the AU interview: Ali Tabatabaee of Zebrahead (California)

About to hit Australia are Californian band Zebrahead. They’re playing Soundwave Revolution this September. Larry Heath caught up with lead singer Ali Tabatabaee to chat about their new record, touring Australia for the first time, the nature of the radio business, Dave Grohl and more!

Are you at home at the moment?

I am at home at the moment, yes.

You’re having a break, you’re about to go on a massive tour around Europe by the looks of it.

Yeah, yeah. We leave on the 27th here to [I think] our first shows are in Germany, so we’re pretty excited about that.

And it looks like it’s just in time for the new album release.

[Laughs] We always plan it that way somehow, you know.

You’ll be celebrating it around Europe.

Yeah, definitely. We try to celebrate everywhere we go.

Let’s start off talking about the new album. You’ve been working on it for quite a while, I understand.

Yeah, man. It’s been… uh, I mean, we always try to write while we’re on the road but there’s so many distractions, so usually if we come up with an idea it will be a part of a guitar riff, or a vocal idea, but we tend not to write so well just because there’s so many things going on when you’re touring. So we do most of our writing when we get home and for this album we actually built the studio.

It’s the first time we’ve ever recorded in our own studio so it was kind of cool because nobody’s telling us like, ‘Hey, you’ve got to get out of here in a month’ and we just stayed there as long as we wanted to and got there when we wanted to. So it was a really cool experience and I think it helped the learning process for us for this album, so it didn’t feel it was long as it gets just because it was more relaxed.

Although you did it in your own studio, you had quite a team behind it.

Definitely. Definitely, yes.

Let’s talk about working with Jason Freese. He’s got quite the list behind him and you’ve worked with him before, of course.

Yes, we have. Jason is an excellent musician and producer but, you know, he is such a dick! [Laughs] I’m just playing. No, we’re good friends with Jason. We’ve known him for years now and it was really cool because as sound as this guy is, it was really cool – just sitting around with your friends playing music and he’d give us some ideas and he was always spot on. So it was really cool working with Jason. He’s an awesome dude.

And there have already been a few music videos that have been released. I understand that there were two different videos released for “Get Nice”.

Yeah. We also have one for another song called “Ricky Bobby” and then we had two different versions of “Get Nice”. One has more of the 70s feel to it, like a 60s/70s feel to it with the way they colour corrected it and put some special effects in it. The other version is more of… it was filmed now but it had a retro feel to it. Do you know what I’m saying?

Gotcha. Which do you prefer?

[Laughs] I prefer the one that was colour corrected and looks like it was filmed back in the late 60s, early 70s. I think that one’s cooler [for me] but, you know, everybody has their own opinion and that’s cool.

You, of course, have had quite a lot of music videos over the years. Do you have a favourite out of all of them?

Oh, man! Just because we got to go to the Playboy Mansion for “Playmate of the Year, that was the best one, because to be there and be hanging out there for as long as we did, that is something I don’t think I’ll forget anytime soon.

I do remember seeing that clip. It was a lot of fun.

You remember, right?

Yeah.

It’s hard to forget. [Laughs]

It sure is. And of course, we have to talk about the fact that you’re coming down to Australia for the first time! What took you guys so long?

I don’t know. We were waiting for an invitation – never came. So I checked in the mail… nothing. And finally, finally, we got an invitation so we are so stoked to be coming to Australia. We’ve been wanting to do this ever since we started the band, so we’re really excited.

Will you be playing as the five-piece or will there be other touring musicians with you?

I think it’s just going to be the five-piece. Jason [Freese] sometimes comes out with us too and has already done it a few times. But I think he’s starting to tour with Green Day, or working with them, so he’s going to be busy. So you guys are just stuck with the five of us, man.

It’s how we like it. We want to see you guys.

Right on. We’re really stoked. We’re really excited to come.

You’ve got nine albums to choose from. How do you guys put together your setlist every night?

Usually what we do is we put a bottle of Jack [Daniels] on the table and whoever takes it off pours a shot and then we just start punching each other as hard as we can and the person that is still standing after that gets to pick the setlist.

I hope that’s true. I like it!

[Laughs] Unfortunately, it is true.

It sounds like you guys have such fun on the road and you’ve been doing it for a long time now. It must be exciting after all this time to be coming to a genuinely new place to tour.

Yeah, definitely. Definitely. I’m telling you, every time, every album cycle, we’re like ‘Are we going to Australia this time?’ ‘Nope’ ‘Are we going to Australia this time?’ ‘Nope’. And now finally this time it’s happening, so I may prematurely ejaculate on the way there.

It’s a long flight. You’ll have plenty of time to do it.

Maybe three or four times.

[Laughs] Let’s talk a bit more about Get Nice because I think everyone’s very excited about it. What do you feel like we can expect from the album?

Well, for Get Nice, we actually wrote the songs for the album and for Panty Raid (our last record) we did the covers thing, so that’s different. And also, for the videos for this album, we’ll be dressed in drag. That’s different too. Let me see what else… no, the main difference from this album [that we’ve had] is that we had our own studio this time and we were literally there every day – as long as we wanted to and there was no pressure. So it was more jamming and hanging out with friends. Hey do you feel like writing some songs? Let’s go get some beers and kick it!

There was very little pressure and I think it comes through on the album. I’m really happy with the album. I’m really excited to see how other people feel about it but I think we just experiment more with keyboards and stuff and that has a lot to do with Jason because he’s pretty freaky, he’s all about that and we tried to do some changes in rhythms and tried to combine a slower chord with a fast turnaround verse. It was kind of a clusterfuck at the beginning, but as we started molding it, it turned into something that I think we’re all really proud of.

When you’re on the road, with all these tours that you get to do, you get the opportunity to meet many cool people… the sorts of people that you got into this business to meet! Have you had a highlight on that side of things?

Yeah dude. We were playing this festival, and I saw Dave Grohl walking around. And I’m a huge Nirvana and Foo Fighters fan. And usually I don’t get too nervous, but I was just like “OK, I gotta go up and say something”. So I walked up to him and said: “excuse me, sir, Mr. Grohl?” and he turned around and looked at me like I was crazy. He’s like “yeah dude?” And I’m like “is it cool if I take a picture with you?” and he went “sure!” and grabbed me and put his arm around me and we took the picture.

I sent it to every single one of my friends and I said “here’s my new best friend!” It was the coolest moment for me I think. And he was just the nicest guy! He wanted to make conversation but I was so nervous that I kept fucking up what I wanted to say, so he must have just thought I was some crazy fan. It went pretty wrong for me… but I got to meet him!

Their album Get Nice! is released this Friday 5th August via 3Wise Records!

Transcription assistance by Christine Khalil.

Larry Heath

Founding Editor and Publisher of the AU review. Currently based in Toronto, Canada. You can follow him on Twitter @larry_heath or on Instagram @larryheath.