Zac Greer Releases Debut EP, 'headaches'
ZAC GREER RELEASES DEBUT EP, HEADACHES.
Despite being only eighteen years old, Arizona native Zac Greer is wise beyond his years. His new EP has a focus to it that is often missing from a young artist's first release. I got the chance to speak with Greer, who was very vocal about the time he took to develop his sound. This is part of the creative process that sometimes gets skipped over in the ever so fast moving music industry. His Headaches EP is thoughtful and cohesive, and you can learn more about the project by reading our interview below.
WHEN DID YOU START WRITING SONGS?
I’ve always been really into the idea of making songs. I’ve been writing since I was about ten or eleven, but I didn’t start doing it seriously until I was in high school and one of my friends showed me how to download a program that I could use to make beats. That’s when I started to focus on making tracks and writing full songs over them.
WHAT MADE YOU DECIDE TO RELEASE A LONGER PROJECT?
I released three singles at the end of 2019. My song “glitter” did really well and things started happening really fast. I wasn’t in a place where I had the catalog or the resources to capitalize on it. I felt like my best move would be to take a step back, figure out who I was as an artist and make a lot of music. During that time, I ended up with four songs that I really liked. They related to each other and made sense together. Those four songs ended up being the EP.
WHAT WAS THE FIRST SONG YOU MADE FOR THE EP?
I had two of the songs right away, “stay” and “headaches.” I knew they were good and I wanted to release them, but they didn’t sound like singles to me. Then I wrote “crazy” and “enemies” at around the same time. They were more sticky to me as songs I could push as singles. I put two and two together and realized that the best way to release them would be through an EP.
YOUR SONG “CRAZY” WAS THE SINGLE OFF THE PROJECT AND YOU RECENTLY RELEASED A VIDEO FOR THE TRACK. WHAT WAS THE PROCESS OF MAKING THE VIDEO LIKE?
The guys I made the video with, Overcast, they'd been working with a lot of artists who I’d been really into. I’d been wanting to work with them for a while and magically they reached out to me. My now manager Jay found me through them because he does their artist outreach. So Jay found me, connected me with Overcast, and then started managing me. I was really excited to start working with them. The guy who directs the videos, Danny, is a genius. As soon as we connected, the guys from Overcast and I meshed really well together. They’re from Arizona like I am, so I got to be part of the whole process which was really awesome. The process of making “crazy” was great. We drove out to the desert and shot it in one day. I didn’t get back home until three in the morning. It was really fun.
WHAT WAS IT LIKE TO START GROWING YOUR BRAND AND COLLABORATING WITH OTHER PEOPLE?
Once I had the music and figured out what I wanted to do with it, then I started connecting with Jay and the Overcast guys. They took it from four songs and turned it into a whole project—with videos and a vision. That’s really important because you can be making great music, but if you don’t have people around you that know what they're doing on the non-music side of it, you can only get so far. That was really important and I lucked the hell out in terms of finding a good team.
WAS YOUR WRITING PROCESS FOR THE EP ALSO VERY COLLABORATIVE OR DID YOU WRITE THE SONGS ON YOUR OWN?
It was just me in my bedroom writing the entire thing. My process for writing every song is different. Generally, I’ll have some sort of idea musically—like a melody or a beat—and then I’ll sing over it. I don’t ever sit down and think about what I want to write a song about, but I’ll end up writing songs and they’ll be about stuff that’s going on or things that I’m thinking about subconsciously.
WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE PART OF THE WRITING PROCESS?
My favorite part of making music is when I first get an idea and I know it’s going to turn into a song. For each of these songs, there was a moment where it turned from me messing around into knowing that it could be something. I think the biggest moment I had that happened for the EP was with my song “headaches.” I didn’t play guitar when I made the song, but my roommate did. I took a phone recording of what he was doing on the guitar, put it into my computer, looped it, and wrote the entire foundation of the song— all while my roommate was still in my room. The line “what’s a couple headaches” came to me then. I had this whole idea that the EP could be called headaches and I could do something broader with the concept. I knew that if I made more music and made it relate to the concept that it could become something bigger.
HOW DO YOU TRACE THE THEME OF “HEADACHES” ACROSS THE EP?
I think the word “headaches” is more of a metaphor. When you’re in a relationship with somebody, ninety percent of it is really great and makes you feel good. The other ten percent of it is stuff that you have to work through, like bad nights and headaches. It’s part of the process and it's something you have to work through in order to maintain healthy relationships. I wanted to make the entire project about what's important to me and what kind of relationships I want in the future.
WHAT ARE YOU MOST PROUD OF ABOUT THE RELEASE?
It's really focused. I had a lot of time to step back and figure out what I wanted in terms of my vision for the EP and my career. Going forward, I know who I want to be artistically. I see myself as more of an artist rather than some kid who puts music out on the internet. That’s what I’m most proud of.
WHAT’S THE BIGGEST THING YOU WANT PEOPLE TO TAKE AWAY FROM THE EP?
It’s a really personal project. I made the EP exactly how I wanted to. It’s also really relatable. At some point in everyone’s lives, we all have to figure out how other people relate to us and who is worth keeping around.
HEADACHES BY ZAC GREER IS OUT NOW. YOU CAN LISTEN TO THE SONG ON STREAMING SERVICES LIKE SPOTIFY AND APPLE MUSIC. GO LISTEN AND FOLLOW @zacgreer ON INSTAGRAM TO STAY UPDATED ON UPCOMING PROJECTS. MAKE SURE TO SUBSCRIBE TO TWENTY MINUTES LATER FOR MORE INTERVIEWS LIKE THIS ONE.
