Interviews, Music and Other Obscurities
California Formation Complete!!
Hello - Zay here. I'm pleased to announce that the new Speed Of Life lineup for California has been solidified. Dan and I have brought in Walter Turner to the Drums and Mike Torres to the Bass. Last week we had our first show together with this lineup performing both new and old material and it was spectacular. Everyone is very psyched. Both Walter and Mike are great musicians and I encourage you to check out their myspace pages linked from ours under top friends.
Over the next few months we will be working on new material for a new album as well as bringing Mike and Walter up to speed on some more of the older material. Our new management will also be starting to solidify tour dates for next year. There will also be some LA area and surrounding shows in the very near future so be sure to check back and find out the details.
-peace
John Zay
Over the next few months we will be working on new material for a new album as well as bringing Mike and Walter up to speed on some more of the older material. Our new management will also be starting to solidify tour dates for next year. There will also be some LA area and surrounding shows in the very near future so be sure to check back and find out the details.
-peace
John Zay
ChChChanges
I am in La. Really in LA. The reason I came here (to work with a particular producer) has come to an end. What a strange thing because so much new opportunity has opened up as a result of letting go of that opportunity. Sometimes it takes one promising reason to make a move in your life that really leads to a myriad of reasons to stay not related to the original reason. Like the guy who moves across country with a girl, gets burned and meets the love of his life 6 months later. If he hadn’t gotten there in the 1st place it wouldn’t have happened.
I am 31 years old – which by the way kids, is not old. I have been working on the Speed Of Life project since 2001 when I was 24. I have worked too hard and been burned too many times to give up the high level of integrity I’ve maintained throughout the evolution of this project. If anything I am more determined than ever to promote my ideals through this product, artistically through each songs or inception, and environmentally in its design and presentation. The environment is for me the most pressing issue facing us as people today. The current issues have the potential of uniting us in ways previously impossible and create a new era of evolution in our species. All other problems will be moot if we have substantially ruined the planet that we inhabit. Plus a shared project amongst people leads to cooperation, Our last cd was on recycled paper. From this point forward all of our products will be as environmentally sustainable as possible. Also in the near future I will be hosting our website on a Solar powered server. I have some exciting ideas that I haven’t seen bands do before that I will be presenting as our next album comes to fruition.
In the meantime check out our website – www.speedoflifemusic.com - I’ve done an extensive renovation that includes a photo gallery that extends back to the bands beginnings. Join our mailing list on reverb nation if you haven’t and stay in touch Also be a part of what going on. Check out www.wecansolveit.org and take a strong look at Al Gore’s speech. His pledge to have our country’s electricity running completely on sustainable resources in 10 years is a realistic and necessary goal. It is probably easier technology wise than the moon mission he draws a comparison to. Here I am in SoCal with the sun shining on every rooftop not using it’s free energy. Now I will go back to writing songs!
I am 31 years old – which by the way kids, is not old. I have been working on the Speed Of Life project since 2001 when I was 24. I have worked too hard and been burned too many times to give up the high level of integrity I’ve maintained throughout the evolution of this project. If anything I am more determined than ever to promote my ideals through this product, artistically through each songs or inception, and environmentally in its design and presentation. The environment is for me the most pressing issue facing us as people today. The current issues have the potential of uniting us in ways previously impossible and create a new era of evolution in our species. All other problems will be moot if we have substantially ruined the planet that we inhabit. Plus a shared project amongst people leads to cooperation, Our last cd was on recycled paper. From this point forward all of our products will be as environmentally sustainable as possible. Also in the near future I will be hosting our website on a Solar powered server. I have some exciting ideas that I haven’t seen bands do before that I will be presenting as our next album comes to fruition.
In the meantime check out our website – www.speedoflifemusic.com - I’ve done an extensive renovation that includes a photo gallery that extends back to the bands beginnings. Join our mailing list on reverb nation if you haven’t and stay in touch Also be a part of what going on. Check out www.wecansolveit.org and take a strong look at Al Gore’s speech. His pledge to have our country’s electricity running completely on sustainable resources in 10 years is a realistic and necessary goal. It is probably easier technology wise than the moon mission he draws a comparison to. Here I am in SoCal with the sun shining on every rooftop not using it’s free energy. Now I will go back to writing songs!
Track 1 off Catalyst: "Caught Inside"
Lyrics: The title of this song was basically stolen. I met a belly dancer at a flamenco club in NY. I was telling her about an author friend of mine Tom Farber (who I met through Max Track) who wrote a book called “On Water” which I was reading and loving. She in turn told me about this great book “Caught Inside” by Daniel Duane that her friend recently gave her depicting the life of a surfer in Santa Cruz for a year. Very coincidentally Tom Farber was in town. We were talking about his book when I mentioned “Caught Inside” to him. Turns out Tom was Daniel’s writing professor at Berkeley and a bit of a mentor to him as well. Sushi! So I wrote the lyric with Daniel’s book title and the influence of tom’s book all tied into my life.
