As I sit against the wall of the upstairs patio at the Airliner in Los Angeles (11/17), I am joined by Zachary Saginaw, the prodigal son of Michigan-born Ghostly International and the percussionist behind electronic/folk rock band School of Seven Bells. Awaiting his 12:30 performance, Zach offers me some much valued time to chat with him about his solo project Shigeto (which also happens to be his middle name). With the recent debut of his Full Circle LP and the habitual touring schedule between his School of Seven Bells bandmates, Zach has made time management an art. The interview, transcribed from an audio recording, bounces between Zach’s musical career and then to the more personal side of things.
So this is your debut performance at Low End Theory?
Yes, definitely.
Did you have any expectations coming into a venue like this?
Well it’s funny, ’cause the one expectation I had was that it’d be loud… and packed. And so I think it was kind of cool in a way that I came in the first night that it was a limited occupancy, because for all I know it could have been canceled all together, so I’m just really happy I could be here.
You are traveling from Michigan?
Yes, originally. I live in Brooklyn now.
How does the beat scene out there compare to here in Los Angeles?
Well, L.A. has done an amazing thing in the past four years or so for the “beat scene,” so they have their own kind of spot in music history I feel. While with Ann Arbor, Mich., there is a hub of creativity, a phenomenon almost, but it can’t keep its talent. Everything always leaves, it goes elsewhere, wether it be like Motown Records or Iggy and The Stooges back in the day. You also have Ghostly International coming from Michigan. I think as far as the Michigan sound goes, it’s Dilla and Spider. It can only be that, and now Dabyre has left his mark as well on Michigan producers in terms of hip hop beats. But I mean, it’s Dilla who is dominant, you know. You also have the classic techno dudes like Carl Craig, Juan Atkins, and Derrick May who are still very alive in Detroit too. But as far as beats, it’s JD all the way.
“I guess emotionally I was just fuckin’ going crazy…in a good way. Being from Ann Arbor, to be on Ghostly is the ultimate for me.”
What kind of emotions were stirred up and molded into your recent Full Circle LP?
It’s funny, Full Circle originally was intended to be released on Moodgadget Records. It was a bunch a tracks I had made relatively quickly, about two years ago, and I made most of them within four months. Then I got news Ghostly was interested, so everything kind of changed. You know, Ghostly cares a lot about their artists; they are very hands-on and personal with who they work with, so I got a lot of feedback with track order and other random shit. Eventually certain tracks were taken out and newer tracks made their way in, and I guess emotionally I was just fuckin’ going crazy…in a good way. Being from Ann Arbor, to be on Ghostly is the ultimate for me.
Would you say Ghostly boosted your career then?
Oh, there’s no question about that. I mean, a label will always help your career just by default and exposure. People will associate you with the label and in return take you seriously. They’ll give you a chance where otherwise they couldn’t give a shit.
“it’s kind of like how people keep pianos in their home and they don’t necessary play them, whether they’ve been passed down or not… it’s an instrument.”
If I’m correct, you’ve played drums for quite some time now, right?
Yes, since I was three… so about 25 years
(At this point I go on about how I had sold my drum set when I was a kid after playing for about four years, and how I’ve regretted that decision ever since. I eventually took the money from the set to buy a laptop and some digital software.)
Yeah man, I mean, shit, I’d always keep your drums, even if you aren’t serious about it. It’s kind of like how people keep pianos in their home and they don’t necessary play them, whether they’ve been passed down or not… it’s an instrument. I have always had a hard time selling any of my instruments. I keep ones that are even broken.
Do you think playing drums has somehow shaped the electronic music you make?
I think maybe I knew what I wanted to hear. I was at a place where I knew rhythm, and where rhythm laid in a groove. There was no question because it was all I knew essentially. So yeah, I started producing with a very solid foundation, because, to me, beats are about the drums. I mean, I love the melodies and I strive to come up with better melodies and learn more about the science of harmonies, but the drums are definitely the backbone, so I think it definitely helped me in the beginning to know the basic structure.
Do you mess around with any other non-electronic instruments?
I can dabble around with any rhythm instrument (guitar, bass, piano), but drums are my thing. I guess if I played another it’d be piano, but I mean, I don’t claim to know how to play it.
