The Zoanoids album seemed to come out of nowhere and people are really responding to it.What are your thoughts on its reception? And by the way, who the hell are you guys, anyway?
Matt Zoa - I've been very surprised by the positive reception we've received on this. From my angle, I've heard all the songs a thousand times by now, and you start to lose your perspective as a listener at that juncture. A lot of people seem to be enjoying it though, so I'm very humbled and thankful for the support! We are four friends who write and play music together, that's the foundation of the band.
Shoanoid: I'm personally honestly overwhelmed by it. I figured a few people would like it but never thought it would go over like it has. I'm just a rural Michigan kid that grew up loving punk in a small podunk town.
Jose: I'm an old head.
The thing that grabs me immediately when I listen is the classic aesthetic. The songs and
production compare favorably to Death By Television-era Lillingtons and other hallmark poppunk bands of yore. Was achieving this aesthetic a main goal?
Matt Zoa - Thanks! I think that since the Lillingtons are such a huge influence on me, it will always come through in my songwriting somehow; maybe not on every single song, but it's certianly there. The first time I heard DbTV, it struck me like a lightning bolt and was one of only a handful of times I've had a transformative experience hearing a record. The same thing happened to me when I first heard Kiss Alive! as a kid.
Regarding the production, I recorded and mixed the whole record at my home studio. I'm a fan of MassGeorgini's body of work, and the DbTV record was a benchmark that I tried to reach with the mix andoverall sound. While I don't feel that my production holds a candle to that record, I'm satisfied with the way it turned out.
The record was Mastered by Justin Perkins at Mystery Room Mastering, and that was also an essentialcomponent to the polished and powerful sound.
Shoanoid: I was hoping we could make something that you could play next to your old records and it wouldn't feel out of place but still sound like us. The production on the record is all Matt Zoa - he produced and mixed this whole thing. I know Mass and Sonic Iguana's work was a big inspiration during the production.
Jose: "...Yore..." hehe. I think Punk as a musical form is in a lot of ways traditional anymore, which is a big part of why we sound the way we do.
What was the songwriting process like for this album? What moods, concepts, themes did you arrive at before committing to record this batch, and were there some tunes that didn't make the cut?
Matt Zoa - All of the songs were written jointly by Shoanoid and I except Teenage Werewolf, Arms of Ahriman, and Directive: Solbrain, which were songs that I brought in myself. We're about 50/50 on the music and lyrics for the rest of them. Also, Matt B. wrote the lead parts on Arms of Ahriman, Dos Fuertes!, Innsmouth, and the outro lead of Spheres over the Phantasm theme. I really think Matt's go-for-broke surf freakout lead on Dos Fuertes! brought the song to life, it's my favorite one on the record.
Typically, Shyo and I will write riffs and/or lyrics and send them back and forth developing ideas. A lot of times, Shyo will text me some lyrics and I'll immediately hear a riff or melody underneath them. I'll sit down and record the idea right away.
With concepts and themes, we just have fun and write about things we're into like the Godzilla films, thePhantasm films, H.P. Lovecraft Literature, and the Overlord Anime to name a few. Time of Judgement is actually about the tabletop RPG game "Vampire: The Masquerade", which we're all huge fans of. Directive: Solbrain is about both the old Tokusatsu Show “Super Rescue Solbrain”, and the NES game “Shatterhand” (released in Japan as “Directive: Solbrain”). Sometimes, we just write about mundane things too like in Michigan or Indifference.
There was one straggler song left behind this time. It's out there somewhere, I'll leave it up to the listener to discover it. Here’s a clue: 131536.
Shoanoid: Um well it basically was just writing stuff that sounded cool to me personally for my contributions to the record. It wasn't that there was a theme per se at least for me it was just write stuff about things you like, use riffs that sound cool and here we are.
How did you guys link up with Nate Deml of Hey Pizza! Records? He's a connoisseur of pop punk so working with him must have been a pretty good feeling of validation?
Matt Zoa - As far as I understand, Nate stumbled across our 2019 Demo after Shyo posted it
somewhere on Facebook. He then contacted us about doing the record. Working with Nate and Hey Pizza! Records has been really cool. If it weren't for his encouragement and support from day one, we wouldn't have even finished all the songs in the first place. He's done everything for us and I'm grateful for his vote of confidence.
