Zen Mother
Meet Zen Mother
Do you like booming bass and repetitive rhythms? How ‘bout music that shakes your fingers, you toes, your brain, and your soul?
Go on then, check out Zen Mother. This experimental noise rock duo creates visceral tracks that will rattle your bones. Through layers of heady texture, there is something meditative to their work — dare I say, zen, even — that allows you to check out of this world and bop on into another.
We called up with this enlightened team to discuss the big questions, and get insight into their creative process, their biggest supporter (shoutout to the moms out there), and the best smell. EVER.
Align your chakras, burn some incense, and give this one a read.
BREAKING WEATHER REPORT A Mad-Lib by, Zen Mother
"We interrupt this DERANGED broadcast to bring you a CAUSTIC news bulletin. Hurricane LA BUEBLA, with gusting GEODUCKS clocked at 66,642,069 miles per hour, is hammering the SURREPTITIOUSLY populated Florida coast. This FLUFFY storm has left EFFUSIVE devastation in its wake. The National GARBAGE Bureau reports that in Miami, windows have been blown out of fifty high-rise SANDALS, showering the streets below with pieces of broken ORIFICES. The howling winds have reduced a newly built LEAKING center to SUCCUBI. Police report a seven-ton PLATYPUS was lifted off its track and sent SKULKING into a three-story pair of LONG UNDERWEAR. Fortunately, there have been no casualties. Nevertheless, the Governor has declared emergency DISSONANCE and advised all MEMES to seek safety in an IMPOSSIBLE WHOPPER shelter. Back to you DOOFUS.”
Would You Rather
have control over all the fish in the world or all the trees? What would you do with your new powers?
M & W: Trees… provide more health
Some Questions with Zen Mother
What is one thing you would want to change about the music industry?
W: I'd hope to transition the lens away from marketing and back on to quality, but also to figure out how to monetize the music through more effective means, a la block chain crypto-currency. If there was a non-invasive way to charge people through mining every time they streamed something, I think we'd all be happier; the listener would enjoy the experience without getting out their wallet, and the creator could be properly compensated for it.
M: I'd like everyone to stop constructing their virtual identity and focus on their non-framed, un-edited life. I think music would sound better
Your 2019 release is a fantastic collection inspired by Jodorowsky’s “The Holy Mountain”. Is there any director you would want to work with on an upcoming film?
M: Ari Aster or Panos Cosmatos
What is your ideal recording environment?
W: Complete and utter silence
M: Maybe some haunted vibes, completely alone...maybe a ghost there....maybe a ghost dog...not evil.... all the gear already patched through..808...PPG wave.....variophone....some gongs...outside is a green forest
What is the creative process like between the two of you?
M: It is very mixed. There are songs where Wolcott was out of town, so I wrote most of the content and he would come and arrange and make all my basic conceptions of the track stand on its head. Making it special. Then there are songs where Wolcotts written all the harmonies which is the basis of the song. Sometimes we start playing at the same time with no intention of doing that, and whatever happened is great. The process is pretty non-linear and follows no guidelines
W: Wrought with love and terror
What was the subject of the first song you ever wrote?
M: It was about symmetry I think.. being perfectly one... some gnostic shit…
W: It was about the two sides of perfection. We started by tuning both of our guitars to perfect 4ths and then came up with a game for Monika to ascend chromatically, While I descend. So we tried it, and with the very first run through it sound so beautiful that we quickly retraced our steps and wrote it down. We noticed that we both meet halfway on the fret-board, and initially, I thought that was "perfection," but now I think it's the way in which we chose to get there is where the real magic lies.
Who is your biggest supporter throughout your musical career?
M: our friend Natasha El Sergany (band: some surprises) and our friend Randall Dunn. Also Sherri Smith (Wolcott's mom)
W: Definitely my mom
Who are your favorite bands active in NYC right now?
M: The duo Destructo Swarmbots is amazing. Also, I love The Austerity Program and Dälek. We just moved here, so I'm not really sure yet about the local scene. The last time we played in NYC was at Baby’s All Right in May with local group KALPA TRIO (Randall Dunn, Angel Deradoorian, Greg Fox). It was great--they just recorded but not sure they are super active.
W: PC Worship, The Dreebs, Philip Glass
What is the best smelling thing ever?
M: I think weed smells good
W: When you put two hands on a cup of coffee and close your eyes while wearing a cozy sweater
What is your favorite fast-food chain?
M: I can't say that I have one. It's all really bad and good at the same time.
What is your go-to Karaoke song? Why?
M: If it's there, Under Your Thumb by 10cc (cause the chorus is bangin)
W: Allison by Elvis Costello because it’s the great leveler and makes everyone sound like a bad singer, especially me.
What message do you want people to take away from your music?
M: No messages. I don’t believe messages you can put into words can be communicated through music. Though I'm not tied to that belief.
Any final comments? (This is your electronic soapbox for one last answer.)
M: I'm not sure when this blog will come out, but we are playing November 21 at The Brooklyn Bowl with our good buddy Skerik (saxophone landlord) and his buds Stanton Moore, Scott Metzger, Robert Walter, and Andy Hess!