Zebrahead: Always Evolving

ZEBRAHEAD are arguably one of the most recognised names in the ska punk scene to date. As a result of this, they have had an absolutely incredible 28 years in the industry so far. The Californian five piece have undeniably made a firm mark in the industry over almost three decades, which leads us to wonder the secret to their longevity. Lead vocalist Ali Tabatatabaee appears to understand the notion that being a part of a band runs as deep as being a close-knit family too.

“I mean, as far as longevity goes I think for the most part, you have to understand it like being like in a creative place with your band members isn’t only just like hearing each other’s ideas out and, you know, working together musically. It’s also understanding that it’s kind of like a family as well, understanding each other’s personalities and knowing when somebody needs a little bit space or needs a little bit of help and also being able to kind of look at it from their perspective. I feel like, if you don’t do that, no matter how successful you are as an artist, there’s going to be issues that arise and they’re going to cause you guys to fracture and if you don’t know how to kind of navigate that throughout your career, it isn’t going to last as long as it could. I think that’s the main thing with the personal relationships within the band and trying to understand each other and understand it’s like a family no matter what happens and you deal with it and try to be as supportive as much as you can. That ultimately leads to being more creative as well because once you know people have your back and they know you have their back, it’s a little bit easier to be open minded and let the creativity come through.”

Despite their obvious long-lasting working and personal relationship with each other, ZEBRAHEAD haven’t always had it easy. Long time vocalist and rhythm guitarist Matty Lewis announced his departure from the band in 2021 after 16 years. Undoubtedly, the other members took this hard. “I mean, when Matty left, there was a period where we were like ‘Are we getting to continue?’ It was the pandemic, everything was kind of hitting at once and I remember calling our bass player and I’m like, you let me know where you’re at. For me, I felt like I wanted to know, then we would have to figure out what we’re going to do. When I talked to Ben [Osmundson], he was like ‘I want to keep going’ and I was like ‘I feel the same way’. We reached out to Dan Palmer and he goes, ‘Yeah man, I feel like this is a setback. I don’t think this is the end’.”

It is evidently clear that the pandemic was also a huge turning point for the band, as it changed the whole group’s working dynamic as they knew it. “I think the biggest difference for us was when the pandemic hit, it changed the way we wrote and corresponded our ideas together with each other. Before the pandemic, we would always write together in one room or like jam and there’d be music playing and then I would try to come up with my parts and make it work that way. But when the pandemic hit we couldn’t meet, so we learned how to work independently. Everybody’s got a computer, we have like loads of stuff on our computers and we were sending each other ideas and it was really liberating because it was a whole different way, right? Like, I didn’t need to wait for a guitar part to have an idea, I can make a loop myself and send them the BPM or the loop and be like, ‘Okay, there’s my vocal idea,’ and they’re like, ‘That’s really cool with our parts. What if I change the drumbeat or baseline a little bit to this?’ and it really allowed us to kind of flex our writing muscles in a different way. I feel like we are writing a lot quicker. I think that was the biggest change for us since we started was remote writing and sending ideas.”

There was one positive to come out of the pandemic though; their significant increase in future music topics. “When we work on music, and often for me, my ideas come from either something I’m going through or somebody I know is going through; family members, friends, and you know, everybody went through it, even with my own experience and my family members’ experiences and stuff. I had a lot of material that I worked with, and I think for for the most part, I talked to Adrian too. We would constantly text each other like ideas. So yeah, it was a lot of ideas that we came up with was because of the fact that everybody was suffering with the same thing together.”

However, it is not just situational challenges that have influenced ZEBRAHEAD‘s work over time. Since the release of the band’s debut self-titled album back in 1998, the band have changed their initial sound quite significantly, incorporating more metal type riffs into their thirteenth studio release Brain Invaders. “I mean growing up, I was mainly listening to hip hop music and rap music. Ben was like 15 and he was listening to METALLICA back in the day and SLAYER and all that stuff, Dan too. We have always been influenced by metal I think. Lately, he’s a little bit more angry too and I feel like the world was a little more angry as a result. Our reflection of it is a little bit that way but I mean, I love metal now. Ben would always be like ‘Check these guys out!’ and I’m like, ‘Oh my god!’. So yeah, I think we all are influenced by metal. I think also our musical style changes, because you don’t always want to be doing the same thing over and over again, you get bored of it. So it wasn’t an intentional thing for sure.”

As with many musical artists, ZEBRAHEAD take inspiration from all types of music, even genres you wouldn’t necessarily expect. “I mean, to me, like GREEN DAY is a great pop punk band, BLINK 182 as well. I listen to BLINK all the time. We like so many things, so when you get us working on a song together, you never know what that person’s been listening to. Daniel comes up with something like VAN HALEN and then, you know, Adrian will have a MOD SUN song stuck in his head that he got some ideas from. I would have been listening to like LOGIC or TURNSTILE. We’re getting definitely influenced by pop music and pop-punk music you know?”

