"I honestly dream as big as I can, because why not? If I don’t follow my heart and soul for these projects, then what am I doing it for?"
Prolific multi-instrumentalist Giack Bazz gets into it with TheNeverPress on his output, the ever-changing industry and his upcoming album 'Bedtime Stories for Computers'.
Dude, great to see you - let's dive in with the most obvious of questions. Your magical musical journey. Can you fill us in?
My father encouraged me to take guitar lessons when I was 6 years old and, believe it or not, I didn’t like it at first. But I persevered and it eventually grew on me. Then, as a teenager, I started writing my first songs and it all degenerated from there. How I got here, I have no clue!
Who are you influenced by musically and non-musically?
Musically my pantheon gathers artists like Jack White, Conor Oberst, Thom Yorke, Joshua Tillman, Paul McCartney, Duke Ellington.
Non-musically the art that inspire me the most is from Damien Hirst, Wes Anderson, and Jack Kerouac. I’ve been reading the original scroll of 'On The Road' religiously since 2012, sometimes I open it and read a few pages, it has become a part of me and I don’t feel like finishing it.
Your new record, 'Bedtime Stories for Computers', drops on (15/11/2024) can you talk to us about its creation?
This is my fifth studio album and the closing of a trilogy. In September 2022 I only had some half-finished ideas and my live band had just split up. My private life was also in shambles: my fiancée and I decided to part ways and it would have been so easy to give in and move out of the city. Too easy. So Instead of cancelling the studio booking I had made for December I called all my friends and started working on new material.
The writing process was very interesting and while I have reprised themes and hidden references to the other albums in the harmonies, I’ve also tackled songwriting from sequencers and synths, while also challenging myself to orchestrate for the first time. So all in all, a very interesting creative process, I’ll be forever grateful to the incredibly talented musicians that made this possible.
When you write songs that are borne from an emotional moment, or experience – how do you recapture that essence when you sing it live?
I like to talk a lot on stage in-between songs, so the presentation of the tune most of the times eases me into a mental state that recalls the emotions of the composition.
Do you think that essence becomes more diluted over time, as you move away from the event (say heartbreak) and you’re singing the same song…or do you retain the emotional truth?
It’s true that songs evolve through time, our emotions change and we may play a song that might have meant something on the surface, but with time we reassess our feelings and it slowly becomes something different. That’s why we care so much about the recording of a song: It is a still of how the song sounds in a certain moment in time. I myself often times have changed lyrics to love songs after a breakup, or breakup songs after time has sutured. But the picture of the song persists in the recording.
You’ve constantly changed the way you write and record, from the methods in the studio, to the instruments you play and the musicians you play with – is each record a reaction from the last, or is it focused on something new in service of the concept?
I’d say definitely the concept takes the wheel, but in a project like this where concepts, themes, and harmonies often span across multiple albums; it is undeniable that the past affects the present and future instances of songs. I like to let everyone in the band have a say about the composition and live renditions of the albums. Looking back at the start of this project, I was composing and recording each instrument on my own, then through the years it snowballed into the supergroup we had in the studio, with members of Peter Piper, ZiqqurHat, Oaks for Rent, and Orchestra Filarmonica di Bologna. Of course the feeling is the same, but more talents at work on one album definitely made for a more polished result. I still honour the past and I stand by it with every release that piles up: it’s amazing to listen back to the old arrangements and bring them to life so many years down the line.
When you write a record, do you start from scratch – or do you dig through the archives for bits and pieces. Demos, unfinished motifs etc and see if you can rework old ideas?
I’d say 'Bedtime Stories for Computers' is a mix of both. It’s an album I’ve toiled away for almost 4 years, so there was a lot of retrospection during composition. Two songs were written four years ago and I’ve been saving them for this release, other were conceived in very recent times. I should probably mention that the album was recorded over two winters, so there was time for us to change the sound and split it in two but we decided to carry on with the same producer, studio, and mastering engineer to create this double LP.
The industry has changed so much – especially with streaming and how you can reach audiences for good and bad. What are your thoughts on streaming services for fans and for artists?
There is a duality in the technology-enabled progress the industry has seen in recent times: on one side we have the commodity of streaming and the possibility to reach fans in a way we could have only dreamed of in the pre-streaming era; releasing a single nowadays brings back your whole catalog to the top because fans want more (and most of the times they get it). On the other hand, the streaming industry prevents the user from connecting directly to the artists, and one would think we’d have the facilities by now. The reality of the matter is that streaming platforms thrive in the unspoken, in the grey areas: if the average fan knew that their subscription monies won’t go exclusively towards the royalty payout of the artist they’re obsessed with, I’m sure streets would swarm with protesters. The truth is that their system of choice (the “pro-rata”) favours major labels and A-list artists, meaning whatever top-selling artist released a new single adjacent to an indie release will inevitably get a share of the listener’s subscription, regardless if the user actually listened to it. I’m sure it’s an unsustainable bubble which is very close to bursting.
