NEW SINGLE RELEASE

13. September 2024

New single "JUST FOR NOW" available on all streamingplatforms!

SINGLE RELEASE

24. December 2023

New single "UNDERWATER - LIVE" !

ADVENTSKALENDER

Bald ist Weihnachten und das Jahr schon wieder vorbei. Wir möchten uns bei Euch allen für den Support und die Treue bedanken. Und das möchten wir mit etwas ganz traditionellem tun: ab dem 1. Dezember geht’s wieder los mit dem Zabriskie Adventskalender!

Auch dieses Jahr haben wir uns wieder eine besondere Überraschung ausgedacht, aber es wird natürlich noch nichts verraten...

Nur soviel sei gesagt: Jeden Tag erwartet dich auf unserem Instagram und Facebook Kanal ein kleiner Bildausschnitt und eine kurze Tonspur, welche sich am Ende zusammenfügen.

Für die, die uns noch nicht folgen:

Instagram: "zabriskie_band"

Facebook: "Zabriskieband"

NEWS

Interiors: 5th anniversary

We celebrate the five-year-anniversary of the release of our second album "Interiors"!

On this occasion Alex Herter sat down with Sasha Harding to talk about the making of the album.

Read the interview below:

Interview with Alex Herter from the band Zabriskie

By Sasha Harding, London based music journalist

The interview took place via zoom

SH: The album „Interiors“ was Zabriskie’s second album and came out late October 2018, five years ago. Please tell me about the process and how it came about.

AH: Well, to be honest, it was a rather difficult time for the band. The first recording was done really quickly, sort of without thinking too much and we were really surprised that it actually worked out at all. We had no recording experience at all and just jumped right into it. So by the time we had enough songs to produce a second album, the ambitions and expectations have grown, we really wanted to do it properly. However, right when we started recording the first tracks our guitarist decided to leave the band.

SH: This must have been difficult. How did it affect the music?

AH: Yes, it was especially difficult because the songs and the arrangements were all set up for a four piece with two guitars, bass and drums. I had this sound in my head with lots of guitar lines parallel to the vocals. But I was really determined to go ahead and still get the record done. So I decided to take on the solo guitar myself, which meant I had to learn the instrument basically from scratch. Up to this point I was merely a strummer kind of guitarist, I just accompanied my singing and used the guitar for songwriting. I remember at the time I honestly thought pentatonics was some kind of magic thing only jazz guitarists knew.

SH: So did you re-write the songs because of that?

AH: Not really, no. We decided to record all the parts like we would have as a four piece and worry later about how to arrange the songs when playing them live. I really learned a lot about guitar and have since. This really affected my approach to the instrument and also to how I write music. I never considered myself a guitarist, nor as a singer, by the way, but really more as the classic singer-songwriter who wants to express feelings and emotions through songs.

SH: Did this process open up new possibilities for you and the band?

AH: Maybe, yes. At the time I thought of the album as a transitional work, but in retrospect I come to the conclusion that it actually represents the end of a period or phase or whatever. After we put the record out and started playing the songs live, we came to realize it was not possible to play them as they were recorded. I remember trying to incorporate all these different parts into the performance which led to a rather chaotic state and I was actually quite stressed out and didn’t really get to enjoy the playing much. That led automatically to a completely new approach to how we played and especially how we sounded as a trio. So in that sense the album Interiors was the end of our early time as a band.

SH: But do you still stand behind these songs?

AH: That’s a tricky question. After we agreed to do this interview I listened to the whole album, which I haven’t in a long time. And, against my initial concern, I was surprised, that most of the songs I can still relate to. However, they seem like from another time or so, almost a different me, if you know what I mean? To be honest, after releasing Darklight (the bands third album), we thought about deleting the first two albums from Spotify etc., simply because we think we are a different band now. But then, maybe that’s our story, that’s what makes us who we are as a band. From a songwriting point of view, I believe they still are good songs, even if stylistically they are completely somewhere else.

SH: What style or genre were you referring to at the time?

AH: none at all! (laughs) No, seriously, at the time we didn’t think about it that way. It just came about somehow, which seems kind of funny now! I think of it in a way that we sort of had to go through these stages to actually find out what we really wanted to do, which for other people or bands may be something they go through by having different bands or so. But we just stuck together. Maybe we could have renamed the band or something, but like I said, that’s maybe just us. There is a sort of fear that it might confuse people. But then again, there are actually lots of bands that changed in style drastically over time, evolved, so to speak, even very famous ones.

SH: My last question: what are you currently working on and what are your future plans?

AH: At the moment we are working on new songs which hopefully will end up on the new album which is planned for release sometime next year.

SH: Great, thank you for your time!

AH: Thank you, it was a pleasure talking to you!

October 2023