Ali Tabatabaee - Zebrahead (17/07/2011)
Orange County quintet Zebrahead aren’t your typical punk band. Throwing elements of rap, alternative rock, and metal into the mix sets them apart from the myriad of other groups in their genre. Ahead of the band’s appearance at Soundwave Revolution, and their first time in Australia, vocalist Ali Tabatabaee gives us some insight into what it’s like for Zebrahead on the road, and their upcoming album Get Nice!
Hi Ali, thanks for talking to The 59th Sound.So where are you at the moment, are you currently on tour?
I’m on my couch at home at the moment, and I’m going to Las Vegas this weekend, a buddy is getting married.
We actually leave for tour, we’re going to Germany on I think the 27th so I have some time at home and then we have a couple of weeks in Europe, and then Japan and then back to Europe.
Have you ever been genuinely surprised by how far your music has reached? I know you’re pretty popular in the UK, for instance.
Every single day. I grew up in a small town in Orange County and never thought that, you know, I’d be able to play music all over the place. It’s been kinda crazy, I’m really, really stoked and appreciative of it.
You’ve toured with a lot of great bands in the past, Green Day, Unwritten Law, MXPX, do you think these bands have helped shape the direction of Zebrahead whether it be in your live shows or the songs you write?
Yeah definitely, especially Green Day they’re so good live, and I learnt a lot just watching every single one of their sets and they’re such great guys, great musicians and great performers. In general, every band we tour with, you learn something you know, from them whether it’s how they resolve an issue or how they get a crowd who’s not so into it into it, or just personally like with being on the road for so long. Other bands always help out.
Is that why you wanted to work with Jason Freese [Green Day]?
Yeah Jason has been a friend of ours for a very long time, he lives five minutes away from my mum and dad, we’ve known him for quite a long time. It was really cool to be able to work with him, not only because he’s super talented but also because he’s like your buddy, you know you can sit down and write music and it’s just like writing with your friend. It was a great experience, and we’re really lucky we got to work with him.
So the new album is out in a few weeks, I guess the obvious question is how does it differentiate from Phoenix?
I think the main thing is when we were recording the album, and writing the album, we actually built a studio we got to work in our own space for the first time. The whole feeling of not having that pressure to take a month or a month and a half to write and record this album and then you have to get out, that was never there. It was really relaxed, and we went in whenever we wanted to and took as long as we wanted to. We were really happy with the songs. I think that really helped us. I think this is a great album, I’m really proud of this album and I think everybody else is.
Are Ricky Bobby and Get Nice! Fairly accurate representations of what the album will be like, or is there a bit of everything on there?
You know, we have songs that are kind of all over the place and if you’re ever listening to our other albums, we tend to have different facets, and different songs. I think everybody has different musical influences in the band and when we’re writing it’s a kind of cluster of thought and then we weed everything out and see if things work together. That hasn’t changed, but I think that the feel in this album is a bit more uplifting than Phoenix was so I think that’s the major difference.
Why do you think the new album is more uplifting? Is it because you had your own space and could work on it at your own pace?
To be honest with you, when we were working on that specific song Get Nice! that’s when the earthquake and tsunami hit Japan and we had a lot of friends there and a lot of fans there and we felt kind of helpless out here. We were thinking “what can we possibly do?” For me personally when I go through any hardship I always turn to music and that somehow helps me get through. So we wrote that song, in a way, to say “if you’re going through a hard time, understand that it’s not going to last forever and eventually it’s going to end. You’re going to get back up on your feet”. So that song kind of shifted the way the rest of this album went. I think we tried to include more uplifting lyrics and ideas in the songs just simply because all of us when we listen to music it helps us get through whatever we’re going through and that was the only way we could help them at the time. I think that’s the main reason it’s more uplifting. You may listen to it and think “that’s bullshit” but I think when you’re listening to anything the listener can make it relative to anything that can reach out to them and they can say “I can learn something from this horrible experience and move on.”
Do you think that was something you were conscious of when you were writing the lyrics or something the whole band aware of when writing the record?
I think at that point with Get Nice! it was the lyrics. We ditched all the lyrics and rewrote the song. After that it was subconscious for everybody when working on the other songs, there were certain aspects that I think wouldn’t have been as uplifting if we didn’t write Get Nice! that way. It wasn’t really something that was spoken, we were all just in on it.
Who came up with the premise for the Get Nice! Video?
Francis Ford Coppola.
Excuse me?
Francis Ford Coppola gave us the idea, we’re very big fans. Francis Ford Coppola gave us the idea, and Justin Bieber did the choreography.
