INTERVIEW + NEW MUSIC: Zig Zags

Over the last few days I’ve been making a list of songs for a mixtape I plan on putting together.  I’m talking about an actual mix on an actual TAPE; a 120 minute TDK brand cassette tape to be exact.  It’s just what I know.  The theme of the mix is going to be “Awesome Album Openers” and I have some really, really top notch songs on the list.  Humble brag? No. Regular brag?  Hell Yes.  Here’s a small sample to quell your ever curious minds: Stone Temple Pilots, “Dead & Bloated”; Justice, “Genesis”; NIN, “Mr. Self Destruct”, to name merely a few.  All of this preamble brings me to Zig Zags.  “They Came For Us” is the opening track from Los Angeles based band Zig Zags’ new record, Running Out Of Red.  It’s a sludgy, burner of a song.  Listening to it makes me feel like I should be taking all of the drugs while making out with all of the chicks and Never. Wanting. It. To. Stop.

In other words, it’s a song that wouldn’t be out of place on a mixtape that happened to have an “Awesome Album Openers” theme running through.

Zig Zags are playing Victory Lounge this coming Saturday, August 20th and you would be dumb not to check them out.

I had a chance to chat with the band about music, detention, crazy antics at past shows and action figures.

the mixtape: What are you doing right now besides answering this question?

Zig Zags: Looking for parking in DC. Thanks a lot Obama!

tm: You dudes probably spent some time in detention back in school (who didn’t?), what sorta things got you locked up? AND…What bands’ names were you three carving into your own desks while in detention in highschool?

ZZ: A lot of time for throwing rocks at school buses and bus drivers and kicking off people’s sprinkler heads as soon as I got off the bus. Mainly just fucking with buses. My favorite one was a carving of the metal local metal up your ass guitar in the toilet. Also some had carved in some stick figures having sex. This was at an alternative school that the faculty let the kids name so of course they named it Pantera high school.

tm: What is it that first attracted you to thrash/metal/rock over other genres?

ZZ: Well when I moved from Portland to a really small town in Washington the people I made friends with were all families from Thailand and Laos that worked in the farms. All the older brothers were into maiden and slayer and nuclear assault and their parents let us do whatever so we just hung out and listened to metal all the time and drew band logos and shit on our jeans with like sharpies and shit. It was the first music that I actually listened to.

tm: Are you living the lifestyle that your music/attitude seems to promote? Waking and baking, getting laid at the local liquor store and not giving any f*cks? Or, are you secretly listening to elevator jazz, petting many kitties and devouring kale and broccoli salads?

ZZ: You know what I like is getting really crazy and loud and wild at the show and then going home and watching Netflix with my girlfriend and my dog.

tm: Most metal thing that has happened at one of your shows?

ZZ: Girl in France jumped off the stage and busted her face open. We went in to check on her after when the ambulance came and there was blood everywhere. It was pretty metal but we felt really bad for her. She had made us food earlier and was super sweet.

tm: How is your new album Running Out Of Red different than your previous releases regarding sound/content/level of thrash?

ZZ: Hmmm I think it’s the same as all the other shit. we try to balance between punk/hardcore/metal etc… even though we never talk about it in those terms. There’s always gonna be heavy songs, fast songs, a couple fucking goofy songs to lighten the mood and then some shit that just mixes all of those elements and straight up crushes.

tm: If Zig Zags was an action figure what accessories would you have?

ZZ: Bong, chihuahua, cat, cheap beer, obscure craft beer, women’s clothes in a bag, 1 pair of pants forever, cigarettes, one of those gripper things to make your hands strong, HPV.

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