what gear you used when recording The Pop Culture Suicides' album.
ZZ: I used quite a few vocal approaches, guitars, basses, synths, amps, cabinets and percussive devices as I really just wanted to get as much variation in tone as I could. I dont do things the way most studios do. I feel I'm much more "lo-fi" but I get straight to the process of creation without being dragged into the engineering aspects to the point where it becomes overly technical or scientific. I am not one to compress the hell out of a mix as I really, really like clarity and the raw emotion of an instrument really being played. I like volume. Again, I'm one who prefers what I feel in the moment and that translates into the way I play, write and record. I'm ok with whatever comes out if I like it. I think flaws are signs of character but that's not to say I dont obsess with all the little details of playing a performance piece to perfection. I prefer to play things that are above my urrent ability so that down the line when I am performing these pieces in front of people they are still a bit of a challenge, an unknown factor of sorts.
RG: Describe your growth as a guitar player.
ZZ: I dont think I have a full understanding of where I have been or where I am going with music or the instruments I play. It would be like planning how your going to have sex.
I just know that I base quite a bit of my existence on "feeling"and I try to mesh that approach with trying to take my playing further, or to a different place each time I sit down with my guitar. I still consciously make time to play for long periods of time because I do have an understanding of how I can excel when I obsess. I started when I was 13 and though I am aware of the evolution there are things about the way I played then that I am inspired by now.
RG: What is the most important element of your guitar playing?
ZZ: I dont know that I am a believer of any guitarist that goes on and on about his or her "style" because that seems a bit too self important for me. I am always learning and that is by choice. I can never really get enough of the technical aspects of guitar but I dont allow myself to get lost in the numbers and theory. You simply have to spend time with anything you want to have any level of quality with. I would spend 16 hours a day playing guitar because I enjoyed the way it sounded and the new things I could get out of a guitar and I still have the same desire to play, even more so now because I have seen and heard how it takes over to where it is unconscious and flowing. I have been a student of atonal and outside "notes" for quite some time. Things that theoretically shouldn't work but when applied in a specific way, work very well.
At least to me they do. I love to orchestrate. I am not one to feel the need to play a million notes to get my point across, though I appreciate those that do because it's their way of doing things. I would rather play one note that breaks your heart than 1,000 that stop it.
RG: How many guitars do you have now?
ZZ: That's a good question.
RG: How many will you be using on the road?
ZZ: I'm not taking a lot out with me. I am taking 7 (I say that today and it could be 14 tomorrow) though I do have 5 specific tunings and back up guitars for each (if your doing the math on that one factor in that I have D-tuners on a couple of them so they can be 2 tunings with a flick of a switch) I am taking more amps out with me than I ever have before.
RG: Tell me how you got into production. Was it like some other musicians who do it out of necessity or could you not find someone who understood your vision?
ZZ: I do it myself. I really only feel like those I am in a band with understand where I'm coming from and where I need to take all of this. I'm uneasy with outsiders when it comes to my music and entering into the process. It's hard to find passionate people who allow themselves to explore what goes on inside my head and then even harder to find those that can embrace it and all that comes with it. I really explore. I dont believe in formats or those who work under an umbrella of strategy. I am more fond of engineers because they know how to get specific frequencies to respond in specific ways, which in turn allows me to let loose and play.
RG: How do you maintain a common stylistic balance while reaching so far in different directions?
ZZ: I can only think that it is because the one common theme is me? I am writing, playing, recording to please myself and I am into a lot of different things. Everything can be an influence if you let it. I am very careful as to what I allow myself to hear. It's like junk food. You know what's not good for you so stay the fuck away from it. You really have to allow yourself to be open to growth even if everything around you seems to be stagnant. I spent a lot of time cleansing the programming of the world out of my system.
A lot of time alone. A lot of time feeling through different styles of music that all were coming from inside of me. I then let go of any borders and took 2 and 3 songs at a time and put them into one song, one sprawling story. I started to write songs like movies. Getting the moral of the story 2 minutes into the song no longer made any sense to me at all.
Then I found what I was looking for....
To Be Continued...

SPECIAL THANKS TO: Zim Zum for taking the time out to answer my questions.::top::