ZZ Ward
Over the past few months, ZZ Ward has been on a constant incline of success. Her album continues to gain new fans and her name is becoming more and more popular. Last November, I saw ZZ at World Cafe Live’s Upstairs space and was blown away by her live show. Now, only a few months later, she is co-headlining a tour with Delta Rae and playing the Theater of the Living Arts. The tour has sold out in many cities and the reviews have all been positive.
I saw ZZ play a small showcase at NACA two weeks ago and was reminded just how much I loved her music. Later this week, I will be checking out the show at TLA; but recently, I chatted with ZZ about the tour thus far and what you can expect. Check back for photos and a full review later in the week, but for now take a look at what she has to say!
Arin: How has this tour been so far? You’re playing larger venues than the last round of dates.
ZZ: Yeah, it’s great. Really fun, we’re out here with Delta Rae and we have Martin Harley opening for us. They’re an amazingly talented group and they’re great people, so the tour’s been going really well. We are going to some bigger venues this time, which is really fun, and just more fans are coming out. It’s a really exciting time right now; it’s been a great tour so far.
A: When it comes to a live show, what is your favorite part?
ZZ: Just interacting with the audience is really my favorite part. I mean, we just played a show in Columbus and I’ve never had a crowd that sang so many lyrics — so many words — with me. It was really incredible. I mean I couldn’t even hear myself on ‘Last Love Song’ because they were singing so loud, [laughs] so that’s pretty awesome.
A: Now that the music is gaining more attention, people are really starting to know the lyrics to the songs. Was it weird the first time people started singing lyrics to songs other than the singles?
ZZ: It was weird when I first started [to] tour because we put out an EP and my record wasn’t even out yet and people knew lyrics. That was really crazy and that was like my first introduction to it all.
A: With the music, there has been a lot of cool comparisons you’ve gotten lately and more and more people have been picking up on it. What has been one of the coolest musical comparisons you’ve seen thus far?
ZZ: Well, I just got compared to Rickie Lee Jones in the New York Times, so that’s pretty cool.
A: Social media is huge and I know you’re super on top of it — tweeting, instagramming, and using vine — but which is your favorite?
ZZ: Clearly Vine is; that’s why I got so excited that you said it. [laughs] I’m kind of geeking out over Vine right now because you can basically film the most boring stuff ever and it makes it look cool. I like more of the visual ones, like, Twitter’s cool, but Instagram is really fun because you can post pictures and Vine’s really cool because I can share moments that I’m having on the road. I like social media; it really helps me stay connected with my fans.
A: The album just came out last year, so after this tour what is coming up for you in terms of working on new music and all that?
ZZ: Well, I’ll probably do some writing for sure and we have a lot of festival dates coming up. You never know; things come up all the time that are new. Just putting my first record out has been such a wild ride so far. You can’t really get to used to anything because everything’s always changing. I’m also getting a dog when I get off this tour, so I’m really excited about that.
A: With the festival shows coming up, what are you most looking forward to with those since it’s completely different than a typical venue show.
ZZ: To be honest, I’m looking forward to summer weather and I’m also looking forward to seeing other artists. I mean, I don’t get to see a lot of concerts and I’m really excited to see… There’s so many good acts on these festivals that I can’t wait to check ’em out.
