CREATIVE CONVERSATIONS 130: ZACHARY LEO ON THE INNER TURMOILS THAT SHAPED 'ON MY MIND'
Interview by Caitlin Dyson.
Naarm/Melbourne-based funk-pop artist Zachary Leo has unveiled his spirited EP On My Mind, produced/mixed by Tobias Priddle and mastered by Pieter De Wagter.
On My Mind soars with seven vibrant tracks, ranging from retro synth-driven tracks to groove-infused anthems. The collection seamlessly transitions between acoustic elements and guitar-centric sounds, capturing the essence of both nostalgia and contemporary flair.
Futuremag Music sat down with Zachary Leo to talk about the inspiration behind the EP.
FMM: Congrats on your EP. I know you've been working on it for the past couple years, so how does it feel for it to be out in the world?
ZL: Yeah, it's really cool. It's a relief, I think. I’m just really proud to share all of the songs with everyone, obviously. We've been working on it since technically 2021 with a few of the songs, but probably the run of it, I've been doing with Tobias Priddle, my producer, since the start of 2023. So, it’s been about a year of just in the studio trying to craft songs that feel authentically me and who I am as an artist, and it's been really fun. I’m just really proud to share it with everyone and for people to hear my first collective piece of work that represents who I am musically and lyrically. I feel proud and relieved to get it out there and for people to hear it. It's really cool, especially songs such as Suffer or Give Me Something Good, or songs that I’ve kind of been keeping to myself for a while. It's cool for people to hear those and then come back to songs like So Good, that I'm still really proud of. That came out a while ago, but it’s really cool. I’m pumped to have it out. It's really awesome.
FMM: So it's pretty authentic to who you are an an artist?
ZL: I think so far I've had one EP that I put out, and I'm so proud of that, and I love that EP, but I think this is more the great thing about working with Tobias. He really helped me find who I was musically. He heard what I was trying to do, and he helped me to go for it. He didn't try and turn me into something that suited him better, which is what I've dealt with in the past with other people. They've wanted to craft something that suited them. Tobias helped me push and be who I was, which is really cool. If I had an idea, he pushed me to take it to the max rather than hold me back, so he really helped me. You know, if I wanted to fuzz solo, he'd tell me to make it really over the top and extra, instead of being like, oh, you know, I don't think this will get played on Triple J. He'll just be like, no, dude, it feels like you. Let's just push it and do it. I think that's really cool and I think people hear when you're being authentic. I think that comes out more than when you're trying to do something that's not you. That's a long winded way of saying, yeah, it is probably more of authentic.
FMM: There's a lot of old school influences and even current-day artist influences that can be heard on the EP.
ZL: Yeah.
FMM: Are are there any artists in particular who've inspired the EP the most?
ZL: I think overall, artists like Prince, Stevie Wonder, The Isley Brothers, and Parliament Funkadelic. I think a lot of those 70’s artists have influenced maybe some of the sonic qualities of the EP, like the synthesisers and the drum sound. We really wanted to create drums that we thought had been recorded in Motown or something like that when we were doing production. A lot of the songwriting just kind of fell out, and I wasn't thinking about it too much. Pretty Girl just kind of fell out.Time After Time, I wrote n one night when I was sick in bed, and I just came up with it and I wasn't thinking about trying to be Prince or anything. It just kind of fell out, and then when we were in production, we were like, you know, it's got a bit of a Prince vibe, so let's do some electronic drums to kind of give it that kind of feel. So, artists like that definitely have influenced the sound subconsciously. I think that's why it's kind of got that retro vibe to it, maybe. I love the way those artists recorded things and how they mixed it, and it's just really warm. I think that's what I was trying to go for, which I love. I'm really proud of how it sounded because I don’t think we’ve ripped anything off. We just did a modern twist on it. We were just in this little room, recording and going through all this outboard gear, and it was really fun to make.
FMM: The EP is named after the most recent single, On My Mind. Did you always know that song would be the title track?
ZL: Yeah, that’s a good question. Originally, when I was making a lot of these songs, I didn’t. Up until Time After Time, I didn’t record them with the intention of creating an EP. They were just singles. I was having a conversation with Tobias, and we were talking about why we do music and what got us into it. I talked about the fact my favourite part of music is listening to records and listening to the whole record from start to finish. I also talked about going to the record store and buying my favourite band’s album as a kid and going on a bit of a journey. I think I said at some point, you’ve got to make something for yourself, so I was like, maybe I’ll do an album. I think at that point, I was like, well if I want to write an album, I want to write one properly, so I thought an EP would be cool.
We sat in a room and picked three more songs to work on. On My Mind, was the first one we both agreed needed to be worked on. From there, I started thinking about what all the songs represent, and they collectively talk about an inner turmoil that was happening in my own head. I think that’s where I kind on thought On My Mind was the perfect title for the whole piece of work, as well as the song. It tied it all together really well. There’s no proper theme to the EP, but if there is any, that’s probably the closest kind, talking about mental health and things happening inside the head. So, that’s where it came from, and I think it was only in the last four or five months that I decided that was the title. I’m happy that’s the conclusion I came to because it all makes sense, I think. That was a good question, because it wasn’t always the plan, but that’s how it turned out, which is cool.
FMM: Well, that kind of bring me onto the next question, because there’s two songs on the EP that centre around mental health. These songs are On My Mind and Give Me Something Good. It must have been a big deal for you to decide you’re ready to share those with the world. How did it feel releasing those two songs in particular?