In more recent years, ZEBRAHEAD have evolved back into EP creation with the release of III and II in order to be more creatively fluid. “We just were writing constantly and we felt like we wanted to release songs as quickly as we could and not worry  like ‘Okay, we need to focus on writing like 25 songs’. We would come up with our ideas, get together, release it and then continue to write. We felt like since the pandemic everything had changed, so we’re like, why don’t we change our writing and creative style and see if it’s helpful, or if it’s not, then we can always go back. But it’s been really helpful for us like we are constantly writing, producing when we’re in the studio, working on new music, and we’re like, ‘How many of you have written? Five or six? Let’s get back to writing.’ You know, don’t get me wrong we sit down and have concept ideas of what this is going to be and artwork and stuff, but we didn’t want to stop. We felt like we were on a roll with writing. So we’re like, let’s just release and keep writing and not wait for that period where you have to set up the album. You have to do all these things that kind of take you away from that mentality of that space where you feel creative and we felt like we had lots to say.”

The slight change in musical direction definitely paid off for ZEBRAHEAD, as both fans old and new are clearly loving the new music. “The fans have been really digging the music. It’s really weird for us too because we never know what songs the fans gonna be more into and what songs they like, what songs they don’t. We all have this guessing game amongst ourselves. But I would say for the most part, it’s super positive. You can kind of gauge it by when you play live because often the fans no longer want the older songs, you know what I mean? With any new song, they’re like ‘Can you play the whole song?’ But since we’ve been touring again, they know all the words to the new songs, just as much as they would to an older song that we play, so that’s kind of how we know that they’re digging it. We’ve been very lucky and the fans have been really accepting of Adrian and our new vibe, and they’ve been really supportive. Shout out to the fans, because they’ve been making it happen for us.”

ZEBRAHEAD have just finished a tour around Europe and at the time of speaking to Tabatatabaee, it is obvious that the band were pumped about what was to come. “I mean, this is the longest tour we’ve done in years so we’re really excited for it. It’s gonna be great to see some of our friends that we haven’t seen in a really long time. We have been rehearsing constantly for this. I’ve already started kind of packing, it’s like two weeks away. So yeah, everybody’s really excited for it. And it’s like a four week long tour. Mainly Europe like Germany, Italy, Austria, Switzerland. We start off in Cologne. It’s gonna be really cool. Hopefully, people we haven’t seen it a long time are gonna be able to make it out and party.”

It has also been revealed that ZEBRAHEAD are set to play Slam Dunk Festival again this year. This particular festival is special to them for a lot of different reasons. “Honestly, it’s the fans that come out. The energy at Slam Dunk is just so unique. From the minute we land for those shows, it’s like at level 12. Then we get to the show and try our best to play to level 15. And then once the show starts, it’s like level 100 and the whole time everybody’s grooving to us. The endorphin rush is crazy. I think we’re addicted to Slam Dunk. I don’t even think we like want to play it. I think we would go into physical withdrawal if we didn’t play Slam Dunk!”

Even now, ZEBRAHEAD are still inspired to write about real-life situations that they have personally experienced, especially with their new track Evil Anonymous. “It’s about this idea that you never know people’s motives or intentions, whether they’re good or bad or who it is who comes in your life or who is in your life and you have to be a little bit understanding that not everybody is going to have your best intention in their minds when they’re trying to help you or offer advice.” However, Middle Seat Blues is the one track that best represents where the band are right now musically speaking. “We released a song called Middle Seat Blues recently. As far as the vibe of the song is a little different, because it goes from like a heavy heart to a really like kind of vibey verse, if you like. We’ve been trying to do a lot of different styles of music that we have in the past, and I think this song kind of does represent that. And I feel like that was one the songs that I remember Ben and I were like, ‘Oh, it’s just a song, you know’ and we released it a couple of songs before that, but this one, the fans seem to be really getting behind. So I feel like you’d never know, but I feel like this song for us where we’re at right now trying to expand on our styles and have them mesh together. That song really kind of represents what we’re doing right now.”

ZEBRAHEAD have proven themselves time and time again to be an ever-evolving band, constantly changing things up when it suits them. This is also apparent when it comes to lyrical content and whether they opt to write songs with lighter or darker themes. “I mean, again, it varies. I think when you do look back on some of our older stuff like MFZB, the album was a little bit darker, but then there’s always this like, glimmer of hope where there is something positive to hopefully look forward to. So I think we go back and forth depending on where we’re at in our lives, or where our families or friends are at in their lives. That influences what we write about and I think, obviously, since the pandemic hit, it’s been a bit darker for everybody. But, we are a positive band, like we tend to try and say this is momentary, it’s going to get better. I think that comes through in our lyrics and in our vibes of the songs, so it’s intentional. We don’t try to force it down your throat. This is kind of where we are and hopefully it’s somehow relatable to you in your life. For me when I listen to a song, when it is somehow connected to me and my personal life then for whatever reason, it makes me love that song as I can relate to it, so I think that’s what’s amazing about music. It has to be a connection globally, where you might not even know somebody, but you might have this weird connection, or some kind of event that happens is relatable to you and that other person across the world and it makes you connect.”

ZEBRAHEAD also have a lot planned for the rest of the year and beyond. “We are on tour and writing, so we’re gonna be releasing a lot more music soon. And also, I just want to say to our fans and friends, it would be great to see you guys. We’re so excited to come and play shows. So if you do come to a show, come say hi, and hang out with us. And we appreciate you guys sticking with us even through the hard times everybody’s gone through and we can’t wait to hang out and party with you guys real real soon.”

II is out now via MFZB Records/Avex Records (Japan). 

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