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When independent artist Zee Machine and I hop on Zoom for our interview, he’s surprised to see his government name – (I’d tell you but I’d have to kill you) – displayed atop the screen, and he doesn’t hesitate to let me know, chuckling. He’s understanding – nay, supportive – when I tell him we have to switch to a phone call, technical difficulties with my computer. As we chat about his career, he seems light, kind, forthcoming, cool. Perhaps it’s because he’s seeing things differently these days – a deeper sense of self-knowing. Or maybe it’s because he’s fresh off a successful tour and the release of a tightly-arranged EP. Maybe it’s his decade-plus of industry experience or the dissolution (and subsequent resolve) of his dysfunctional relationship. Maybe it’s Maybelline. We don’t yet know Zee Machine, but we want to…
SPIN: Describe your sound…
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ZM: Fresh yet classic. It’s like music from the ‘80s, but the 2080s!
SPIN: Which artists would appear on a playlist with you? What would that playlist be called?
ZM: It’s kind of interesting how the artists I feel like I pull inspiration from aren’t often the artists people compare me to. Sonically I think I’d fit in nicely on a playlist with artists like MUNA, Tears For Fears, The 1975, MJ, Eurythmics, Peter Gabriel, maybe some Queen… but people keep telling me I sound like Powerline from A Goofy Movie. And honestly? I’m not mad at it. “i2i” is iconic. I think I’d just call the playlist “Serotonin”.
SPIN: What’s the most exciting thing happening in music right now?
ZM: I like that big loud pop is coming back! Trends are cyclical and “recession pop” is making a comeback. Maybe this is kind of informed by the fact that I turned 21 and started going out to bars and clubs when the loud EDM pop era was THE sound of the radio, but just speaking personally I was getting a little tired of pop music feeling so apathetic. Sure there;s always a time and place for it, but I haven’t been excited by a group of songs in the top 10 of the Hot 100 the way I have been since “Only Girl In The World” was up there, you know?
SPIN: Why do you remain an independent artist? What makes this possible?
ZM: Haha there are so many ways I could answer this. I think the simplest reason is just… the freedom. I can literally do whatever I want. Sure, I have to be more strategic now that my audience has grown. But the horror stories I hear about label experiences. I don’t have every choice being workshopped and focused grouped and scrutinized. Everything I’ve done thus far has been authentic and exactly what I wanted at the time and it’s what has gotten me this far. There’s always the issue of money and funding, and sure that would definitely help things along. But in some ways I feel like not having a label’s budget behind me has been a blessing in disguise. Mentally I dont know that I could handle moving faster than I am right now. Being able to grow step by baby step has allowed me to shift into different phases of my career really comfortably. Also, it’s nice not owing any money that I need to recoup. I don’t regret any of the investments I’ve made in myself because I literally see them paying off. (…Sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly.)
SPIN: Would you rather have the ability to talk to animals or talk to the dead? Why?
ZM: Honestly, talk to animals. Which is weird because I don’t really want a pet, but lately my TikTok feed has been a lot of funny dog and cat videos, so I’m like “what is going through their head?” Like, do they know what we’re doing and saying, do they even like us? I’m just so fascinated to know what they see and think and feel. I’d be kind of scared to find out [laughs].
SPIN: What’s something your current and future fans should know about you?
ZM: I want to come to everyone’s city – I want to go everywhere – but the thing is: I look at my Spotify stats and I look at the city’s where people are streaming my music most, and some of your cities aren’t on there. I want to please everyone, but sometimes the demand just isn’t there. On the tour I just went on, we based our stops on where we had the most listeners. We self-funded the whole tour and it was expensive. So we have to make sure everything makes sense.
SPIN: Why do you remain an independent artist? What makes this possible?
