Mixed but optimistic is probably the best way of putting it.
Actually recently I had this revelation. Music technology is too good. In my opinion, this is leading to more over produced music and in some cases lesser acts live. This isn’t obviously the case in every situation but I think lesser musicians are able to create music that isn’t a true representation of themselves or their ability. The biggest disappointment about this for me is that when I see an act live, it’s a bit of a let down.
Having said this, there are sooooooo many great acts that this is totally not the case. The rise of the home studio has helped this I think and also the fact tat these acts do a heap of touring.
To me music is built on the live aspect, not necessarily the recordings one puts out. You want to judge an act, judge them on their ability to perform live.
It’s a very hard industry to crack. But as long as there are good people and good acts, there will always be good music. The commerce of the industry is changing though. People are making it without the large labels, which is awesome in my opinion. I guess we will see where it all ends up- @ZakFleishe
Live interview
Episode #348 : A.V.A Live Radio Behind The Music with Jacqueline Jax : http://www.blogtalkradio.com/avaliveradio/2016/08/10/episode-348-ava-live-radio-behind-the-music-with-jacqueline-jax”
GETTING TO KNOW ZAK FLESHER
by Jacqueline Jax host of A.V.A Live Radio
Zak Fleisher (Big surprise!)
Mixed but optimistic is probably the best way of putting it.
Actually recently I had this revelation. Music technology is too good. In my opinion, this is leading to more over produced music and in some cases lesser acts live. This isn’t obviously the case in every situation but I think lesser musicians are able to create music that isn’t a true representation of themselves or their ability. The biggest disappointment about this for me is that when I see an act live, it’s a bit of a let down.
Having said this, there are sooooooo many great acts that this is totally not the case. The rise of the home studio has helped this I think and also the fact tat these acts do a heap of touring.
To me music is built on the live aspect, not necessarily the recordings one puts out. You want to judge an act, judge them on their ability to perform live.
It’s a very hard industry to crack. But as long as there are good people and good acts, there will always be good music. The commerce of the industry is changing though. People are making it without the large labels, which is awesome in my opinion. I guess we will see where it all ends up.
A pro is how many people there are out there willing to help unknown artists.
Whether it be venue managers, promoters, distributors whoever. There are still heaps of people who want the best for everyone and just want great music to be heard. To these people, thus far I say thank you, it’s well deserved and there should be more people like you out there.
A con I have experienced. Before I decided to go solo,
which was me overcoming my hurdle I guess, bands were always very hard to start and maintain for a long period of time (especially if everyone is not willing to grind and work hard to do it). In previous bands, I had a drummer who I essentially treated as my little brother, kick me to the curb whilst we were just starting to get some attention. My solution was to not have to rely on anyone else and to just do it myself.
My mum could answer this just by letting you see the Itunes bill!!
I’m a huge album fan, but only when the artist actually writes an album, not a collection of singles.
In terms of releases,
I think that they both go hand in hand. You release the single for buzz and the album to show the collection of your work. Something I do like is when there are slight, but noticeable differences between the album released song and the single. A good example of this is on Kendrick’s “To Pimp a Butterfly”, where (at least in the version I have), the song “i” is totally different.
If I knew a proven worked marketing formula, I would share it. Everyone deserves to be heard.
I am terrible with social media.
Only got onto the train very late in the piece. It’s great in the fact you can reach an audience that you have never thought you could, and that it can give you instant access to that music. I benefit in terms of gaining greater exposure and being able to access markets and people I never would otherwise be able to.
I would love 5 minutes alone with Matt Bellamy of Muse.
He is the reason I love music the way I do. He was my first mega idol and I would love to pick his brain about mainly non music stuff. To me, he is a pioneer of the modern day guitarist and one of the greatest live performers not only in my generation, but ever.
I’m not entirely sure to be honest.
You need to be current in terms of your marketing and your strategy to distribute your music. To be on a big label, you need to be current and trendy. The question for me is how do you stay ahead of the trend? The next question I have is how important is it to be trendy and current? I don’t know. In a way, the current hipster trend shows the emphasis on owning older vintage clothing. A bit of a hypocracy in a sense, to be with the latest trend one must wear and embrace older trends .
When I write music I try to just stay true to what I want when I write and play, not necessarily keeping super trendy. I guess there’s a balance between the two for me at least, but this may not work for other people.
“Treat her better, boy” – trying to live by this currently. Quote from Mr. Mac Demarco.
Firstly, the first instrument I learnt was guitar at age 7.
The only reason I wanted to start guitar was because my oldest friend, named Zach as well, started learning. I didn’t want to be left out.
As a younger dude growing up in Australia,
the main focus of anyone really is sport. So for a long part of my formative years, music was purely a hobby that i kinda did just because my parents wanted me to keep it up. However, in about grade 10, something clicked. It was after nailing Knights of Cydonia by Muse on guitar. I realized maybe I was a little better than what I had given myself credit for. This is what triggered me to start writing music and to start performing live.