Which leads to your 366-song lockdown record – you gotta get into that one for us!
It’s surreal for me to talk about it now. That time has played out its game on us all. “Impression A.I.” is a monumental release that I decided to create even before lockdown. I was studying songwriting and my partner at the time was studying music production, so naturally when we learned about the Guinness world record for the digital album with most songs being of 100 songs, we had to give it a try. By the time we made it to 111 written and produced songs, the band that held the title had already released a 200-song album. We then decided to go for 366 and had two friends tagged along on bass and drums; we became The Royalty Instrumentality Project.
The purpose of the album was to lead a practical protest against streaming services: If they only paid after 31 seconds of audio, two can play that game. Most of the songs are less than 1-minute long while still having a beginning, a middle, and an end; exploring uncharted genres and bending the existing ones to create an odyssey of over 6 hours of music.
We released it in November 2020 through an alternate reality game (which was frighteningly close to reality) with a series of mysterious YouTube ads for an AI device (in reality a painted kitchen scale) that claimed to generate AI music based on your musical taste and was completely funded by musician royalties. The concept of the launch was to warn the user that if no action is taken, the music of the future would be computer-generated and the human artists will be the ones to pay the price. Now four years later, we’re dwelling in the uncanny valley: music is indeed generated by AI, our home devices play this inhuman music for free, and in the end the real art is lost in a sea of sound waves. Yet, we persevere, because there will always be a desire to listen to human-made music.
You book your own shows, and oftentimes in interesting places – we saw you perform at a skatepark – and you curate the support acts and the evening itself. How did this come about?
When I moved to London I had already released two albums so I tried to get into the live scene right away. I’ve been approached by some scammy promoters and bookers who were only interested in seeing ticket sales, and being at the start of my career in a new country, I did follow suit for a while. However, I’ve always wanted to give more to the friends and fans that come to our shows, which was impossible operating at a loss through their services. Most promoters would put us into situations where the lineup genres were all over the place, broken backline amps, stages made of literally two pallets. I’ve seen it all. So this year I started booking my own gigs, curating the lineup with artists that share a genre. Don’t get me wrong, I’m barely breaking even, but the events are successful and at least I can put my name and face on it, because I believe in all the acts that join us in celebrating live music. Plus there’s always a limited edition merch freebie for the first few to arrive, so there’s an incentive to come and enjoy the openers.
Do you think this approach is viable to everyone – is this the way it should be done?
Well, if the music scene keeps settling for less then the only way forward is to create a counter-scene. I do recommend it to fellow artists because it is so much more rewarding than just doing selfless gigs one after the other. Of course it comes with its risks and it’s not easy, but I wouldn’t go back to the way it was. Quality over quantity.
In your live shows, you always seem to top the last you did. In one show, in a tiny room, you managed to squeeze in a brass section and lead them out of the room through the bar in a parade. It was wild – how do these ideas come to you, and how do you figure out if it can…and should... be done?
I honestly dream as big as I can, because why not? That gig you mentioned, we were shooting a music video for the closing song of the night and I’ve always loved the feeling of breaking the fourth wall. So I told the director to keep rolling and gave instructions to the band. In the end I think it played out great! If I don’t follow my heart and soul for these projects, then what am I doing it for?
So, the record is released – what’s the next step?
During the time in the studio we actually recorded more material than we put in the album. We managed to record a live session and an EP of covers that will likely be released during 2025. We’re organising a small tour to launch the album in Europe, hopefully for the beginning of March, watch this space!
And after that, where is the Giack Bazz experience gonna go?
The trilogy is closed but there’s still a lot to say so I guess I’ll release everything we have recorded so far and move on to something new. I’ve got a couple of albums I’ve been sitting on for way too long, and of course I’m already writing something new, which will soon call for another studio gathering.
What advice would you give to people at the start of their journey – especially towards getting out there and playing live?
Don’t settle for quantity, chase the quality even if it means waiting for the right time. And most keep going, perseverance is the highest value when it comes to art; build it and they will come. Keep building until you pierce the horizon, then it will be more work to ignore you than to acknowledge your creations.
And there we have it! What a dude, what a musician - art just pouring out of our man Giack. The album drops on 15th November and there is a gig on the 16th at the Sherriff Centre, West Hampstead hit the button to get your tickets and enjoy the show! We will see you there!