JPG: You were talking about your mom and Twitter. Your career so far is a result of the power of the internet. That’s how you got discovered with YouT+ube. First off, were you really going to leave music behind for a “real job” after you posted that last music video? The way it sounded is that it was meant to be final one that you were going to put up and you were going to turn your back on music?
ZA: Well, you know, YouTube really consumed my life because it is really addictive. At that point of time when I started posting, I never really told anybody I knew about what I was doing at three o’clock in my room, writing songs and posting them up. The one thing that was really addictive was the feedback and the criticism because YouTube is such a public place. And so that kind of ran my life for a little bit. It was a period of time where I was trying to figure out if I wanted to go to school or whether I wanted to have a job or whether I wanted…it was a transition period. I was like, ‘Okay, maybe I should check back into reality and maybe give this a break for a little bit.’ Ironically, the last video that I posted was the one that was discovered by Patrick Keeler (of the Raconteurs). I was actually going to go back to school and study creative writing and philosophy if I could but I guess in a way, subconsciously, I kind of hoped art was my calling. It was a point of time where I was questioning my raison d‘être. Then, I’m like, ‘What am I doing? What am I doing?’ I got the phone call and then it hit me, ‘Maybe this is what I am supposed to do.’ And I’m glad I chose this journey because there is nothing more rewarding than having your passion as a career.
JPG: I hear that. As far as questioning your life, one may do that all the time.
ZA: (laughs) Yeah. I’m a thinker.
JPG: Now you’re on Monotone/Brushfire Records. Do you think it’s better in a way to be on a smaller label, even though Brushfire isn’t such a small indie thanks to the success of Jack Johnson?
ZA: The great thing about being on a smaller label, and this is just from my opinion, just from my observation, is that you have the freedom to grow as an artist. These are the people who put a lot of faith and invested a lot of time in you and believe in you. And it really does feel like a family, more intimate in a sense where everybody trusts everybody and each other’s opinions. You’re able to communicate with the people that matter. If it were up to me, I wouldn’t have it any other way.
JPG: Do you subscribe to the environmentalist aspects of the label?
ZA: Yeah, Borneo is a rainforest island and I gravitate a lot toward nature. I am a nature girl at heart. And I couldn’t ask for better people to work with; people who actually stand for something and actually execute that. You don’t find that very often anymore, at least where I come from. I’ve met some people that are just all talk and no action. When I first got to the recording studio, Brushfire Eco Studio, and all the solar power, I feel so grateful and glad that my first record was in a solar-powered recording studio and you can really tell. If you listen to it, it’s warm in everything from the sound. Brushfire records…Jack’s such an amazing guy in what his sounds are like.
JPG: I’ve heard you described as an “old soul,” that you’re a petite person but you are an “old soul.” Is that irritating to hear or do you think it’s okay because people will take you seriously?
ZA: Sometimes when I look at it, I kind of want it off my bio, but I don’t know if it’s necessary to say so because I would prefer that to be projected through my work. And I would prefer for that to be printed by someone who’s listened to my work and enjoys my work. You know, if it has that dimension, then that’s what dimension people can say. People say a lot of things, but I don’t know what that means. I know for a fact that there’s still a lot to be experienced, life in general. Many aspects to be explored. I don’t know if I would call myself that. But I mean, I don’t know what that means neither. Sometimes I feel like I’m 57. (laughs)
JPG: After you’ve spent some time touring sometimes you’ll feel like you’re 57.
ZA: Yeah, yeah. I know just being on the road, I’ve been doing this for not very long, but I feel as though I’ve learned so much from meeting different people and being in different places and soaking up different energy from different people. And when you finally have time…I know for a fact that, after a tour or something when I’m idle and stagnant and after a busy time when you don’t have time to actually think about things, in retrospect everything hits you like a tidal wave. I guess that’s kind of like a growing process, too. And I like to say, ‘I’m no longer a road puppy, I’m a road dog.’
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