Latest / Rick Outzen: (we don’t) color on the dog / Meet Zach Robbins
Transcript
- Rick Outzen: Welcome back. I'm Rick Alson. This is Rick's blog live. Inweekly is out. can find it online at inweekly.net, or you can go, of course, anywhere where you work, shop, or dine. You'll find it. This is sort of our poet We've got Erica Streeter on the cover. Inside, we've got Zach Robbins, musician, poet, author. and I convinced him to give up his green clothes for a day and come. Zach, thank you so much for coming today. Zach Robbins: Thank you. Thank you for having me. ⁓ Rick Outzen: No, it it ⁓ the article's great, and thank you for sitting down and and doing that w with Savannah. one thing was amazed me is that you didn't start singing until you were a senior in high school. ⁓ w what changed? Zach Robbins: ⁓ ever since I was a kid I just I had this weird idea that I could sing and I was like, you know, I've always been gravitated towards music and everything and just had a feeling I could and even ⁓ friends I a kid they're like, ⁓ Can you sing? like, Yeah And they're like, ⁓ okay, how do you know? I'm like, I don't know And then when I in middle I started writing music and I like, maybe I should, you know, kinda dive deeper into this and then I'd start singing secretly and then ⁓ I was too afraid to sing in front of anybody other than my brothers and ⁓ It was just uncomfortable for me. And then eventually I'm like, you know what? I need to rip the band aid off and and just actually like kinda showcase this. And I just kinda went from there. Rick Outzen: Yeah, what are some the influences in in your music? Zach Robbins: I I grew up my my parents are big music fans. especially mom. She really has shaped a lot of my music taste. she's really like alternative music pop music and ⁓ from a young I kind of realized I really like that electronic upbeat type of stuff. And then my dad of raised on classic rock, so ⁓ it's kinda like the best both worlds. And yeah, I just, ⁓ you know, from there and to find things that I enjoyed and then, you as I've gotten older I've Develop my taste. Rick Outzen: You know, you've been working with ⁓ Cole Soul Records. How how has that unlocked your creativity? Zach Robbins: So that was a really strange thing. So the owner of Colt Sil Records, and also the guitarist and drummer that's featured on my new songs and bassist, he ha have a mutual friend ⁓ and that's I kind of I reached out to I said, Hey, I see you have this label and I'm a local artist and you know, I'm just interested and he's like, ⁓ well, at the time he's like, I don't that, you know, there's really anything we can provide for you that you aren't doing yourself because it seems like you're d putting all the effort in and doing everything. And then Over time he's like, maybe we should collaborate. Cause ⁓ he does this side project ⁓ named Faded Ronin he wanted to do a collaborative project. So last year we released that ⁓ and kind of what sparked this whole thing. ⁓ And we've been releasing stuff together since 2022. I've been signed with them since then. And, you know, abilities and my abilities have been able to blossom and help create the vision had for a while for this album coming. Rick Outzen: It seems so challenging to get into music and and you seem to have hit th hit some of the right spots to be progressing. ⁓ Zach Robbins: Trying. It is. It's I I I never am afraid to try to aim for you know dreams. And a thing, it's a c it's a blessing and a curse. ⁓ Right, right. you know it's disappointing at times, but also it's really fulfilling ⁓ when I to, you know, do like this. Right. so that is upcoming album. it'll be coming out on Earth Day, April twenty second, next year, twenty twenty seven. I've had this concept in my mind Rick Outzen: Right. Well tell me about the Earth project. Zach Robbins: Probably about a decade. ⁓ I haven't been able to achieve it because I knew it it needed to be an electronic rock album. when I teamed up with Brendan, he was like, Well, I can help you with that stuff and I was like, Okay. I was like, Let's make this happen. So we've just been building it over time and he he's based in Boston area, Massachusetts. ⁓ So we've been online. So it's been that's been a hurdle, but we've been making it work. Rick Outzen: you know, it's it's ⁓ is amazing the way technology works that you're able to you don't necessarily have to be in the same room or in the same town anymore to be able to do this this type of collaboration. I'm seeing it more and more in writing and ⁓ in our projects, with some of the writers that we use. They're not necessarily based here, ⁓ but able to interview you from from another area. And it it still clicks. you know, just looking at some of your songs, Power Plants and S and Citrus nature versus development. How how's that theme, how what surface is that? Zach Robbins: That has always been something that has frustrated me. Even like when I was when ⁓ Hurricane Ivan hit years ago, we left and you know, to avoid it and then we came back and I remember as a kid, it was everything was pretty much leveled it just really upset me. ⁓ And then to surprise growing up, you know, now we see that and a hurricane's not even necessary. you see all these buildings up, all the trees get knocked down. I just hate seeing that. I I'm all for ⁓ progress progressing in society, but I think that, you know, there's definitely a balance, know, nature versus humanity. and just like my song Power Plants, I kinda wanted to delve into that constant fight ⁓ between two because, you at first we knock down the trees and then we build something, but then over time we abandon that building and then the plants take back over. ⁓ And it's you know, just constantly doing and you know it's just hurting the environment too and I I can't stand that. ⁓ Rick Outzen: Yeah, y you've got a day job like a lot of us do, physical therapist, assistant. How does that how does your music blend into work and that blend into your music? Zach Robbins: So especially earlier on in my writing, ⁓ and I do plan to revisit that. I really love medical stuff and anatomy and that kind of stuff. I'm really influenced by it. My mom's a nurse, so that's kind of what got me right, you know. ⁓ yeah, in my earlier works I would use a lot of anatomical themes. and I kind sneak it in there here and there, even in this earth album, even though it's more nature themed. ⁓ But I feel that's kind of a core of who I am. So I'm like, you know, I wanna ⁓ be authentic and write about I'm interested in and like, you know, kind of put as much of my personality in there as I can. but just, yeah, my patients inspire me. I I a lot talking to all these people. I I just s I'm so blessed to be so easily inspired by ⁓ anything and everything. you know, you just, you know, find all kinds stuff in my work, which is cool. Rick Outzen: Right. w and the more being around people I find for me too, it creates it it sparks creativity because there are synapses, connections, ⁓ can can themes can pop up. Now, if someone to listen to your music, how could they listen to it now? Zach Robbins: it is streaming everywhere. we do plan to release some physical CDs and maybe cassettes next year when the album comes out, but right now you can find it on Spotify, Apple Music ⁓ YouTube, any anywhere stream music, it's easy to find. Just search Zach X. ⁓ Rick Outzen: Yeah, we've got we got the website up there. Great. And I've looked at it already. You can listen to the music right directly from the website, which is cool. Zach, I wish you nothing but good. I mean, I think it is it's inspired I'm by, you know, the the music in this community. You know, they it seemed like a period that I felt like we were losing it and and I'm seeing you and other young artists that it we're seeing it resurrect that it hasn't gone away because there there's a lot of good writers, there's a lot of good artists, and think we're we're growing a music history again which I think is kind of cool. Zach Robbins: And me and Brendan actually recently were talking about that. I was up how it seems like the music scene is kind of blossoming now. And I I love to be a part of that. I ⁓ one that it's really important to me is building a a community. and ⁓ that's kind what I do with my my small fan base. But you know, they're all important people, you know. I love building a little community and and my one of my biggest mission statements is just to create art. So I I encourage everybody, ⁓ doesn't matter what do, like do some kind of art because it's just really therapeutic and I think it's a healthy thing to do. Rick Outzen: Great. Zach, thank you so much for coming. I really appreciate it. We'll go ahead and take a break. I'll try to wrap this all up for you. We're Rick's Blog Live. We'll be right back.