Everyone knows the blonde
guy off the Just Juice ad - meet the newest member of Zed! Andy Lynch,
21 joins Nathan King, Ben Campbell and Adrian Palmer on their mission to
take their irresistible style of Kiwi pop to every corner of the world.
Well… when it happens it happens!
Sarah Ash, 16 of Carmel
College and Julie Asbury, 16, of Avondale college, both in Auckland, couldn’t
say no to the offer of an exclusive Tearaway interview and photo shoot
during the making of Zed’s newest video.
Scene 1: Location? Universal
Records. Assignment? Face-to-face interview with Zed.
Your faithful Tearaway reporter
- sporting the results of an attack of the hair dye and almost non-existent
fingernails - walks in confidently and takes a seat. (as confidently as
one would expect when meeting the pin-up boys of Kiwi music, that is)
Before too long, the dark-haired
lead singer of a certain band makes his first appearance. (breathe in,
breathe out…)
As I enter the interview
room, I’m informed that the boys are having a party in the bathroom.
Nerves surprisingly subside
as they each shake my hand, give a cheery greeting and are gradually seated.
(phew. Okay so far)
Yes Nathan, turning on the
tape recorder would b smart (damn!). All systems go…
You’re just back from Aussie
-what was the public reaction to Zed?
Ben: we weren’t exposed
to the public. We were finishing off the album, mixing it down. So basically
no-one in Australia’s heard of us, except for maybe three people at the
recording studio. We were just getting a taste of the nice Australian winter,
which sort of can be compared to Christchurch’s summer (laughs)
So are you going to release
a single over there?
Ben: yeah, the plan is to
release the single, well the whole album at the beginning of next year.
We wanna get New Zealand done first. Tour New Zealand, release here then
get on to Australia.
What are your favourite songs
on the album and why?
Ben: My favourite is Don’t
you Wish and I like it because it’s different to everything else we’ve
done before and anything a lot of bands have done before. We’ve used a
lot of looping, and tried to get away from anything which is gonna drag
the track down. It’s very light and very pretty, it’s a feel good song.
I think it’s very clever.
Adrian: I think my favourite
would be hard to pick. I’m quite liking SPS at the moment. Nice combination
of atmosphere and rock.
Nathan: I’d have to go with
Don’t You Wish as well, it’s very cool.
Andy: Andy’s favourite would
be Don’t You Wish for the ambience and … or Goodman for the hip-hop.
Have you got any weird fan
experiences to report?
Adrian: yep. A girl in Wellington
came on stage and I had to fight her off stage.
Nathan: Oh yeah, the punk!
Adrian: She wasn’t a fan
though.
Nathan: she was just crazy
Ben: People waiting outside
our houses for hours while we’re practising
Nathan: That’s kind of weird.
It’s freezing cold. And they aren’t wearing much (all laugh)
Adrian: They were just wearing
a t-shirt or something … and pants (all laugh)
Nathan: So we took them
a cup of coffee (all laugh and groan) Dammit!
Ben: we’ve got some lovely
fans out there, like a couple of girls from Christchurch. When we went
over to Sydney they sent us a letter with a piece of greenstone in it to
protect us while we were away. Yeah, that’s really nice when people do
stuff like that for us, shows they’re appreciating what we do.
Andy, how did you become
part of Zed?
Andy: Through Zed’s manager
Ray Columbus, a friend of my family. We recorded some demos at my Dad’s
studio and I helped them. We hung out a bit and got to know them about
two years ago. When the time was right, when I was needed, I got the call
and that’s about it.
Nathan: you’re the black
dude. (all laugh)
Did you always want to be
musicians?
Ben: me and Andy are the
only real musicians, the other guys are uni students.
Adrian: We’re smart, so
we technically can’t be musicians, that’s the problem we have … we pretend
to be dumb.
What bands or groups influenced
you in the making of Silencer?
Ben: lots did, but it wasn’t
like we were sitting there listening to music all the time. In fact for
the two months we were recording we didn’t really listen to any other music
but ours, so that we didn’t take any particular paths. We just did what
we wanted to do.
We didn’t want limitations
put on us - like what they’re doing in Britain at the moment, what they’re
doing in America - to try and crack that market or whatever. It was a total
musical thing from our past experiences, about our songs and what we could
do with them.
Are there any plans to take
the album on the road?
Adrian: yes, late September
we start touring New Zealand over a two week period. The whole of New Zealand
will basically grind to a halt while we tour (laughs). Start in Invercargill,
go up … (the boys go off on a tangent about whether or not the North and
South islands are connected and about Nathan working on a bridge from his
house to McDs).
Would you class Zed’s music
as pop?
Ben: some of it. If we had
to make a classification well, we have melodies; pop is defined by what’s
popular and melodies are popular … a bit of rock, but more pop.
Any skeletons in the closet
you’d like to reveal before the tabloids get to them?
Nathan: gotta be honest
(laughs).
Ben: I think we’ll leave
the closet. *oh benji, if only you knew how much entertainment you
have created for us with that quote*
Adrian: yes there are but
you’ll never find out.
Ben: I mean, there’s been
the usual trashing of hotel rooms … it’s just a rock’n’roll sort of thing.
But I mean that’s fine, we’re not ashamed to say that we like to lose it
every now and again and, yeah, go on rampages (bangs glass on table).
Do you have a message for
all your fans out there?
Ben: the meaning of life
is establish a heart-felt communication with others.
Adrian: Keep on truckin’!
As the set questions fade
out, the conversation fluctuates from Britney Spears’ body parts to Ben
Lee and the boy’s autographs (help Ben out there guys!).
Verdict for the day: very
down to earth, easy-going guys. But those glances and nervous laugher exchanged
when the "skeletons in the closet" question arose gives reason to believe
there’s a lot more to Zed than pretty faces and pop songs …
Scene 2: it’s 3am. There’s a bitter chill in the air. The rain is literally bucketing down and the boys from Zed sit huddled around a solitary gas heater, soaked through to the skin. Their car broke down and they had to push it five kilometres in unforbidding conditions to the nearest phone. "it’s a tough job," Nathan croaks, "but someone’s gotta keep the people happy".
Well, close enough. It’s
11pm, a perfectly clear night at a house demolition company in the deepest
darkest Henderson. Frequent volts of 70,000 watt ‘lightning’ and snippets
of Renegade fighter erupt from within a derelict house as various crew
members wander around holding wires and lights amidst ‘organised chaos’.
The boys re sitting around
waiting for their turn in front of the camera. Ben’s looking pretty in
luminous blue eyeshadow and a velvet jacket (very 70s!) and is wondering
whether nail polish would complete the look.
After swiftly rescuing his
food from the floor, Andy’s trying to explain to Adrian that it takes seven
seconds before the germs jump on. That’s what his mum told him anyway.
Adrian’s less than convinced.
Lucky Escape
As midnight approaches,
tearaway photographer Julie requests a group photo. The boys assemble themselves
with Red Bull enforced enthusiasm and I’m forced to step right in the middle
to complete the Zed sandwich. A girl’s gotta do … Of course this is no
ordinary photo.
Every time anyone makes the slightest move the ‘platform’ slide a few inches, and Ben’s karate kicks almost send us a catapulting to the end of the room. Stuck between Ben and Nathan … maybe this journalism thing isn’t so bad after all!
As we prepare to depart the mayhem, two members of Zed (who shall remain nameless) jump our brandishing, well, nothing! Stick to the day job, boys … please?
Sarah luv, care to explain
why we can't see your hand and why Nathan's pulling 'that' face? *raow*