Oh yes, well I can see that. Now you’ve never toured Australia before, what can Australian audiences expect from a Zebrahead show?
Um well I would say you definitely need to wear a condom because somebody is going to get pregnant, that’s first. Second you should probably wear some kind of elbow and knee pads because you’re probably going to fall down at some point. And third, bring as much beer as you can because we always sound better when we are drunk.
You mentioned Germany before how do you find the European audiences respond to you as opposed to the crowd you’d get playing in your own home?
The really cool thing is we’ve actually gone to Europe and the UK quite a bit in the past few years and it’s really nice to see that they always come to support us and always bring five of their friends so it’s really been like a building process. It’s nice to go back and see more kids coming to the shows and it’s starting to do better for us there too. We’re really appreciative of the support from our fans and that they allow us to have our careers and travel and play music and now we get to come to Australia, that’s never happened!
Have you had fans here asking you for a while when you’re going to be touring?
Yeah well we get posts on our Facebook page and stuff but you never know until you get there what it’s going to be like. We’re really excited to see our fans over there and hopefully there’ll be a few people at the show.
Anything you’re looking forward to doing while in Australia? Or maybe bands you’re keen to catch on the Soundwave Revolution tour?
Oh yeah, we’ve never been to Australia so we just want to come over there and meet the people, that’s what we’re really excited for. And, of course, Van Halen’s playing so we’re all stoked to see them play. There’s a lot, we’re very excited.
Anything in particular you’d like to see or do while in the country?
Well no, we’ve never been there. What we usually do is when we’re on tour we always go and buy really cheap bicycles and keep them in our trailers, get up early and ride around town and check it out. So I think there’ll be a lot of bike riding and trying to meet people.
If you’re doing that in Melbourne you’re going to stay really fit, it’s a giant hill.
[Laughs] We’ll get half way and just give up!
Do you know if you’re going to be doing any sideshows for Soundwave Revolution?
As far as I know right now we’re not but you know if Van Halen says “let’s go do a little tour while we’re here”, I’m not going to say no. We’d have to go around giving back rubs to get on that show.
Just before we wrap up, any last words for your Australian fans?
Come to the show and make sure you are ready to throw down, because we are so excited to come to Australia. We want to thank all our Australian fans for helping us get on this festival because if it wasn’t for them we’d never have this chance.
You can catch Zebrahead on Soundwave Revolution, touring in September and October. Get Nice! will be released in Australia on August 5 through 3Wise Records.
Sofie Marsden
Hi Ali, thanks for talking to The 59th Sound.So where are you at the moment, are you currently on tour?
I’m on my couch at home at the moment, and I’m going to Las Vegas this weekend, a buddy is getting married.
We actually leave for tour, we’re going to Germany on I think the 27th so I have some time at home and then we have a couple of weeks in Europe, and then Japan and then back to Europe.
Have you ever been genuinely surprised by how far your music has reached? I know you’re pretty popular in the UK, for instance.
Every single day. I grew up in a small town in Orange County and never thought that, you know, I’d be able to play music all over the place. It’s been kinda crazy, I’m really, really stoked and appreciative of it.
You’ve toured with a lot of great bands in the past, Green Day, Unwritten Law, MXPX, do you think these bands have helped shape the direction of Zebrahead whether it be in your live shows or the songs you write?
Yeah definitely, especially Green Day they’re so good live, and I learnt a lot just watching every single one of their sets and they’re such great guys, great musicians and great performers. In general, every band we tour with, you learn something you know, from them whether it’s how they resolve an issue or how they get a crowd who’s not so into it into it, or just personally like with being on the road for so long. Other bands always help out.
Is that why you wanted to work with Jason Freese [Green Day]?
Yeah Jason has been a friend of ours for a very long time, he lives five minutes away from my mum and dad, we’ve known him for quite a long time. It was really cool to be able to work with him, not only because he’s super talented but also because he’s like your buddy, you know you can sit down and write music and it’s just like writing with your friend. It was a great experience, and we’re really lucky we got to work with him.
So the new album is out in a few weeks, I guess the obvious question is how does it differentiate from Phoenix?
I think the main thing is when we were recording the album, and writing the album, we actually built a studio we got to work in our own space for the first time. The whole feeling of not having that pressure to take a month or a month and a half to write and record this album and then you have to get out, that was never there. It was really relaxed, and we went in whenever we wanted to and took as long as we wanted to. We were really happy with the songs. I think that really helped us. I think this is a great album, I’m really proud of this album and I think everybody else is.
