Voice Of The Underground
Presents
By: Brynn McKenna
| Brynn M. : I didn't get a bio or any info to go on for this interview, but it looks like three brothers in one band! That's very cool. Most people in that situation would probably end up killing each other eventually. Jason Z. : Actually, it's two brothers & I'm their cousin. But that actually helps the band stay together. We're family and family sticks together. Brynn M. : That's cool. I've known families who aren't as mature. You play lead guitar & sing backup. who are the other members & what do they play? Jason Z. : Zakk Zarnowski is the bassist & lead vocalist, Arlo Zarnowski plays rhythm guitar & sings backup & Rob Sexton is the drummer. Brynn M. : How long have the four of you been together as a band? Jason Z. : Rob joined the band about three years ago, but the band has been around since 1990. Brynn M. : What are your musical influences? Jason Z. : Too many to name! A lot of New York hardcore like M.O.D., Sick Of It All, all the way to Led Zepplin, the older 70's music. It's pretty versatile. We each have our own special influences in the band. Brynn M. : I never get tired of hearing this. I love to listen to music that's extremely heavy, yet it sounds good. It has a rhyme & a reason to it. Your CD, "Slam!! Stomp!! Mosh!! Crush!!" fills that bill nicely. The musicianship is incredible, the vocals loud & pissed & lyrically, you take potshots at all the stupidities & injustices society imposes upon people. I like the fact that you sound like you mean what you're saying. Jason Z. : Yeah, definitely. It totally comes from the heart. We live this band, this is our life, this is our job, this is what we do, 24 hours a day. Brynn M. : That's how it's gotta be. I'll get into that in a little while. Do you have any favorite songs on this CD? Jason Z. : My favorite is the first song, "Surroundings." It's about what you just said, society is becoming more fucked up all the time. "Dishonored" is about wounded war vets who put their asses on the line for this country, then get dissed when they come home. I especially like "Brew City Hardcore." This song tells people just what they can expect at our shows. Brynn M. : Zakk's cover art explains it, too. It's a cartoon drawing of tangled, battered fists, elbows, knees & heads. Jason Z. : Our shows are pretty much chaos, from the first note played to the last. By then, everyone's totally moshed out. Brynn M. : I can't tell what it is, but the artwork on the CD itself looks like total annihilation. Jason Z. : Zakk is the artist in the band & he just goes off on a tangent. He's also a comic book artist, he does his own comic books, a character called The UnFace. Brynn M. : A number of harder bands use intense cartoon art for their albums. Is that sixth unnamed track on the CD by itself or part of a song? It's not even listed. Jason Z. : It's a special bonus track that didn't get titled. It was kind of a mistake, but it turned out that way & it's kind of cool. That was me speaking in there, by the way. Brynn M. : Really? That's cool how you're telling people to be themselves instead of letting outside influences tell them what to like, what to buy, what to laugh at. Just as you said, some people are too lazy & stupid to think for themselves. They do what TV, their friends, their religion or whatever tells them to do. That's how trends start. Once enough people latch on, there's no originality anymore, in music or anything else. Too many copycats out there. Jason Z. : Yup, except for us. We're trying to do our own thing here. In a way, it's hard to label our music. A lot of people call it hardcore, a lot of people say it's thrash, a lot of people say that it's crossover. Brynn M. : It's a combination of styles. The influences you mentioned all show. What kinds of guitar effects & techniques were you using to create the haunting atmospheric sounds in that track? Jason Z. : That sixth track was originally going to be called "Propaganda One." I did the effects on it with keyboards & processors. I didn't use guitars. Brynn M. : It's sometimes hard to tell these days. In the other songs, do you play the sustains in those scorching leads with a whammy bar or do you play them manually? Jason Z. : I used the whammy bar in a lot of that. I also do a lot of string bending. Brynn M. : Everyone has their own style. Different brands of equipment create different sounds, too. What brands do you use? Jason Z. : I use Ibanez guitars. Arlo plays Gibsons. Zakk uses an Ibanez bass. Rob plays Tama drums. As for amps, Zakk uses an Ampeg head, Arlo & I use Peavey heads. Brynn M. : Are you self taught or have you had instruction? Jason Z. : I was taught for many years by a very good guitar player named Jeff. Unfortunately, I can't remember his last name. It was so long ago. He finally told me that I was good enough to go out on my own, then he left to be in a band called Crime. But I plan to keep studying, keep taking lessons. Brynn M. : The quality of the music on this CD is impeccable. Do you have any advice for other guitarists, beginners in particular? Jason Z. : Yes, keep playing no matter what, play every day. It takes years and years of hard practice. It won't happen unless you're willing to invest the time into it. Even the great guitar players keep taking lessons. They keep coming up with new ways of playing. You can play the same note on a guitar on about 30 different places on the neck. Brynn M. : Getting back to those words in "Brew City Hardcore," where you say that you're sacrificing everything for this career, this way of life. A lot of people don't understand that that's what it takes to make it in this business. Jason Z. : Yeah, that's how it is. This is a hard business. Even if you give 100% there are no guarantees, but if you don't invest all your time into it, it won't happen at all. We've been at this for seven years and finally, it's starting to pay off. We're just starting to get our foot in the door nationally. Brynn M. : Any label interest? Jason Z. : We just got signed to our first record label, 24-7 Records out of our hometown, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. They also have a few Florida bands, a couple New York bands signed. It's a hardcore label. Brynn M. : Congratulations. This deserves to be heard everywhere. Are you working on a new album? Jason Z. : We are about to release our new one, we just finished recording it. It's called "Riot Gun." There are 8 songs on it. It's awesome. Brynn M. : Great. Where have you been gigging & what are your tour plans? Jason Z. : We leave for a self-supported U.S. tour in August. It's still in the works, so I can't give you the itinerary yet. We're working with a guy out of Phoenix, Arizona, & the service is called Hardwood Concerts. We were on the Warped Tour last year. We played the Midwest & the East Coast. We've covered the Wisconsin to Chicago, Illinois area. There isn't a big demand there for this kind of music; it's either conservative or people want their country music, so we have to get out on the road. Brynn M. : I think the country music thing has become an overhyped yuppie fad. I've actually known corporate ladder climbers who pretend to like it to impress their line dancing co-workers or superiors in the boardroom. The old keeping up with the Joneses thing. Then they're driving down the street with their car windows up, and they think people can't hear the loud rock music stations they're playing. I call them "closet rockers." Sooner or later their true colors will show for all to hear. It's a good sign. Anything else you want people to know about? Jason Z. : The new CD is excellent, we put a lot of time & money into it. We'll have our first website soon. I don't know the address yet, but it will be under Gigmasters. We'll be playing the Chicago Metalfest during Halloween weekend, Chicago's Metal Expo of the Extreme. It's supposed to be better than Milwaukee's. Look for New Society of Anarchists in your town, we deliver a high energy hardcore show. |