Most of the lyrics came after coming home from a surf session at Robert Moses beach with my brother Patrick. He was driving and I was scribbling on scrap paper. The literal meaning of being caught inside is when one is paddling through a set that is breaking before them and they have no choice but to eat it. The song is a basic metaphor for being in the trappings of one’s own mind set with a sense of having no way out. It is also a question: do we unconsciously set ourselves up to fall to see if the Universe is watching and wants us to learn something? And after you may have come away from a situation in a better position why do you actually feel like shit? There are a few references to things going on in my life at the time like the post-grief period of a relationship, changes in my band and the uncertainty of where I was headed. I felt jaded and raw, sick of the monotonous stretches in between times of grand events hence the “sets and lulls” reference from Tom’s book.
I actually just started reading “Caught Inside” after finally ordering it from Amazon and was promised to be introduced to Daniel by another friend of mine. As for Tom – I must thank him for letting me steal.
Music: The music started on guitar in a way many of my ideas do, doodling while talking to someone. I was in Florida doing some work with my friend Jack Stein at a studio in Miami. That night I was sleeping on the studio floor; actually a very comfy shag rug. Talking to Jack and friends the music was forming. It was the verse, which of course I had to throw a weird chord into (the 4th one) b/c I get bored with regular chords. The bridge is straight up Filter from Jack and I listening to Almagut at the time. I had a different chorus that Toby wrote but he left the band at the time to have his kid. This was kind of a blessing in disguise b/c the chorus I came up with is one of my favorite chord progressions I’ve written. This was the first song Andrew played on with us and I thought he did a great job – a nice laid back feel and cool ride cymbal work. Taylor as usual found all the odd notes and made them sound great. And the harmonies, gotta have the harmonies!
Most of the lyrics came after coming home from a surf session at Robert Moses beach with my brother Patrick. He was driving and I was scribbling on scrap paper. The literal meaning of being caught inside is when one is paddling through a set that is breaking before them and they have no choice but to eat it. The song is a basic metaphor for being in the trappings of one’s own mind set with a sense of having no way out. It is also a question: do we unconsciously set ourselves up to fall to see if the Universe is watching and wants us to learn something? And after you may have come away from a situation in a better position why do you actually feel like shit? There are a few references to things going on in my life at the time like the post-grief period of a relationship, changes in my band and the uncertainty of where I was headed. I felt jaded and raw, sick of the monotonous stretches in between times of grand events hence the “sets and lulls” reference from Tom’s book.
I actually just started reading “Caught Inside” after finally ordering it from Amazon and was promised to be introduced to Daniel by another friend of mine. As for Tom – I must thank him for letting me steal.
Music: The music started on guitar in a way many of my ideas do, doodling while talking to someone. I was in Florida doing some work with my friend Jack Stein at a studio in Miami. That night I was sleeping on the studio floor; actually a very comfy shag rug. Talking to Jack and friends the music was forming. It was the verse, which of course I had to throw a weird chord into (the 4th one) b/c I get bored with regular chords. The bridge is straight up Filter from Jack and I listening to Almagut at the time. I had a different chorus that Toby wrote but he left the band at the time to have his kid. This was kind of a blessing in disguise b/c the chorus I came up with is one of my favorite chord progressions I’ve written. This was the first song Andrew played on with us and I thought he did a great job – a nice laid back feel and cool ride cymbal work. Taylor as usual found all the odd notes and made them sound great. And the harmonies, gotta have the harmonies!
Free music, Links and News
Hello Everyone
Our new album is finally up on Itunes....Yea. So as a thank you to our fans and the many Myspace users who have become our friends in the last few months we are giving away a mini EP of 4 songs, 2 from each our albums.
I recently put us up on a great music site called Virb. The link provided will bring you to our page where you can download the 4 song EP and check out Virb while you are there. If you have an account with Virb be sure to become our friend.
Free Music Link:
http://www.virb.com/speedoflife
..........And in the news
We are coming back to NYC for a show at Arlene’s Grocery on Thursday July 12th. We are on at 11pm and we want to see all of our New York friends there.
West coasters Stay tuned for our summer tour which will begin in late August through early September!
Our new album is finally up on Itunes....Yea. So as a thank you to our fans and the many Myspace users who have become our friends in the last few months we are giving away a mini EP of 4 songs, 2 from each our albums.
I recently put us up on a great music site called Virb. The link provided will bring you to our page where you can download the 4 song EP and check out Virb while you are there. If you have an account with Virb be sure to become our friend.
Free Music Link:
http://www.virb.com/speedoflife
..........And in the news
We are coming back to NYC for a show at Arlene’s Grocery on Thursday July 12th. We are on at 11pm and we want to see all of our New York friends there.
West coasters Stay tuned for our summer tour which will begin in late August through early September!
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