Page 18 - Black Velvet Rock Magazine - Issue 100

BV100 pg16-19 Zebrahead_BV100 pg18 10/03/2019 19:00 Page 3

BlackVelvetMagazine.Com - 18
on the phone or email. Yeah, just being gone that we get to control it a little bit more. Hopefully change the way that I was writing my parts,”
sometimes, I haven’t been the best friend be- we can get this out to not only our fans that know says Ali. “I would oftentimes find a loop some-
cause I haven’t been there, physically.” of us, but be able to reach a new fanbase as where that wasn’t even a rock loop. It would be
Black Velvet asks Ali if he could be best well.” a dance loop or a pop loop and I would write my
friends with anyone, who would he like to be Zebrahead had been signed to Sony Japan parts to the loops and then rework them to fit
best friends with. since the start of their career, so moving to Apex them into the song, and that was a really cool
He laughs, “Can it be someone that has over there was a big thing. “We had met with experience for me because I’d never done that.
passed away? I would love to be best friends them a while back and when we were deciding It kind of opened up a lot of different avenues as
with Prince.” on what we wanted to do, we wanted to have a far as the way I wrote my rap parts down, and I
Would he get on well with him, we ask. fresh start pretty much with this album. We had think everyone was trying to work out of the box,
“I have no idea,” he laughs again. “I just feel been with Sony in Japan since the beginning of and I think that’s what made this album as good
like his life would be so crazy that I’d just like to our career and they were fantastic to us, we as it is, to me, anyway. I think everyone was try-
hang out with him for a day… When he wakes have good friends that have been with us there ing to come up with something different; some-
up, is it purple? Is he wearing purple when he for a very long time. It was a difficult choice for thing different as far as the song sounds as well
wakes up? What’s he eat for lunch? I’d like to us to leave Sony and sign with Apex, but we re- as the way they wrote the songs. After doing it
see what a day in the life of Prince would be ally wanted to have a fresh start on this album. for so long, it’s important to find something new
like.” We really wanted to have a different perspective and fresh to inspire yourself to work on the
as far as everything, as far as how we’re pro- songs and to work on the lyrics and stuff.”
rain Invaders’ is being released inde- moted, and we felt like Apex kind of understood One song invaded their brains longer than
‘Bpendently on the band’s own MFZB us and had the same goal in mind when we others. It took a long time to get ‘We’re Not Al-
Records – with a little help from their friends - al- talked to them, and they’ve been great so far. It right’ right!
though the band have not turned their backs on goes with the same idea of us releasing our- “We had a song a long time ago and it was
all labels worldwide. They have chosen to sign selves here or in other areas of the world, in that completely different. We took pieces of that song
to Apex Records in Japan. we felt like we had more of a say with Apex, and and created ‘We’re Not Alright’, and that one
Ali explains, “We felt like, on this album, we we have more of a say if we release it ourselves took forever,” says Ali. “We just couldn’t get it
wanted to have as much control as we could here. We’re just trying a new angle, we wanted right. We had so many incarnations of that song.
over it, and because we’ve been doing it for so to try something new and exciting, and the peo- And when it was finally done, I was like ‘Oh
long, a lot of people in places that have helped ple at Apex really understood that and they kind wow! It’s actually pretty cool.’ Honestly, I was
us along the years, we thought, why don’t we of understand our perspective.” like, ‘There’s no way this song is going to work,’
reach out to our friends and try to release this because we had tried it in so many different
album ourselves and see if we can control how hen writing and working on ‘Brain In- ways and it was always kind of close, but never
things go a little bit better. It’s kind of an experi- Wvaders’, the band tried to come up with quite right, and I don’t know what happened this
ment,” he laughs. “I don’t know if, in a couple of something new and fresh. time around. I think it was Matty… he came up
years, if you asked me this question, I’d say it “When we were working on this album, for with the chorus of that song. I was like ‘Holy shit.
was a good idea or a bad idea, but it’s exciting me, personally, I was really trying to kind of That is a great chorus’. Then it started taking

ZEBRAHEAD