Shoanoid: When this project was getting off the ground I just put up a song or two in a few pop punk/ramonescore groups and 20 minutes later Nate was messaging me asking if we had more songs and putting something out. Its really cool that Nate wanted to work with us and wanted to release this on Hey Pizza. I'd been listening to The Dummy Room for a bit so I was aware of him.
Jose: Sure.
Pop punk comes in all shades and flavors - how would you describe your own approach with respect to Zoanoids? Is it safe to say you prefer a slightly darker edge?
Matt Zoa - From my end I'm just throwing stuff at the wall without too much of a reference point aside from the stuff that influences me subliminally, and the way the songs turn out seems to create a sort of hybrid, which is cool. I do prefer a darker edge, and I think that will continue to be an institution in our songs ifnot for the subject matter alone.
The name "Zoanoids" is a reference to the monsters in the Guyver anime and I like that idea; that with the anime, you never quite knew what they were going to be or exactly how they would look, and with us, our songs could be all over the place.
Shoanoid: Its funny to me that people say this has a dark edge to it. For me this is honestly a nerdy record based on where the subject matter originates from - it’s just that what we're nerdy about tends to be dark.
Jose: These are dark times.
Nate turned me on the fact that you guys are into metal, which of course piqued my interest.What are you guys into specifically? Any favorite bands, albums, genres you'd like to mention?
Matt Zoa - Truthfully, I'm a transplant from the Sludge/Doom/Stoner Metal scene. I've been in a couple of bands in that genre before Zoanoids. That being said, I'm a huge fan of many of those types of bands:
Weedeater, Beast in the Field, Yob, Black Cobra, Acid King, Cavity, Bongzilla, Buzzov•en, BurningWitch, Cough, Sleep, High on Fire, Bongripper, Mantar, OM, Primitive Man, Secret Cutter, Shroud Eater, Telekinetic Yeti, Monolord, and Windhand are some of my favorites. I could go on and on with that list!
Also, a now-defunct Blackened Doom band from Canada called Woods of Ypres is one of my favoritemetal bands in general. I would reccomend any fan of metal to check out the "Woods 4: The GreenAlbum" and "Woods 5: Grey Skies & Electric Light" records at the very least. It's pronounced "Woods of E-Pray".
Finally, I'd have to say that Type O Negative is my favorite band of all time. That may surprise a lot of people in the bubble, but there you go!
Shoanoid: For me genre wise its crossover thrash and sludge, specifically artists such as D.R.I, Municipal Waste, S.O.D, Black Tusk, and Weedeater but shout out to Type O Peter Steele rules.
Jose:For me, it'd be older thrash: Slayer, Macabre, Kill Em All...and straight up, 'old-timer': Priest, AC/DC, Sabbath
Matt B: Definitely into Havok, Lich King, Death, Korpiklaani, and Symphony X. Definitely have a soft spot for thrash, death, and power metal.
I've also found that many in our pop punk bubble are either adamantly NOT into metal, or are full-fledged metal nerds like us. Do you agree? Do you see a connection between the two interests from a musical perspective?
Matt Zoa - I'm just recently getting to know a few people in the bubble, but everyone has been super-nice and welcoming of different interests. One could surmise that there has always been a kind ofnervous truce between hardcore punk and metal, even going back to bands like D.R.I. who infused hardcore punk with proto-thrash, or a record like Black Flag's My War. While there does seem to be a bit of a dichotomy on the subject of metal within the pop punk bubble, I think that recent records like The Lillingtons’ Stella Sapiente begin to pave the way for a meeting ground between the two. I hope to further the meeting ground with Zoanoids.
Shoanoid: Yeah I for sure agree with that. It was strange to me to see stuff like that, you're really closing yourself off to a wide world just dismissing a genre outright. It's like people who only listen to music sung in English and won't give bands from another country a chance.
Jose: Pop Punk & Metal?? Idk...both went 'Radio' at some point???
Now that you've hit the ground running, what's next for Zoanoids? Will you continue releasing albums on a regular basis? Are there any other musical projects that you guys are working on besides Zoanoids?