Are Ricky Bobby and Get Nice! Fairly accurate representations of what the album will be like, or is there a bit of everything on there?
You know, we have songs that are kind of all over the place and if you’re ever listening to our other albums, we tend to have different facets, and different songs. I think everybody has different musical influences in the band and when we’re writing it’s a kind of cluster of thought and then we weed everything out and see if things work together. That hasn’t changed, but I think that the feel in this album is a bit more uplifting than Phoenix was so I think that’s the major difference.
Why do you think the new album is more uplifting? Is it because you had your own space and could work on it at your own pace?
To be honest with you, when we were working on that specific song Get Nice! that’s when the earthquake and tsunami hit Japan and we had a lot of friends there and a lot of fans there and we felt kind of helpless out here. We were thinking “what can we possibly do?” For me personally when I go through any hardship I always turn to music and that somehow helps me get through. So we wrote that song, in a way, to say “if you’re going through a hard time, understand that it’s not going to last forever and eventually it’s going to end. You’re going to get back up on your feet”. So that song kind of shifted the way the rest of this album went. I think we tried to include more uplifting lyrics and ideas in the songs just simply because all of us when we listen to music it helps us get through whatever we’re going through and that was the only way we could help them at the time. I think that’s the main reason it’s more uplifting. You may listen to it and think “that’s bullshit” but I think when you’re listening to anything the listener can make it relative to anything that can reach out to them and they can say “I can learn something from this horrible experience and move on.”
Do you think that was something you were conscious of when you were writing the lyrics or something the whole band aware of when writing the record?
I think at that point with Get Nice! it was the lyrics. We ditched all the lyrics and rewrote the song. After that it was subconscious for everybody when working on the other songs, there were certain aspects that I think wouldn’t have been as uplifting if we didn’t write Get Nice! that way. It wasn’t really something that was spoken, we were all just in on it.
Who came up with the premise for the Get Nice! Video?
Francis Ford Coppola.
Excuse me?
Francis Ford Coppola gave us the idea, we’re very big fans. Francis Ford Coppola gave us the idea, and Justin Bieber did the choreography.
Oh yes, well I can see that. Now you’ve never toured Australia before, what can Australian audiences expect from a Zebrahead show?
Um well I would say you definitely need to wear a condom because somebody is going to get pregnant, that’s first. Second you should probably wear some kind of elbow and knee pads because you’re probably going to fall down at some point. And third, bring as much beer as you can because we always sound better when we are drunk.
You mentioned Germany before how do you find the European audiences respond to you as opposed to the crowd you’d get playing in your own home?
The really cool thing is we’ve actually gone to Europe and the UK quite a bit in the past few years and it’s really nice to see that they always come to support us and always bring five of their friends so it’s really been like a building process. It’s nice to go back and see more kids coming to the shows and it’s starting to do better for us there too. We’re really appreciative of the support from our fans and that they allow us to have our careers and travel and play music and now we get to come to Australia, that’s never happened!
Have you had fans here asking you for a while when you’re going to be touring?
Yeah well we get posts on our Facebook page and stuff but you never know until you get there what it’s going to be like. We’re really excited to see our fans over there and hopefully there’ll be a few people at the show.
Anything you’re looking forward to doing while in Australia? Or maybe bands you’re keen to catch on the Soundwave Revolution tour?
Oh yeah, we’ve never been to Australia so we just want to come over there and meet the people, that’s what we’re really excited for. And, of course, Van Halen’s playing so we’re all stoked to see them play. There’s a lot, we’re very excited.
Anything in particular you’d like to see or do while in the country?
Well no, we’ve never been there. What we usually do is when we’re on tour we always go and buy really cheap bicycles and keep them in our trailers, get up early and ride around town and check it out. So I think there’ll be a lot of bike riding and trying to meet people.
If you’re doing that in Melbourne you’re going to stay really fit, it’s a giant hill.
[Laughs] We’ll get half way and just give up!
Do you know if you’re going to be doing any sideshows for Soundwave Revolution?
As far as I know right now we’re not but you know if Van Halen says “let’s go do a little tour while we’re here”, I’m not going to say no. We’d have to go around giving back rubs to get on that show.
Just before we wrap up, any last words for your Australian fans?
Come to the show and make sure you are ready to throw down, because we are so excited to come to Australia. We want to thank all our Australian fans for helping us get on this festival because if it wasn’t for them we’d never have this chance.
You can catch Zebrahead on Soundwave Revolution, touring in September and October. Get Nice! will be released in Australia on August 5 through 3Wise Records.
Sofie Marsden