KBPS Interview: We Are Z

We Are Z are an indie-pop band with members from London, Paris and Toulouse who have a new single out called ‘Goldigaz’ on the 30^th September on the same day as a launch party at Cargo in Shoreditch, London.

Here at KBPS we spoke to member and lead singer Gabriel “Gabby” Cazes and began be asking him to describe the new single.

“It’s a song about money and what we do with money, all the thing that comes with the idea of money. It describes the world of finance and drugs and, in a way, all the negative things that can come with it.”

The song takes inspiration from recent events and stories from people they have met in different places. “For example you go and play in Russia and you end up in a club with really rich people that don’t know what to do with all the power they have, and it’s really inspiring to be around people like that!”

With the band’s press release boasting them to be an ideal band for a post-Brexit world, I asked them if they would be flying the flag for Europe.

“Maybe! Why not?” he told us before moving on to talk about the themes of decadence in the song’s video.

“It’s like the film Wolf of Wall Street. I think there’s an idea behind the decadence that comes with the idea of money. Of course we can’t do anything without money so we have to deal with it; it’s the fight between these things.”

Making the video for ‘Goldigaz’ was, according to Gabby ‘crazy’ but fun to make, like a two-day party. “We did a collaboration with two Icelandic directors who came to Paris and we did two days of crazy shooting in some houses and outside Paris, and for the occasion we dressed up as pimps and we put on wigs and make-up and we brought fake Chinese music to throw around.

“[The video] is quite colourful and really extreme and it was really intense, the whole experience.”

Listening to the music of ‘We Are Z’ makes it clear that they have a wide range of influences. “We all come from different places in terms of music. From my side I was raised in France so I listened to a lot of French music like Serge Gainsbourg and then I started to listen to rhythm and blues [at quite a young ago], American bands and roots, black music and then a phase of jazz music, and then I started to listen to some seventies rock and roll!

“I have modern influences too. I really like Damon Albarn and all the different projects he does, but you can always recognise his sound, and I’d love to achieve something like that, being recognisable but with influences.”

‘We Are Z’ are working now on their new album called ‘Z Is Not X’. Gabby gave us an update on the project. “We’ve finished with all the songs and we’re in the mixing process and trying to find the visuals, which I like to work on. It’s like being pregnant, and that the child is going to come in a few weeks and you have to be ready for it, and you want it to be really great. But it’s really exciting. It’s our first album and we think it’s going to be great!”

With the album out at the start of  November, the band are taking part in a 25-date tour with Detroit rockers Electric Six in the same month, which came about through a meeting with the band’s tour manager. “He really liked us and he said if we want to do it it’s hear for us. We said yes, totally. We actually opened for them in Islington last year and it went very well, so we are excited to do this tour.

“It’s going to be the biggest tour we have done so far, so it’s going to be very intense and exciting!”

Describing the band’s live sound as ‘very lively’, Gabby said the live versions make their songs even more dynamic. “We put on a show, with costumes on stage, and we really try to grab the crowd and make people dance. We like to make it happen!

“All the subjects of the songs are quite heavy, observational songs about the human zoo, so we want to party on those heavy subjects. When you come to a show, you’ll be jumping around and seeing us going crazy and throwing fake money at the crowd, and big explosions!”

Looking ahead, the band are keen to continue doing more touring and perhaps festivals next summer and touring Europe. “We’ll be writing songs, meeting the crowds, being inspired, doing great songs and great shows. The live experience is really important to us, and we just want to tour a lot!”