You have played with outstanding musicians like Vassar Clements, Big Sandy & His Fly Rite Boys, Tommy Womack, Trisha Yearwood, Chris Botti, Anathallo, and David Bazan, and your always friends and members of the band “ZapStar” Gary Starling, Chelsea Chason, Steve Clark, etc...
Tell us, what have you learn from them professionally and in your personal life?
Some of the acts I have opened for, and some I have had the privilege of playing on stage with and interacting with (Vassar, Big Sandy, Womack), but regardless of the connection, I learn something from every performer, from how they interact with the audience, to the ebb and flow of their set list, to how they promote and market themselves. As far as the folks I work with on a weekly basis, it's great that not only are we enjoying playing together, but we're also friends. I have been lucky to have band mates that perform at a high level of proficiency, but are also sweet, laid-back people. No huge ego issues or diva incidents, I'm happy to say.
Every CD you have recorded, including your very last one “Japanese Bathhouse” are essencially different to each other. What was the process of inspiration to each one of your CDs? My main three albums are Hummingbird, Japanese Bathhouse, and ZapStar, with a new one in the works to be released at year's end. Hummingbird was my first step out into the world as a musician declaring her independence. As an introverted violinist, I was gradually opening up and experiencing new ways of being musical, playing with bands from different genres, and singing to an audience, which led me to being a bit more extroverted. Hummingbird was my first album, and first opportunity to make a recorded snapshot of where I was musically, playing the tunes
I loved from the jazz standard and bossa nova repertoire, as well as a few songs I had written. The next album, Japanese Bathhouse, I consider to be my baby, my pride and joy. Songwriting was something that had come later, following violin studies and my love affair with jazz and bossa nova. If you'd asked me in college if I thought
I'd one day record an award-winning folk-pop album of all original tunes, I'd have probably said no. But hanging around my songwriting friends was a big influence, and I started using my guitar and voice as a way to express how I was feeling, and describing what I saw around me. After a few years I had a collection of original songs, and was lucky enough to work with a wonderful engineer (Chris Estes), and in the end we made a very special album in our simple home studios. ZapStar is the most recent album from the jazz quartet I co-lead with guitarist Gary Starling. Most of the core personnel is the same as on Hummingbird, and again the album served as a musical snapshot of our present moment.
Your song "Dolores". Explain to us, what was the inspiration for this song?
Is it related to a personal anecdote of you?
“Every day's a gift for us”… Do you live your days to the fullest? The story behind Dolores: for a number of years, I played violin in hospitals and care facilities in Jacksonville, FL, through an organization called Body and Soul. Sometimes I was playing to cheer folks up with a happy tune, sometimes I was playing to soothe, or relax, or even offer musical comfort to those on their deathbed. One day I was playing for a young man who appeared to be vital and robust, except for the fact that his coloring was feverish and vivid, and all of his family was gathered around him, crying. He watched me play, his expression earnest and intense, and when I went home that day, I was very humbled by the experience, and all my problems seemed small and insignificant. Shortly afterward, in a seemingly unconnected incident, I made a phone call to Pottery Barn to check on a wedding gift I had ordered for some newlywed friends. The phone operator who answered was named Dolores. After she checked on the order, she became a bit more informal, and we chatted a little about love and life. She told me that every day is a gift, that life passes so quickly. We blink our eyes and the next thing we know, we are grandmothers. After I hung up, I was very emotional, from the experience at the hospital, and then having the sentiment reinforced by this stranger on the phone. That afternoon I wrote "Dolores". And yes, I do try to live every day to the fullest.
About your song “Japanese Bathhouse”. Where did you write that song?
Do you remember how did you started writing the song? The Bathhouse singers?
In Japan it is a very normal thing to go to onsen (the bathhouse). Families go together and then split off, the men going off to one side, and the women to the other. I was visiting Japan with one of my best friends, a native of Japan. I went with her family to the bathhouse, and experienced being publicly nude, which was challenging for me, coming from the US where this is not the norm. Once you get over the shock, it's a very relaxing experience going to the onsen, being clean, lounging about, either in the sun or in the rock-lined hot spring-fed baths. On the plane ride back to the US, I wrote the melody and words to Japanese Bathhouse on a cocktail napkin. As far as the Bathhouse Singers: when we were recording the tune for the album, I liked the idea of having a group of girls singing the backup vocals, gathered around one microphone like on a 1940s radio show, and imagined that the listener could envision us all towel-clad and singing together at the japanese bathhouse.
Japanese Bathhouse sounds like a soundtrack CD for a movie. Have you ever thought about incursioning into soundtrack for movies, acting, writing stories or a screenplay? The bulk of my livelihood as a musician comes from live performances, but I would love to have more of my music in movies, television, commercials. My voice appears on several national TV commercials for a sweetener called Truvia. I wrote the music for a short independent film called A Riverside Evening. And a couple of my originals from Japanese Bathhouse appear in a CD compilation produced by Crocs Shoes. While I've enjoyed being creative in my music videos (Smile, We Didn't Bother, I Have A Little Dreidel, and Japanese Bathhouse), that's about the extent of my acting/writing.
