Thursday, July 14, 2016

Zella Day explains how Clint Eastwood influences her music



"That's how I keep my Arizona roots alive."

Metro
By Rachel Raczka
July 6, 2016

There's something wistful about Zella Day's debut studio album "Kicker," which dropped last June from Hollywood Records. The 21-year-old Arizona native laments of lovers lost and times past, and calls on an unlikely but equally yearnful soundboard for inspiration: the Old West. Day is touring all summer — headlining and later supporting Fitz & the Tantrums on their Get Right Back Tour — and calls in from New York City, where she was able to watch the Fourth of July fireworks from a "really, really tall building."

I’ve heard that you describe your music as “part Spaghetti Western.” What does this mean?

I grew up watching old Western films and there are sounds and moments from those films, musically, that I remember. I’ve gone back and studied the tones on electric guitars and background vocals and beats from those films, and they’ll then show up in moments [on the album] and in my choruses. 

For example, “Jerome” sounds like a Spaghetti Western from the DTX we used and the sampled vocals. Then “The Outlaw Josey Wales” is about Clint Eastwood and one of my favorite Western classics. I like incorporating these elements into my pop songs; that’s how I keep my Arizona roots alive.

There’s a sense of nostalgia and longing in songs like “1965” and “Compass.” Do you often find yourself looking backward when you’re writing?

I’m still young as a person and as an artist, so I have so much more to experience in my life. I’m taking in my newfound independence, but also remembering where I come from. Being relevant is important, and I don’t like looking to my past all the time. But I also think it’s important to reflect.

Can you tell me about the background of the song “Jameson”? Is it meant to be a hopeful song about alcoholism?

No, it’s not meant to be hopeful; rather it’s more about facing the truth. I wrote that song while looking at myself in the mirror and not living in denial about a relationship anymore. There’s never a point in that song where I’m like, “I have him back.” It’s a sad cry for something I’ll never have because I can’t win that battle.

It’s been just over a year since “Kicker” was released. You’ve had time to reflect and gather impressions. How are you feeling about it now?

I feel really good about it. It’s such a good documentation of that time in my life, moving from Arizona to California. It was emotions pulsing through my body and my reality. Like you said, nostalgia is a good way to describe that record, and I think each record is nostalgic for the artists making it. I’m experiencing different people and things and am happily in love now, so I have trouble connecting with songs like “Jameson.” But I think those songs have grown with me in the right ways, too, I think.

You lived with Børns for a while in Los Angeles. Do you still stay in touch?

I haven’t talked to him in a little while. It’s been a second. I know he’s doing really well and his life has changed dramatically from even just a year ago. The pace and what’s normal for Garrett [Børns] has transitioned into something totally different from when we found each other. We were just embarking on our journeys. I definitely miss him and I can’t wait to be around the campfire with him again.

No comments:

Post a Comment