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| Photo Credit: Xaime Cortizo (https://www.instagram.com/ |
KA: Hey Zia! Thanks for joining me! You have a lot going on, so I appreciate the time for a small chat.
KA: So where to begin with you, my dear... a new Dandy Warhol's album "Distortland", a Us/Canada tour , and now you are touring Europe?
ZM: Yep, we’re out here keeping busy on the road promoting the fuck out of our new album.
KA: You also DJ and are in a country band, Brush Praire. How do you make time for all your projects?
ZM: Brush Prairie has really suffered lately. Luckily (or maybe unlucky) all the member of BP have other projects and families to keep them busy.
It was always meant to do in my down time and well, I don’t have any down time lately. So I’ll have to come back to that once promo for Distorland settles down.
DJ’ing goes along with tour, as in I do all the after parties so the ball continues to roll with that. Enough so, that I’ve been able to tour as DJ Rescue when time permits...
KA: You are a mother, too! How does that fit in the equation? Are you a hands on mom?
ZM: My ex and I share Tildy Time 50/50 which means during extra busy times like this, I’m basically a single mom when I’m home.
It can get really tricky juggling it all but it’s important to me that I am with Matilda as much as possible. They grow up so fast!
KA: Your birth name was Aimee Springer, what inspired the name Zia Mccabe?
ZM: Actually it was Amy Springer and I changed the spelling when changing my name entirely proved too difficult. There where at least three Amy’s in every class. It drove me nut being Amy S. or Brown Eyed Amy or Amy 1. I wanted my own name! I didn’t want to share.
So as soon as I started college I decided it was my once chance to find a new name. It took a couple weeks of going around school with no name. Finally a classmate suggested Zia to me and I knew it was my name instantly. McCabe is my mother’s maiden name. I just like that name better.
KA: I feel you. I was "Kim H" in a class of Kim, Kimiya, and Kimberly in 2nd grade!
KA: You have been in a very male dominated band since the mid nineties. What is touring like when you are dealing with very girly feelings or issues, I.E cramps, sensitivities, or even being pregnant back in the day?
ZM: I’m pretty open about all that stuff so I guess it was more about them dealing with me. I got knocked up a couple times, that was quite inconvenient while touring. Who wants to get an abortion while their in NYC? Not my idea of fun at all. But shit happens. I’m only recently really comfortable and thriving in my relationships with women. I get guys, they get me. It’s always been pretty easy.
KA: I won't even bother with the abortion question...
KA: Has there ever been any more-than -friend experiences with you and the boys in the past?
ZM: Peter (holmström) and I dated the first year I was in the band. Then we bickered for the second year and barely spoke the third. Or something like that. Now I’d consider him my best friend in the band.
KA: He's lovely, I had a chance to speak with him as well.
KA: I think it was you who posted that you guys were the last band to open for David Bowie. What kind of feeling does that give you, and what was opening for him like for you?
ZM: I just shared an article that came out in England. To be completely accurate Polyphonic Spree was the last band to open for Bowie but that was in USA following our tour with in Europe/UK with Bowie. It was two long months of playing in enormo-domes, far from city centers. We where kind of trapped in these giant locker rooms as dressing rooms all day. It was awesome to open for Bowie of course but the days where long and kind of lonely out there. It was really neat to get to watch a Bowie show every night from a different seat. I liked that part!
KA: If you were to dump out your purse/bag right now, what would we find ?
ZM: Vinyl Factory shades, ear buds, phone charger, lip gloss, chap stick, lip stick, lip liner, swiss dark chocolate drink mix (I nicked from breakfast this morning), hair clips, glasses cleaner, band tour laminate, eye drops, doTerra essential oils, wallet, panty liners, Icy Hot patches, pot infused mints, dental floss, rolling papers, little bag of weed, Clinique touch up concealer stick, sharpie, a Telegram official merchandise lighter and more hair clips….
KA: You have a very natural, hippie-like beauty about you. But do you have any go to beauty products that you don't leave home without? I always have my foundation with me, for example
ZM: I can red under my nose so I like to have a touch up stick in case we’re doing photos I wasn’t planning on. I don’t go anywhere w/o chapstick or lipgloss.
KA: So, you have the Dandies, which are very alternative with a dreampop after taste, but then you also have a country flair. Tell us about Brush Prairie
ZM: I wanted to do a little singing, so I started singing country covers at Karaoke From Hell which is live band karaoke. I got asked to sing the songs I’d been doing at a party and it grew from there. I was born in Brush Prairie so it seemed a good fit for a country band title. I grew up on country music and psychedelic music so now I feel more complete when it comes to what I perform. Man it’s fun having an old fashioned Honky Tonk country band!
KA: And your DJing...What is that sort of change in music like for you, and what fan base does it bring to your gigs?
ZM: I just can’t trust hardly anybody else to be in charge of the music. So I started saving good parties from bad music in 2001. I love it!
Dandy fans and music lovers in general come to my DJ gigs. People who like to have a good time on the dance floor.
KA: Do you ever struggle with the presumed inequality in the music scene being that you are a woman?
ZM: I ignore that shit.
KA: FUCK YEAH!
KA: What about self image and self esteem? I know you were a bad ass, and posed pregnant for suicide girls in 2005, but do you ever have "I feel ugly" days? And if so, how do you push through it?
ZM: Of course! I have plenty of wake up ugly days and then either stay that way or pull it together at some point. Nothing wrong with surrendering to an ugly day. Of course I always hope they don’t coincide with a photo shoot day.
KA: I saw you introduce Bernie Sanders and give a very inspirational speech in Oregon. I voted for Bernie as well. What do you think about what's going on politically with Trump being the front runner, and what about all these #bernieorbust activists? Would you vote for Hilary Clinton if you had to?
ZM: I’m hoping Bernie will decide to run independent if he doesn’t get the democratic nomination. #bernieorbust
KA: Whats your opinion on things like Climate change and Black Lives Matter? do you think the fight can be won?
ZM: Well we either work hard to reverse the damage we’ve done, work to heal the planet or suffer the consequences. Black Lives Matter is catching on but not as fast as I’d like. I kind of live in a bubble though. I’d like to think things are improving faster than they probably are.
KA: Thanks for your time, I know you were on tour during this, and unable to have time to answer the other questions :)
eula@mail.postmanllc.net
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