Artist Showcase, An Interview with Zō
Volume #32: Artist Showcase, An Interview with Zō
8/26/2022
Back in April I visited the Foundry Concert Club to take in an underground show (RbRR #7). I was in the crowd to check out Cleveland Thrash Metal act, Assault, who was there to support a band I was unfamiliar with: Zō. If you read that article you’ll know that performance turned out to be an absolute maelstrom of Heavy Metal magic. Zō exceeded all expectations as they blended Death Metal with many different elements including impressive musicianship, lengthy instrumentals and clean vocals in three part harmony. Subsequently, Zō has become a band I follow closely and I was excited when I finally had the opportunity to sit down and ask them a few questions. All of which, I will now divulge to you in an effort to enlighten the Rustbelt on its most enigmatic and unique Death Metal outfit.
Zō is the Japanese word for elephant. It is also a Progressive Death Metal band from Cleveland, OH. The name was chosen because the band wished to reflect upon the inherent power and heaviness of the beast. Formed in high school around 2017, its current lineup has existed for about the last three years. Comprised of Cameron Bolyard (Vocals/Guitar), Chris Bowman (Bass/Vocals), Matt Flanagan (Guitar) and Tristan Hughart (Drums/Vocals) the group is currently gigging around the Rustbelt in support of their 2021 album “Red Sky.”
Chris Bowman, Matt Flanagan, Z.M. Delgado, Cameron Bolyard, Tristan Hughart
The band recorded at Hamburger Lips Studios in 2020, both for their stand alone single “Inferno” as well as the full length album. If you read RbRR #15, you know that I love the record, but I wanted to know what Zō thinks about the finished product. Tristan told me, after “what a lot of people paid for, going to big studios and their mishaps, we ended up with a pretty good sound.” Chris added, “He fucking hooked us up.”
Known for their lengthy and complex song structures, I wondered how it all comes together. I asked about their writing process, and how they accomplish what they do. Tristan told me “There’s kind of two streets that we use for this. One is: one of us will bring in a fully mapped out [song], we call it a skeleton. It’s just the basic structure of the song. We all rehearse that… and then the tweaks come with time.”
Zō at The Foundry
The second method, as Chris explained, “starts off as just a few riffs. We get a couple riffs down. Everyone throws something in the pot and we all just kind of work and… integrate our parts together; weave it and then just keep adding to it. The next thing you know we have an 8 minute fucking song.” Lyrically things get a little more convoluted. “We kind of write for our own parts [though] lyrics and vocals in general are often a compound exercise. Everybody has to sing differently and [Cameron] does a lot, he’s very versatile, he can jump in anywhere. In a lot of ways we’re still learning to employ three different voices in interesting ways.”
Zō performing "Red Sky"
Digging deeper I asked about their monster track “Red Sky.” This, the longest and most ambitious track on the album, clocks in at over 9 minutes in length. I find this song to be an absolute stroke of genius and I needed to know what sort of herculean effort went into crafting it. I wondered how long it took to write and Cameron confessed “It was right after lock down and we were itching to get some stuff done.” “Honestly, I feel like it was really fast. We came up with pretty much all the riffs in the song, it was just like ‘here’s this fucking long ass song.” Tristan elaborated “this was one of those cases where the song was pretty much written from its conception.” Chris summed it up best with “that was magic, man.”
We dug into the inspiration behind the title. Cameron, with a little prodding from his band mates, told me about his muse. “One day I’m just drunk as shit; I’m in the shower, using Old Spice… Red Sky body wash. I was like: Fuck! That sounds like a dope song name!” While he’s not wrong, I was more interested in how that title connects with the final lyrical themes. He explained “This makes sense with a lot of the stuff that’s going on [then]… essentially 2020 bad. I was really mad. The riots were going on, the storming of the capital, the black lives matter movement and even how our government was addressing COVID. So it was a lot of… just frustration being let out with everything that was going on. Especially with not being able to play music, it was all just pent up… and a lot of alcohol.” It seems as if Zō has tapped into some of Rock N’ Rolls most primal forces: Social turmoil, personal frustration and booze… the classic recipe for some of the greatest songs ever written.