ZM: Haha there are so many ways I could answer this. I think the simplest reason is just…the freedom. I can literally do whatever I want. Sure, I have to be more strategic now that my audience has grown. But the horror stories I hear about label experiences. I don’t have every choice being workshopped and focus-grouped and scrutinized. Everything I’ve done thus far has been authentic and exactly what I wanted at the time and it’s what has gotten me this far. There’s always the issue of money and funding, and sure that would definitely help things along. But in some ways I feel like not having a label’s budget behind me has been a blessing in disguise. Mentally I dont know that I could handle moving faster than I am right now. Being able to grow step by baby step has allowed me to shift into different phases of my career really comfortably. Also, it’s nice not owing any money that I need to recoup. I don’t regret any of the investments I’ve made in myself because I literally see them paying off. (…Sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly.)
SPIN: Let’s talk about Can I Be Honest…? – Why make a new album?
ZM: I think I finally had enough to say. This whole artist project as I view it presently started at the end of 2017, beginning of 2018, with an EP. I didn’t really have any fans, I just wanted to get the music out there. And then it was just a string of singles, like, I had this thing to say so I wrote a song about it, I had that thing to say so I wrote a song about. And that’s kind of what kick-started my career and helped me build an audience.
But then I got to a point where I was going through a very traumatic breakup of a dysfunctional relationship/situationship. It was all-consuming and all I could think about. It was all that was inspiring me. Unfortunately, I’m most inspired in my life when I’m the saddest. There was just too much to say about it to put into one song. So every song on this album is a different phase I was going through in the break up process. I started writing a couple of them before the break up, but even those were about the trials and tribulations of trying to keep it together.
I went through my manic-depressive phase. My fuck everything that moves phase. My self-deprecating phase. Ambivalent. Pissed off. Bittersweet. At peace.
SPIN: Favorite track on the album? Hardest one to write/record?
ZM: I do like them all, of course, because if I didn’t they wouldn’t have made it on the album. But if I had to pick one, it’s probably “I’m in Love (With Everyone)” just because it’s having a moment right now. It went through a lot of versions before it became what it is. Initially, it just wasn’t working and I hated that because I loved the beat and synth line so much. Sometimes you love what a song could be but it just doesn’t work. I don’t really know why it is, but I’ll just feel it in my heart that it’s not meant to be and I gotta let it go. And I almost did that with this one, but I believed in it so much that I instead went back and changed the chords around, completely changed the melody, and implemented a smack-in-the-face acapella thing.
“Worse” has the longest gestation period, only because I started writing that one in the beginning of 2023 and the producer I was working with ended up moving to Mexico City from LA. I was like “Bitch, what the fuck?” [laughs], because I’d been working with him for four years and I hadn’t really cultivated a bond with any other producer. So we ended up recording most of “Worse” remotely via Zoom. I actually wanted to drop “Worse” after “The Radio” but the vocals I recorded in LA just didn’t sound right. So instead of rushing it and putting out a half-baked thing I didn’t believe in, I took a break and made a trip to Mexico city in January to cut the vocals properly.
SPIN: What’s your songwriting process look like?
ZM: It varies from song to song. The inspiration comes in really strong bursts. I’ll get really inspired and write, like, four songs and then I’ll take a month off. And then I’ll come back and finish a song and take two weeks off. Usually I’ll just be listening to a bunch of new music and living life so I can have new, different experiences to write about. This way I’m not just recycling old shit or pulling from inspirations that aren’t really genuine.
SPIN: What’s next? Ultimate goal?
ZM: Next, I’m playing an EP release show at The Peppermint Club in LA on August 17.
My ultimate goal has changed so much since I’ve started this, both because I’ve learned more about myself and what I can handle and because I’m being more realistic. I want to try out different sounds, I want to expand my fanbase within those sounds, I want to do other things with my music: I’d love to score a movie, sing with an orchestra, do something on stage like a musical.
And I want to sell out The Greek. But I don’t want to get any bigger than that [laughs].
To see our running list of the top 100 greatest rock stars of all time, click here.
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