ZL: I was going through some really tough mental health battles literally as I was releasing On My Mind, and I was having to talk about it in some of the press leading up to it. That was really hard. I’d written a few songs about mental health, but they’d been covered up with lyrics that were ambiguously poetic, so that no one would understand what it was about. It was me expressing myself without being blatant. It was pretty confronting to put that out into the world, and it was a lot of vulnerability. It was pretty tough to not only put it out there, but to talk about it as well. Now, I’m so glad that I did, and I’m so glad I shared what it was about so other people could hear my story and relate to it. Mental health, helping people, and reaching out to one another, is something I’m really passionate about. If I’m gonna say you should reach out to a friend or express how you’re feeling, then I need to be able to do that here as well. I think that was really though, but it was important for me to do, and I’m glad I did it.
Give Me Something Good, was a song I’d written quite a while ago, but it was about the same thing, like anxiety and how hard it is to get to sleep and go about your day when you’re dealing with this every minute. I thought that was important to share as well and just express how I was feeling. I think that was a bit easier because once I’d done On My Mind, I was like, okay, the response had been people supporting me and saying, hey, I go through similar things and thank you for sharing. It’s good to know other people are struggling. It was a bit easier to do that, knowing it might help someone else as well by expressing some of my battles. I think it’s been really positive. I think that’s a really good conversation to have if people are struggling, so it’s really important to share those kinds of songs.
FMM: Yeah, I think so, as well and as you said, it resonated with some of your audience.
ZL: Yeah, 100%. I think that's really important. I think I need to start the conversation and if someone can hear it and have a positive relationship with it and feel they’re not alone, that’s really important to me, because that’s the point of sharing those songs. If I need to take a risk in order to help someone, then that’s worth it, I think.
FMM: Yeah, definitely. While listening to the EP, it seems to me that you've managed to successfully establish the perfect blend of indie- rock and 80’s synth-pop, which is super unique and honestly, it’s a really cool sound. I just love it. How did making this style of music originate for you?
ZL: That's a good question. It's really interesting because I feel like my first couple of bands that I started were just straight up rock. You know, three-piece bass, guitar, drums. I was really into Rage Against The Machine, Muse, Royal Blood, and Artic Monkeys growing up. I loved Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jimi Hendrix, Crowded House and Bob Marley. I had a lot of eclectic tastes I grew up with, but then I went through a phase as a teenager of just grunge and rock. I just resonated with heavy music. I think when I left high school and started bands, I was just writing that really basic riff-heavy guitar music. I wouldn’t have even though about putting an electric piano or anything other than guitar on a song. I then met a lot of people and studied music production at uni. I started playing with synths and started listening to so much different music. I felt I was sheltered on all this incredible music out there, so I went and explored so many different genres and so many different artists.
On the other end, I guess I fell in love with funk music, and I would have been maybe 18 when that happened. I fell in love with synths, pianos, organs, and all these cool instruments. From there, I kept figuring out what I like and what resonates with me. I love guitars, I love fuzz and wild pedals, and then I also love synths. JUNO in particular, was a synth that I fell in love with because of the sound. Every time I’m writing a song, I’ve got my JUNO, I’ve got my guitar and my bass, and that’s where I start. It came slowly since starting Zachary Leo, finding my sound and finding what naturally feels right. Tobias has really helped me find that mix of synth and guitar, and put it together in a way that feels cohesive, and not just throwing ideas at a wall to see what sticks.
Artists like Prince and Parliament Funkadelic really helped me fall in love with that sound. I think as you get a bit older, you start to listen to more music, and I think that’s what happened to me. I came out of high school and fell in love with all these different genres. This is the result of me exploring because there was lots of music, I made during Covic that no one heard that was just me all over the shop with synths, electronic drums and all these weird kinds of things I was using. It was just experimenting
Then, I kind of found the EP, which is really cool. It’s funny, I think Give Me Something Good was the first song I wrote with all that together. I was like, okay, this feels like something cool. It would have been at the end of 2020, I wrote that. It’s been there for a while, but I hadn’t touched it. We reworked it recently to fit the EP. I just find synths awesome. They’re really cool. I muck around, because I don’t really know how to play keys, but I just get on the synth and find something cool. Synths are coming back for sure. I don’t think they will ever leave.
FMM: So you've got the EP launch coming. What can we expect from that?
ZL: A really energetic set. Lots of dancing, lots of synths. Something I’m really proud of with the live show is that it’s really high energy and fun. I’m really proud of what it’s becoming. People are coming to the show and they really love to dance. Everyone comes together and finds something they collectively love and can enjoy together. It’s a really safe space. Everyone’s there for the same reason and no one’s against each other. Everyone’s just there to dance, have fun and get away because sometimes, life can be difficult or it can be the same thing. It takes you away from that for a bit. We get to play and express ourselves.
FMM: What do you want people to take away from the EP? Is there anything you want listeners to resonate with whether it be sonically or lyrically?
ZL: I think the really cool thing about music is that two people can listen to a piece of music and feel something different. I’d love it if people enjoyed it and if they can connect with a certain lyric, and it’s a positive feeling, that’s what I love. I've written it, and I've expressed myself through some of my challenges and some of my happy parts of my life. A lot of that’s through melody, lyrics, and sonics. If someone can listen to it and connect with it, I love it. That’s why I do music, so that people can listen to one of my songs in the future and feel something, whatever that may be. That’s the goal.
FMM: I wanted to end the interview on one question. Is there’s any song in the world that you wish you’d written?
ZL: I feel like there’s so many right now. I’m not gonna touch The Beatles because I feel like everyone goes there, but I think four of my favourite songs of all time are The Beatles songs. Oh, this is so difficult. I think a song I wish I’d written, which I absolutely love at the moment, is I Saw The Light by Todd Rundgren. Every time I listen to that, I just wish I’d written that song. It’s just perfect, and Here, There and Everywhere by The Beatles, I wish I wrote that. It’s just one of the most beautiful songs ever.