Chris Bowman
Switching gears, I redirected the band off of the album and onto their live show. The name Zō has become synonymous with not only epic song writing but also phenomenal performances. I asked them where they channel that energy from. Tristan explained “I guess the energy comes from tightness of how well the playing is… if I feel like I’m more locked in, then it feels like a good show.” Chris added “You can tell on stage we all actually enjoy each other’s presence and definitely playing off of each other is a big thing.”
Tristan Hughart
Matt said simply, “I’m just here to have a good time.” Cameron spoke about his first time seeing the band Spite. “I was just like, holy fucking shit! This is what it is. This is what it’s about. I want to try and take this and turn it into my own thing and channel my energy in that kind of way… being able to, just fucking go to town and hype everyone else up with me.” Tristan went on to say that above all “crowd interaction makes the show.”
Cameron Bolyard
So the album is great and the live show rocks, but what exactly does Progressive Death Metal mean? I asked the band to describe their sound in their own words and this is what they had to say: “The final product, sonically, just comes from the sum of our parts. We all listen to… vastly different music to each other. So when you have all these different genres, kind of making up all our genes, that of course comes out when writing the music.”
I asked them to site some of these varied influences and they listed: Rush, Tool, Megadeth, Alice in Chains, Porcupine tree, Chevelle, Death, Spite and Architects. Next I hit them with one of my favorite questions for underground artists: if given the opportunity to open for any active band, who would it be? Their answers: Intronaut, Mastodon, Tool, Alice in Chains or Spite. Finally, I quizzed them on who their favorite area bands are, at which point they shouted out Ignominious, Assault, Divine Threat, Hamburger Lips and 6 Foot Roses.
Matt Flanagan
I soon revealed my most important question of the night. I asked Zō: “Is Bigfoot real?” Bassist Chris gave a furious impassioned response of “If you don’t think Big Foot’s real: Shut the fuck up! Big Foot is fucking real. I’ve seen him myself! Fuck your grainy footage! He’s real!” Tristan backed his bandmate, saying “I agree with Bass man’s aggressively outspoken stance on Bigfoot. He is definitely real, and he tried to touch my ass.” Matt speculated that, in proportion to his height and weight, Bigfoot’s feet are in fact not that big, where as Cameron was more concerned about the genital to foot ratio. Yes, I know… Riveting stuff here, folks. We at the Rustbelt Rock Review continue to focus on excellence in objective portrayals of Cleveland’s musicians. We don’t make the news, we only report it.
Zō at The Foundry
Speaking of news, we have some for you: Zō alerted me that they are in the process of recording their new song “Barricade,” and it should emerge before too long. (They would go on to debut the song following this interview and I have to tell you: It’s a banger! Keep your ears open for this one to surface.)
There you have it, kids. I finally got to sit down and pick the brains of one of Cleveland’s most intriguing acts. They gave me a menagerie of both meaningful insights and qualified nonsense. Zō really is an interesting group of guys. Somewhere between mirthful and stoic is where they exist. Regardless of their often lighthearted attitudes, they obviously take their music very seriously. Their style is melodic and heavy; brutal and beautiful… and utterly unique. You simply do not write epic works like “Red Sky,” or emotional instrumental pieces like “Lotus” without both commitment and talent… but you don’t discuss Bigfoot’s junk with me unless you’re generally a wacky gang of miscreants. Like their style, and influences, Zō’s members run deep and are all over the place… which is probably why I like them so much. They bought me a beer, they made me laugh and then they played one hell of a show. From my perspective, that’s a winning combination. In conclusion, and I cannot overstate this: This band is a must listen for all true Heavy Metal aficionados.
Until next time, Rock on, Rustbelt!
-Z.M. Delgado
Rustbelt Rock Review
Zackolantern.com
9/3/2022
Zō