You posted on the Internet some short videos for many original songs of you. Did you write and edit those yourself? I wrote and edited the Smile video entirely, which won 2nd place in the Bushman World Ukulele Video Contest. On the other videos it's been more of a colaboration between me and my friends. I come up with the main idea, but we'll end up bouncing ideas off each other. I enjoy doing the stop-motion animations (Chris Estes also did some great stop-motion scenes on We Didn't Bother), and constructing the shots, but my computer and software aren't so ideal for the editing, so I'm grateful for the friends who help with shooting/editing. My husband Jeremy Douglass loves to make videos -- his latest kick is levitating. We made "I Have A Little Dreidel" (you gotta see the rave segment at the end), and also the live performance video of Japanese Bathhouse. You can find all these videos on youtube.
In your song "I am Fine". What specific event inspired you to write the song? Was it a way out of a stressful time in your life? Did you feel better or worst after writing the song? Some of my tunes come across as being very heavy, but sometimes the initial inspiration behind a tune can be very minor. For instance, in We Didn't Bother, it's this tale of a doomed love affair with a pirate on an island, a move to the city, hitting the road, and his unfortunate end in the desert, but the inspiration was a tiny Lego pirate that I bought for 35 cents at an estate sale. For I Am Fine, the inspiration was a local pub I used to perform at. Some people in that scene struck me a little as "too cool for school", and that's why I wrote lines like /this girl hits the bottle, that boy needs to cry/. It was more about observing the scene and seeing how people coped with their issues and emotions. I was never much of a drinker so it's odd that I sing lines about hitting the bottle, and I'll wonder what the listener's take is on it.
How important is to keep learning and to be continually open to new musical ideas? While you want to have your own voice and style, it's important of course to keep learning and expose yourself to new ideas. I credit my songwriting friends for inspiring me to write. The exposure to their work and process taught me a lot.
When do you feel most free musically? When I'm writing a new song, there is a lot of freedom, in that everything is new, and the idea is coming to me in a rush. However, once the song and its arrangements are complete, I try to keep it rather set. Since violin is my first instrument, I feel a lot of musical freedom when I get to accompany others' music in a supporting role on violin.
You play by excellence the violin, the piano and the guitar. Would you like to play any other instrument to the best? Are you learning any other instrument? I started violin lessons with my mom when I was 2 1/2, so I feel the most fluent on violin and voice. Other instruments came to me by chance: a friend gave me a guitar when I was 15, an artist gave me a ukulele (later learned it is actually a brazilian cavaquino), and my dabblings on mandolin gained focus when I had the opportunity to play a mandolin solo in a Mozart opera. I think the best opportunity to learn is early on in childhood, when you are an absorbent sponge. Or if you already have a skill, say on a stringed instrument, that skill can more easily translate to other instruments in that same family -- like going from violin, to guitar, ukulele, mandolin. I wish I were a piano/keyboard whiz, but luckily I'm married to one.
At this stage in your career, would you say you are more excited by music than you've ever been? Any specific event or happening in the present or the future that might change your inspiration? I grew up in a musical family, with exposure to the rewarding and challening aspects of this field. I've been a full-time musician for 8 years now. In one regard, it can feel like a job, just as anything can feel like a job, but it's full of surprises and joy along the way. You have to be adaptive, because opportunities and people come and go. As I entered this summer I had my head focused on making an album, and preparing with my husband for the birth of our son in November. I figured other than that, the table was clear. I was surprised to hear Japanese Bathhouse and 3 of its songs received nominations in the Just Plain Folks Awards. I will go up to Nashville TN at the end of August for the awards show, so that is adding some excitement to this year. There's no telling the changes I'll experience once I am a mom, in regards to inspiration, and the way I live and work as a musician.
You are playing in the Nashville JPF Awards soon. Tell us about that event? I'm looking forward to attending the awards show -- Japanese Bathhouse and 3 of its songs have received nominations. I'm one of the performers. Just Plain Folks Awards is the world's biggest independent music contest, with 42,000 CDs & 560,000 songs submitted. Only 1/3 of 1% of the submissions became nominees. The awards showcase and ceremony will be held in Nashville, Tennessee, on August 28-29.
Any future event you would like to invite us to? What are your plans and for the next months coming up?
Please visit my sites www.zapen.com and www.myspace.com/zapen for news on upcoming shows, events, and recordings. I'm also on facebook and youtube. In the coming months I will be recording the new album and awaiting the birth of my first child, so I should be pretty busy!
Versatile violinist, vocalist, and songwriter Rebecca Zapen was named Jacksonville's Musician of the Year 2008, and recently received 4 nominations in the categories of Best Cabaret Album, Best Cabaret Song, and Best Vocal Jazz Song in the Just Plain Folks Awards 2009. She is an award-winning composer, earning the Silver Medal of Excellence in the category of "Best Use of Music in a Short Film" at the Park City Film Music Festival for her scoring of A Riverside Evening. As a session musician, Zapen has composed for and performed on recordings for soundtracks, public radio, theme parks, various musical groups, and television, including recent commercials for Truvia sweetener. Her music has been featured on NPR's All Songs Considered: Open Mic.
