Q&A With Zeds Dead, Rezz and Illenium
About two months ago, I got Media and Press at Lost Lands Music Festival. Unfortunately, a lot of the artists were too busy, or were not able
to stay at the festival long enough for interviews. But, while walking around
the media and press lounge, I got the opportunity to talk to some of my favorite
artists.
I got to talk to Zeds Dead, an EDM (deep house, electro house,
dubstep, trap) group who is insanely hard to meet, talk to, or find. They love
their fans and enjoy all of the support, but they are a busy group and they are
just ending a tour right now. The two members names are Hooks (Zachary Rapp-Rovan)
and DC (Dylan Mamid), originally from Toronto, Canada, and have been playing
music together since 2009.
Shortly after their set ended, I walked into the Lounge and
saw Hooks standing outside of their dressing room trailer and instantly freaked
out internally. When he was done talking, I walked up to him and started a
conversation, but I also incorporated a few questions into our conversation,
which I did the same with the other two artists I got to talk to.
Q: What is your feelings on playing the first year of Lost
Lands?
A: Shocked, did not think we would get the opportunity to
and I loved it, it was so different and I want to be back. What do you think of
your first year of Lost Lands?
My answer: Amazing, it’s so different and I love the vibe and
atmosphere. I loved your set, I love the fact that your sets are always different
and I always have to try to guess on what songs you will perform.
Q: Do you ever worry that you aren’t playing a good enough
set?
A: Never, I don’t want to think that, but I love the fact
that you said that all of our sets are different. We love surprising our fans,
throwing a little bit of everything into each set. We want our fans to guess
and rise their anticipation and excitements for our sets.
Q: How is your new album going?
A: Amazing, we got the chance to work with some childhood
inspirations and artists we used to listen to. We have a mixture of our old
stuff but some rappers. I am really excited for this.
The next artist I got to run into was Nick Miller, known as
Illenium. He came out with a new album called Awake at the end of September,
right before Lost Lands started, while he teased his fans in previous sets with
a few songs from his new album. I saw Illenium about 2 and a half years ago, he
was the first opener, and no one knew him, now he’s touring around the world
and headlining festivals.
Photo of Illenium (Nick Miller)
Q: How is your new album going?
A: I am so beyond grateful with all of the feedback I have
been getting. I started a few songs about 2 years ago, and this was the longest
time I spent on it. But I wanted a story with it. If you start the album from
the beginning, and don’t shuffle it, it will really express me and how I am and
the true meaning of the album.
Q: Favorite song off your new album?
A: No time like now, man really hard to choose.
Q: How did you find your sound? Its so unique and draws in
such a big crowd.
A: All I was hearing was very similar electronic sounds, I wanted
to be different. Rezz has her own unique sound you have never heard before, Odesza
does a great job at expressing a brand new unique sound. I was messing around
and found this cinematic sound in a lot of movie soundtracks that drew me in. I
was looking for a warm, organic sound and wanted something different, what
others would really remember.
Instagram: illeniummusic
Another artist I got to talk to was Isabelle Rezazadeh,
known as Rezz. She is from Ontario, Canada and just recently started producing
her own music when she was 16 and started on a record label in 2015. She looked
up to other artists like Bassnectar, Zeds Dead and Deadmau5. She got onto
Skrillex label OWSLA and released her first track and she grew instantly. I am
obsessed with her Electro, Techno, Space-sounding music; she has developed this
Space Mom title from her music. It is very unique, and Rezz is a very sweet
person too. I found out her and I are exactly 5 months apart and her best friend
that put me on their Chicago show guest list, is one day younger than me. We
all said we were meant to be best friends. I fangirled really hard when I saw
her, and it was really hard to keep my cool tbh haha.
Photo of Rezz (Isabelle)
Q: I just saw that your comic book is coming out soon, how
did you come up with the idea of that?
A: I always grew up liking that kind of stuff and I’m truly proud
of my album Mass Manipulation and wanted to make more of it. So, I decided to
make something different and bring back the old, and create it into a comic
book.
Q: (This wasn’t really a question, but a really good
response) I was super nervous to come up and talk to you because you looked
busy and but do you get that a lot?
A: It’s funny you say that, I’m actually a really big
introvert. I talk to people if needed but sometimes I don’t even respond to
Brie (her best friend) for a few days. Yet, when I’m up on stage, there’s no
issues at all. I can’t help but smile and get down with the crowd. I recognized
you from earlier when I was walking to the stage too.
Q: How did you find your style?
A: I like playing around with random objects around me,
record it, and edit it. Or even if I hear someone making a noise I like, I’ll
record and edit that too. I really liked the sound of Bassnectar, Deadmau5 and
Skrillex, weird stuff and down-tempo. I want my own vision, I want to do what I
love and I wanted something different. I don’t care if I get booed, I’m doing
what I love, and you’ll find your real fans.
Instagram: officialrezz
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