Who would you say influenced you the most growing up?
I couldn’t say one person, one artist. In different periods of my life I’ve been influenced by different people, different things.
Did you have transitional periods of genres?
Yeah, I guess. When I was really young, like about ten years old, I was super into Nirvana and the whole grunge thing, but at the same time I was raised on Motown and jazz from my father. So I grew up with a lot of Coltrane, just the classics, my favorites being Coltrane, Bill Evans, and Wayne Shorter. All the classic kinds of albums for me were my biggest influences in my production– all of Dilla’s work, A Tribe Called Quest (which also is Dilla in a big sense), Illadelph Halflife (the instrumentals on their album are incredible), and then of course people like Aphex Twin, Squarepusher, pretty much whole original Warp Catalog was a big influence…. And then Prefuse, people don’t give him enough credit anymore, they claim he fell off or he’s not doing as much. Tracks like “One Word Extinguisher,” “Uprock Narratives” and “The ’92 VS ’02” changed electronic music completely. You can’t deny that. Dabrye’s 1/3 and Boards Of Canada’s Music Has the Right to Children have also changed my life.
“I want the live show to be less laptop and more instrumentation.”
Can we expect more material from you in the future?
Definitely more music. I’m trying to get a more live approach; I want the live show to be less laptop and more instrumentation. That’s kind of the goal, not to eliminate anything obviously, but just kind of integrate it in a better way.
I think there’s definitely a more personal sense to a set with live percussion, as compared to everything being digitally sampled.
Well, yeah. I feel whatever way you can express yourself is what you should play. I feel for me personally it is easier to express myself in a live setting on an instrument such as the drums rather than a laptop. Live shows in this genre, for the most part, are more about preparation, not spontaneity and physical virtuosity. I want to have the preparation, but have it be more about the live interaction. That’s where I’m headed. I still have yet to even start writing the next album, but there will be a next album and it’ll be on Ghostly. I think it’ll probably be incorporating a lot more live instrumentation and maybe a lot more collaborations with musician friends that I have.
I’ve noticed you have always been generous with you music. Do you believe in giving back to your fan base?
I believe in just giving back as a human being. I also believe if you are trying to make your living as an artist you have to create it for yourself, you have to create a foundation, and when you give things away you have a better chance of people taking it. So it’s a way of saying, “Hey, here’s a bunch of stuff… oh, and by the way, the album’s coming.” You know? It’s an I-scratch-your-back-you-scratch-mine kind of thing. I try not to bombard everyone with it, but at the same time I have to stay active.
Now, I seem to habitually incorporate this question into any kind of interview I do, but if you weren’t involved in music what would you be doing?
I’d be in the food industry, the “food world.”
Would you be cooking or… ?
No, I’d probably be running a small specialty shop, like a cheese shop. Pretty much my whole life my day job has been in food.
Is it in the family?
Yes, yes it is a family thing. My father’s been in the food world for a very long time. I’ve kind of been brought into it growing up, so it’s another passion of mine. My fiancé is actually a chef.
(I interrupt Zach has he is finishing his sentence to give him respect on his recent proposal to his then-girlfriend, now-fiancé Marie at the School of Seven Bells show at Santos Party House in New York. The proposal has been quite the viral video on youtube. Check it out right here.)
Haha, thanks. Yeah, it was kind of an outer-body experience. It was like, “What am I doing?!” I could see myself in a third person kind of sense; I was just watching myself. Marie was actually in the bathroom at the time, so there was a period of like ten minutes of silence and waiting. Then the crowd eventually started clapping and yelling her name. She then came out.
(The interview has now wound down to simple back and forth chatter. I then ask Zach if he has any questions for me, he replies…)
I’m just glad you have interest, I’m glad you wanted to talk. Right now when I feel that people are respectful and interested I want to respond as much as I can. I’m not at a point yet where I have 500 things a day that I have to respond to, instead I have about 50… so I’m down. There may be a point where I’m just like, fuck it… talk to my publicist. But it’s like, right now you’ve got to be active. If people care enough to want to write something about you, you should do it, however it might not always be that way. I try to be a respectful person.
(I then thank him for his time and continue on inside the venue to await his performance.)
Shigeto- Into The Sun, Out In The Cold