The final stage was having the realization one day,
whilst working my old accounting job, that this 9-5 corporate grind was not for me…at least at this point in my life. So I ended up resigning and trying my luck in making music a career. This is where I’d actually like to give credited to my work at the time for being so supportive of this move.
The song is called “Green Girl”.
It’s about me leaving my job on a summer camp and subsequently having to leave the USA because of my visa and the prospect of not being able to come back into the country.
The song is also a message to my girlfriend, who I met on camp, telling her to follow her heart with decisions she makes in life, and to not regret anything.
I was working as the music director on a summer camp.
To be frank, besides the people, I absolutely hated it. I was trying to facilitate the musical learning of the kids which was actually pretty fun. We learnt a lot about rhythm and speeds and how this affects music. We also looked at lyrics by themselves v.s listening to the entire song and how this affects one’s interpretation of the song. The program I was doing was actually quite fun. The problem was I had people whose job description wasn’t musical director, trying to do my job and trying to tell me how I should do my job. It was the classic traditionalists v.s new ideas conflict. This is where I met my current girlfriend. I was having a bad experience, but my girlfriend was literally in tears every single night because of the overload of responsibility and stress which was on her to look after her cabin.
Anyways, push came to shove and I ended up leaving after the first session.
The problem was that the camp was sponsoring my visa. So by US immigration laws, I had to leave the country immediately. I went to Canada all by myself. I went to Vancouver for a week.
Whilst I was traveling, I wasn’t sure if I would be let back into the USA at all. This was incredibly daunting for me. This would mean no music dream and no girlfriend. I had 1000000 thoughts going through my head. Would I get back in, would I be banned from the country, would I ever see my girlfriend again. This is just to name a few.
I decided that the only certain way of getting a message to my girlfriend was to write a song and at last, Green Girl was written.
In this song, I vent my frustrations about working at the camp, my worries about never seeing my girlfriend again and a message to her to trust in herself and make life decisions that would enable her to have a happy life.
Luckily, I was able to re-enter the country and am currently located in Denver.
My girlfriend has subsequently left the camp and I actually just visited her in New Mexico, which was awesome.
I recorded the entire track by myself on garage band with a nylon stringed classical guitar! I recorded the track back in Denver, after I was allowed back into the USA.
Funnily enough, “Green Girl” totally contradicts my album ideals
that I have been working on. Maybe it’s a needed addition! Green Girl was also written, recorded and released after I had decided on my album idea.
The album i am working on currently is titled “Retro Vulgar”.
It’s the story of falling in love, wanting to be with this person more than anything else only to be heartbroken. In a lot of cases, people turn to what I’m going to call, “emotional suppressants” to try get over this heartbreak. Then there is a stage of realization where people get “back on the horse” per say, and the process of heartbreak begins again.
See the contradiction!
Anyways, the main objective of the record is to convey the idea that love is now just an unsophisticated, unmeaningful phrase that people use even though they don’t really mean it. Everyone is guilty of it including me! We have lost the meaning of love. Reason why? I’m not sure. Maybe sex, maybe the pressure to be “in love”, again I’m not sure.
I guess the aim of the album is to vent my frustrations about how I see love now days. I just hope people like the music and see my point of view. You may not agree with it but that’s ok. I guess when it’s finished we can find out if it’s something special or not.
I was born and bred in Perth, Western Australia.
Just to clarify, this is on the opposite side of the country to Sydney and Melbourne. Best beaches in the world! And no, there aren’t dangerous spiders looking to hunt down humans and kill everyone! I encourage everyone to visit.
Live music in Perth is kind of a funny thing.
There are a lot of places and people that promote local music. There are heaps of great people that try their best to promote new emerging local artists but there are also heaps of pretensions snobs (aren’t there everywhere?).
The EDM electronic scene is pretty big. DJ’s, Producers and clubs are kind of the main music base in Perth. There are a lot of local artists trying to make it but Perth has a problem in a sense that if you’re not an incest manifestation of Tame Impala, It’s nearly impossible to make it as a rock act. A little harsh but what I mean is that we lack the “middle step” that is a really raging local scene. Having said that, the great thing is that there are heaps of people trying to make a great local scene in Perth.
Good places to go.
I like the Good Shepherd, The Boston, The Swan Hotel is always really fun too. The bigger venues to see are Jack Rabbit Slims, The Indie Bar and my local, The Scotto (A.K.A the Flying Scotsman).
I am a huge Australian Rules football fan.
Before you ask, no it’s not rugby! Back home I use to play a lot and watch every game. So I love watching, talking, discussing, playing fantasy, playing footy, I just love footy. Talks about footy can actually end up getting pretty heated between me and the lads. Besides music, I am an absolute AFL tragic and that is one fun thing I love to do.
Social Media Links:
Website: http://niceandloud.com/niceandloud/zak/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/zakfleishermusic/
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/zak-fleisher
Instagrams: https://www.instagram.com/dikross15/?hl=en
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/ZakFleishe