After debuting with Tic Toc Tic in 2009, Vancouver-based post-modern pop duo The Zolas have played across the country and watched their profile expand. With Ancient Mars, their second full-length dropping TODAY, the band further showcases their poetic lyrics while adding some extra edge by way of reverbed pianos and hard, minimalist beats.

CM caught up with Zach Gray (vocals, guitar) and Tom Dobrzanski (piano) to chat about the record and the band’s other endeavors, like their current cross-Canada tour and working with producer Chuck Brody.

CM: The last time we spoke (CM’s 2010 Home Recording feature), Tic Toc Tic had been out for about a year or so. Considering the span of three years leading up to the release of Ancient Mars, what would you say are the biggest sonic differences between the albums that might surprise those familiar with your debut?

TD: With Ancient Mars we took the same approach as with the first one: put musicians we respect in a room together and see what they come up with.  The differences came with the overall production of it.  Tic Toc Tic was more a throw back record, at least conceptually (The Kinks, cabaret-ragtime, etc.) But this time we wanted to make music that broke a little ground, and so Ancient mars is more forward-looking.  More synths, sampled drums, effected vocals.

CM: If it’s anything tangible, I’d love to know what informed or influenced those sonic shifts or developments.

ZG: I think it was the same thing that influences any band’s sonic shifts: new musical obsessions and general restlessness.

TD:  I just remember how bored Zach was of sounding like a conventional “rock band.” We had a lot of conversations about that. We wanted to make indie rock for people who are sick of indie rock.

CM: I also recall when speaking about Tic Toc Tic that, in addition to the two of you, you’d enlisted the help of some of your friends (Ali from Mother Mother and a few other folks) to lay down some tracks. Who were some of the people involved in the making of Ancient Mars, and why did you choose that route this time around?

ZG: It’s like choosing the cast of The Bachelorette.  Every season is different and every cast will bring different kinds of drama. In this case we got Michael Jordan on drums (Royal Canoe, Liptonians), Johnny Walsh on bass (Dan Mangan, Brasstronaut), and Henry Alcock-White on lead guitar (Henry and the Nightcrawlers).  Honestly these were just our favourite musicians around and the people we liked to most to hang out with.  We wanted MJ so much we flew him from Winnipeg.  But it extends all the way to the whole crew.  Even our assistant engineer, Elisa Pangsaeng, was someone we felt we couldn’t make this record without.

CM: Your bio accurately pinpoints some of the sounds found on Ancient Mars as “lost riffs of mid-90s campus radio.” What about that era/sound is so appealing to you and which artists from the time you hold most dear?

TD: Zach and I had many different influences leading up to this album.  One we both agreed on is a NY band called Ambulance Ltd., that had basically broken up by the time we got into them.  The first track on ancient mars is largely instrumental, and hopefully captures a bit about what we love about that band.

ZG: Tom actually wasn’t really into popular music until he was 14 so the ’90s thing doesn’t offer a lot of nostalgia for him.  When I was a kid my mom used to go into CD stores and say to the clerk: “What’s cool with you people these days” and then just buy me that, sight unseen. So as a kid I loved grunge and post-grunge – Nirvana, Everclear, Tripping Daisy, those kinds of bands.  I’ve never made music that sounds even remotely like that, but this time it was fun to write songs that at least gave me that feeling.

CM: Considering some of his credits, I’d say Chuck Brody was an interesting choice to produce this record. Where would you say his influence is most prominent, and how did the process differ from working with Howard Redekopp the last time around? Taking that a step further, Tom, was there anything about Chuck’s approach to the work that you found particularly intriguing as a producer yourself?

TD: Zach had heard the Bear Hands record wanted to step outside of producers we knew in Vancouver.

ZG: Yeah I heard the bass drop at the beginning of “Crime Pays” while taking the subway and immediately thought, “Whoever produced this, I want to try to get him.” So we sent him some demos and luckily he was into it.  Tom, as a producer himself, likes to take the opportunity to work with and learn from other producers through making Zolas records.

TD: I could sit back and just be a musician if I wanted, or pop up and contribute some technical or creative idea.  It’s nice as an artist to be able to throw out big ideas and have somebody else in charge of trying to figure out how to do it.  Things that were different about this recording:  less focus on getting it all live off the floor.  We used drum samples and created loops using a ’90s Akai MPC sampler that Chuck was used to using from years before when he engineered at Sony in NY.  Way more distortion, and if we want to get technical, liberal use of the Digidesign lo-fi plugin.  The biggest surprise about working with Chuck Brody was his passion for karaoke.  You wouldn’t think it given all the talented singers Chuck has worked with, but he is a massive fan of amateur karaoke.  If we wanted to share a couple beers at the end of a studio day, Chuck would insist we go to a little-known karaoke hot bed in Vancouver called Checkers.  By the end of the recording we all called it Chuckers, and the bartenders all knew him by name.

CM: The album drops on October 2nd; what’s in store for The Zolas for the next, say, 3-6 months after the release date? Anything particularly exciting on the horizon?

ZG:  Heaps of touring here and in new and exciting territories, it looks like.  In the spirit of all the 90’s talk we’re hoping to purchase our first Lamborghini Countaches on the strength of this album.  Most likely I’ll probably be hanging out at Tom’s new studio a lot.  He just built and opened what I think is the sexiest studio in the country (Monarch Studios) and is recording We Are The City there right now.  I’ll be there next month to go for coffee runs and play tambourine.

TD: Honestly what I’m looking forward to is writing the next Zolas album.  Recording this one was great. Why wait three years to do it again, right?

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