Read the Zach Spiezer Interview below and share it on social media.
Please tell our readers who you are and what you do?
I am the owner of ChaiFi Studios, a recording studio that serves as a vehicle for all my creative endeavors. This includes events and post production sound but has also been the home base for a very interesting music project called O.M.N.I. This is a musical collaboration of many artists with it's core members being myself, Noah Peterson and Ben Hicock. I produce, write, arrange and mix the music. The sound is a blend of Reggae, Electro Dub and Funk. We currently have 3 albums, the most recent release being on January 17th 2018. I am most excited about this recent addition, because it greatly expands our family of musicianship and also is pretty huge with a staggering 20 songs on an album over an hour long.
How would you describe your influences and how have they changed over the years?
I am currently influenced a lot from the dub and "version" development that came out of the late 60's and early 70's Jamaican Reggae scene. The process for me began when I found my parents old records in my early teens and started to get into DJing. At that time I was listening to a lot of early 90's Hip hop and punk. I started building my sound system and salvaging old gear. Not too long after that, around the mid to late 90's there was a DJ boom. Turntablists hit mainstream and I grew with the movement, honing my skills at Hip hop DJing. The late 90's and early 2000's showed unprecedented growth and complexity of computer software. Always having been a gamer from an early age, my interest in games and computing took me into the world of music writing software. I became a beat maker and experimented with many styles and enjoyed the challenge of achieving a "good" mix. I began to open up my ear to historical recordings and international music and it was then in the early 2000's that I discovered my love for Reggae. The Dub producers and engineers had such a unique touch and a timeless, trippy sound. I took to it right away and saw the direct lineage from Reggae to modern Hip hop. I became fascinated with how I would go about making my own "Raggamuffin". This is the marriage between electronic music and Reggae that has cropped up in such notable acts such as Massive Attack and lesser known early 90's Jungle/Reggae mash-ups called "Ragga Jungle". It has been about 25 years now since I began my path with music on my terms. About 15 years ago I started on my practice of creating Reggae and Dub. My band, O.M.N.I. turns 4 this in February, 2018. One of, if not the most influential of my musical mentors, Noah Peterson and I sat down in February 2014. With his guidance, we started in earnest what has become my most authentically original version of Raggamuffin that I have ever attempted. The project continues to grow and absorb new people, who have brought new ideas and styles into the studio as we record and create. I am honored and humbled to be inspired and inspire my co-creators in real time.
What´s new right now?
The newest addition of O.M.N.I., "Laniru and Andar" was digitally released on January 17th 2018 and features tracks with Timothy James Allen and Kevin Raczka of the amazing band Antibalas as well as international star Pia Paez singing with an enthusiastic pop prowess. Taking a more traditional Reggae approach in this album and being a little less overtly Electro, I have tried to see how I could expand the sound into an even more organic place while still engaging in electronic sampling and recording technique. This album was a year in the making and has seen so much personal growth and growth in the band as a whole. I am excited for the feedback and for people to really enjoy the fruits of our labor. The band continues to grow and thrive and a fourth album is already in the works with an even more full sound and variety of players and singers.
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Are you a superfan of anyone? How did you become a superfan? Do you remember how you become a fan and what turned you into super fan? Have you ever thought about why you´re such a fan?
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What was the biggest mistake you made when you started making music and what would be the number one tip you could give to a newcomer musician?
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How do you get gigs? Can you share any tips?
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Do you have good promotion tips for other musicians?
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Do you have insights on how to grow your audience on soundcloud that you want to share with our audience?
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What has been your biggest challenge right now? Have you been able to overcome that challenge? If so, how?
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How do you personally discover new music?
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Once you discovered new music, do you tell others about the new music/artist you discovered? If yes, how exactly?
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What is your number one tip to improve your music production or songwriting skills?
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What is your best tip for those who struggle with finishing their tracks?
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We meet again in one year. What has changed?
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http://www.zachlevispiezer.facebook.com/
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Enter your questions to the artist in the facebook comment section below.
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