zebrahead – Middle Seat Blues

By starrymag | January 19, 2023

By: Jennifer Vintzileos

 

 

Q) How would you best describe your sound?

A) We are a mish mosh of everything. I have heard descriptions calling us a mix of green day and rage against the machine meets everything else. I am OK with all that.  We are kind of hard to describe.

Q) What is your Top 3 favorite albums of all time?

A) Iron Maiden piece of mind cause it was the very first cassette I bought as a kid, Fugazi 13 Songs would be in there also cause the bass line of “waiting room” made me want to learn to play bass (even though we sound nothing like it) and third I guess I would say Lagwagon Trashed…because it pulled me into really want to go to as many live shows as possible.

Q) Tell us the story behind your new single “Middle Seat Blues.”

A) Well…the demo was made in my garage. We often record them there. It came together really fast.  We liked it…but then we went to actually record it and changed the bass line in the verse the last minute and it really changed the song for us.  We decided we loved it after that.

Q) What message do you hope fans will take away from listening to this new single?

A) Adrian said it really good when he talked about it … “Surround yourself with quality, not quantity, not everyone around you has your best interests in mind, “Middle Seat Blues” is about just that!”.

There are very few people in this world that will actually look out for you.  The sooner in life u recognize that the better off u will be.  But just like many things in life we all tend to think…this new person or relationship will be different…will it?  Is that a negative outlook…maybe it is…I just got out of a 6-year divorce so trusting people isn’t my greatest quality right now.

Q) You also currently have a single out for “Evil Anonymous” and within the past month released a music video for it. How did you come up with the concept for the music video for “Evil Anonymous?”

A) We were headed to New Caledonia to play a festival after touring in Japan. We had never been there…so we googled it and it looked amazing. Even though the song “Evil Anonymous” was a little darker and not exactly fit with a tropical island, we decided it would be fun to film there and make a bright and happy video with a darker ska song…. kind of let it play off each other….

Q) “Middle Seat Blues” and “Evil Anonymous” are singles featured on EP II, which is set for a February 3rd release. What are some themes you will be exploring on the EP?

A) The next song is a very personal song for us also…dealing with coming home from tour and having your significant other waiting with divorce papers…and this song isn’t about me. You notice a theme here…[laughs]

Q) Since releasing these new singles, what has been the reaction from fans and listeners to the new music?

A) So far so good. Always makes me stoked when people enjoy the new songs. All we can do is make songs we like, and hope others enjoy them also.  But as long as we like what we are doing than we can stand proudly behind them.

Q) Are there any plans for an album release party for EP II?

A) I guess the next year would be the party…not really a specific show. But we are going to be super busy most of 2023 all over the world. Really exciting to have us all together traveling again.  We really have missed it.

Q) You’re also set to tour this year, with some West Coast dates slated for this month and a European tour February through May. What are you most looking forward to touring and getting to share your new music with fans?

A) To me, as lame as it sounds, life is so much about experiences and remembering them later…being lost in a town, staying up all night with friends drinking in the cold or even having a flat tire by the side of the road. Walking on stage each night and getting goose bumps because everyone knows all the words to the songs five thousand miles from home is a huge one….We are lucky and I love to sit back and remember them afterwards….even the bad one become funny with time.

Q) Which song(s) is your favorite to perform live and why?

A) I love playing “All My Friends Are Nobodies.” I guess because it was a shocker to us how successful that song became. Somehow releasing ourselves and taking complete control of all things led to this song and the album BRAIN INVADERS to become our highest streaming and most successful album.   We are still shocked and blown away by it.  So, it makes me smile.

Q) What would you like to say to your fans and listeners of your music?

A) Thank you for letting me do this – for getting to make music and travel the world. Honestly, it means everything to us, and we wouldn’t change it for anything. I get to play shows and walk around new cities everyday ……what could be better!

 

 

All Questions Answered By Bassist Ben Osmundson