photo credit Samuel Orrego
Zero Trust, the new New York-based group featuring members of Coheed and Cambria, Bulldoze, Full Scale Riot, Agents of Man, Skarhead, and more, has released their self-titled EP on March 24th via Equal Vision Records (order here). The group formed as a creative outlet during the early stages of quarantine. We asked them to list five things they learned recording the EP during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
BJ Allen (Vocals): I learned how to develop a song without the energy of the band to feed off of. As hard as it was at first, sending songs back and forth with each other gave me more time to reflect on what direction to go with a theme or melody.
Zack Thorne (Guitar): This pandemic literally forced me to dive in and learn garage band. I got a focusrite, my Mac and it was much easier than I thought lol. I’ve always jammed in a room to formulate an idea, but now I was laying down riffs to a click, sending to Evan and by night time I’d have plenty of beats to choose from. Then Mike or Travis would drop in another idea. It was different, but I felt a good way for everyone to get their ideas out. I also was reminded of how much a medicine music is for me in my darkest times.
Evan Rossiter (Drums): Due to lockdown there was no lack of time to try ideas and be creative. Learning how to balance that creative side without overthinking the raw feel we have when playing together was the challenge. Felt so blessed to have Barrel Hannah studios during the pandemic to explore.
Mike Melewski (Guitar): It never occurred to me before how much of a social experience creating music is. During the pandemic, with a lot of remote collaboration, the feedback from everyone for small changes was coming in via email and texts. Hearing a song change and get better in slow motion was a great experience.
Travis Stever (Bass, Backing Vocals): I learned that my drive to create and collaborate is constant and endless. The pandemic was a perfect excuse for many people to do nothing. All I wanted to do was make more and more music.