Matt Zoa - We currently have 12 new songs recorded and in the mixing phase for our second full length record. Hopefully that will come out this year, but it's hard to say with how backed up the vinyl pressing plants are at the moment. We have tentative plans for at least one split, and one song already sent off for an upcoming compilation too, but we can't let the cat out of the bag on those just yet. Lastly, we have a cassette release of the S/T Record coming out on MBNH Tapes this spring.
Yes, I plan to continue writing and releasing music on a regular basis with Zoanoids. We're also looking forward to doing some hefty touring when things open back up from the pandemic. I don’t see Zoanoids slowing down in the forseeable future. I like to stay busy!
Shoanoid and I also play in a Stoner/Psych band called Scrying Stone.
Shoanoid: Hopefully once this pandemic ends we can actually play live. In the meantime I'll just keep writing songs when I'm feeling inspired.
Jose: I hope so, as long as folks are interested in our shit.
Who are your guys' favorite pop punk bands right now? And do you guys know the dudes from the band Horror Section? I think a killer split featuring both bands is in order, what do you think?
Matt Zoa - A list of some of my current favorites: Proton Packs, Neon Bone, Radio Blast, Capgun Heroes, Bad Secret, The Follow-Ups, Ratbones, Horror Section, Volkov, The Black Russians, Hayley and the Crushers, Radio Buzzkills, Lettermans, The Usuals, The Putz, Covert Flops, Flamingo Nosebleed, Goin' Places, Twister, The Suck, Giant Eagles, Stinking Polecats, Huntingtons, The Jasons, Beatnik Termites, Jagger Holly, New Rochelles, Manges, The Vapids, Geoff Palmer, Dee Cracks, Lucy and the Rats, Spazzys, Yum Yums, and of course, The Lillingtons.
I was also recently turned on to a Ska band from Australia called "Steel City Allstars" that I really dig. Although not Pop Punk per se, I think they would appeal to fans of the genre.
I don't know any of the Horror Section dudes personally, but I know that both Teflon Dave and I are into Samhain, so it seems like we would get along! I've recently started listening to Horror Section and I really dig them. I'm totally down for a split.
Shoanoid: As far as pop punk goes man there's a bunch but for the bands in the bubble for me it goes Proton Packs, Horror Section, Capgun Heroes, Bad Secret, and Dee Cracks. I've never actually spoken with Teflon Dave or anyone else in the band, but if they're down with doing a split you can count me in.
Jose: I stopped listening to a lot of punk, to be honest, so my influences as far as the genre goes are from decades ago and less, 'pop'...Propagandhi, RKL, Nausea, Bad Brains, Naked Aggression, Dead Kennedys, X-Ray Spex, Mystic Records, etc.
What advice would you give to pop punkers out there who have the ambition to record an
album of their own? Any pitfalls to avoid? Any challenges to consider beforehand?
Matt Zoa - Give your creativity a chance, and write the songs that you want to. Be yourself musically. Throw some left turns into your album. We need more hybrids. Also, I think it's important to make sure all of your art and visual themes look punchy and unified.
Pitfalls to avoid... don't set your open beer down on top of your amp! Seriously though, I'd say the biggest thing is don't get discouraged even if you have to wait a while for things to get into motion. I still have to work a day job, and sometimes it seems like things move at a snail's pace with the band, especially during the pandemic. It drives me nuts on a regular basis because I'd like to do the band full-time, but patience and due diligence go a long way here.
Challenges to consider? I feel like it's a lot of work to make a good record, get a rehearsed band
together, do a ton of graphic design, curate social media, and do most everything on the
clerical/management side of things. It can take up most or all of your free time, but to me it's totally worth it and something that you cultivate over the long term.
Shoanoid: I'd say just keep writing and if it sounds cool to you put it out. As far as pitfalls don't try to skimp on recording and getting it done right, and make sure your songs are done and you have your parts down. Basic simple shit.
Jose: Don't give up: "We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams"
Any final shout-outs or words you'd like to offer? Thanks guys!
Matt Zoa - Stay safe everyone. Let’s listen to the experts, and do our part to be good citizens during this time. We will beat this pandemic, things will get better, and we will see you on the road before you knowit. Positive mental attitude.
Also, thank you to everyone who has bought a record, shared a post, or otherwise supported us in any way. Thanks for having us!
Shoanoid: Thanks everyone seriously words can't express how appreciative I feel.
Jose: I totally appreciate your support...Thx for listening!!
