ZEE Machine on Queer Pop & Creating Without Compromise

This week on Duke’s Download, I sit down with singer‑songwriter and multi‑instrumentalist ZEE Machine — and we talk about what it really takes to find your voice and go all in.

Zee shares how music grabbed him early — from obsessive guitar days to digging through older albums before streaming ruled everything. We get into his Berklee story — auditioning as a guitarist, not getting in, pivoting, and coming back stronger and getting in as a vocalist and songwriter. That shift changed everything.

We break down:

• How he built his bold, 80s‑inspired maximalist pop sound
• Why chemistry matters more than credentials in the studio
• The fan favorites (“The Radio”)
• The live bangers (“Good Boy,” “I’m In Love With Everybody”)
• Writing from real experience
• Being openly queer in pop music
• Touring red‑state pockets
• And why he’s releasing music single‑by‑single instead of chasing albums

This is a conversation about artistic evolution, creative confidence, queer visibility, and building a music career without compromise.

If you care about independent pop artists, authenticity in music, or what it means to fully own your sound — you’ll love this one.

For more about Zee Machine- just google it and you will find him everywhere!

You can write to us at: Questions@DukesDownload.com

And follow us onInstagram: 

• @jamesdukemason
• @PrideHouseMedia

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Welcome to Dick Download, my weekly podcast. I'm face to here. Each week I'll bring you can't stop provoking conversations with incredible guests in the worlds of politics and pop culture. Together we'll explore the stories, ideas, and moments that shape our lives and drive change. I'm so glad you're here. Now let's get started. Hey everybody, welcome to Duke's Download. I'm your host, James Duke Mason. I am so excited because I have one of my favorite music artists on the planet, Z Machine, here today. I've told him that many, many times, including right before we started recording. So sorry to be too so effusive. But you are so incredibly talented. You're a multi-instrumentalist powerhouse with a voice that just commands the room and songwriting that comes straight to the heart. Z, welcome to the show. I've been following your journey pretty closely. And what's really hit me is the stylistic transformation that you've gone through the last few years. I think you've talked about that, both externally with the whole vibe and sound, and internally with how you show up in the world. I remember not too long ago you posted about finally feeling more comfortable and more bold and more empowered to be your true authentic self. And that really stuck with me. Your music's not only super radio friendly and listenable, it's also incredibly well written, beautifully produced, and performed with so much heart and power. It's always a treat. I love so many of your songs. The radio, I don't know what we're allowed to say on YouTube. Fing Myself works, flipping yours among them. And I by the way, okay, so I know I'm like already just like of hitting you with the tons of info, but the way the way I discovered you was, and then I'll ask the first question. Um was I actually am friends with Kalecchi, who uh you had a great song with Everybody Wants It. And so I guess that was what, five or six years ago? And I dealt I delved deeper into your discography and I was became such a fan. Um first of all, thank you again for coming.

SPEAKER_01 2:18

Hi, I wasn't sure if I should say anything because I know some intros they like to do their thing and then it was weird.

SPEAKER_00 2:24

I normally I it was almost like I infused kind of some questions, anyway. But I guess I was just so overcome with uh enthusiasm. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:33

Also, you know, peek behind the scenes. There was like five seconds in there where you froze, and I was like, oh god, what do I do? What do I do? And then you came back and I was like, you know what? We're good. Good.

SPEAKER_00 2:44

I'll reincorporate some of the points into my questions, but um but I just wanted to first start with like because I don't I don't know, I know a little bit about your background and how you got started in music. I know you're you're uh you know, what's the right word? Professionally academically trained. But how did your whole journey in music start?

SPEAKER_01 3:05

How did it start? Um it was always kind of just the thing that I felt very god, this sounds weird, but like just naturally good at. Like I didn't, I felt like I didn't have to try as hard as like the people around me, like in music class and you know, middle or high school. Um rhythm and like melody and like pitch matching and things like that. I they just felt very like obvious to me. And then when I realized that that like was not the case with everybody, I was like, oh, okay, I might be onto something here. Um I so I would you know, I would I had sung in choirs and things like that. I had done some well community theater. It wasn't like something I was really seriously pursuing as a career like from early, early on, but in middle school and high school, I played in like a lot of bands and stuff like that. I I I started out playing drums and then I started playing bass because then I could go up and I could sing also, and then you know, I started to listening to like Pink Floyd and stuff like that, and I was like, wait, I want to learn how to do that on a guitar.

SPEAKER_00 4:16

How did you go from singing in choir to listening to Pink Pink Floyd? Because Well, I mean that's that's oh sorry, go on, go on. No, no, no, I was gonna say, I think I find it so interesting. Like, you see, I mean, that's this kind of a dumb or like obvious statement, but there is so much diversity in terms of music, and I always find it interesting because you have such a uh uh unique sound and style. I just find it interesting where that where those influences began. I guess that makes sense.

SPEAKER_01 4:47

Well, I mean, you know, the choir, I was like eight or nine years old. So, and then and then you know, when I started, you know, trying to copy, you know, the comfortably numb guitar solo, I was in, I was like 14 or 15. So there was quite a bit of of development that went there, went in there. You know, I had you know the iPod had been invented, so I could just kind of have all this music at my disposal. And I, you know, I was I was um going into like online like music forums and stuff like that, where they would, you know, rank lists of like you know, the greatest, you know, rock vocalists of the 70s or something like that, or like the all-time greatest guitar. And I would like look up those, then I would like search the song and be like, well, I disagree with that. Um, but that's kind of where I started getting into like, well, let's see if I could play that. And so I was I was very much uh interested in being a guitar player first, I think.

SPEAKER_00 5:41

Um and as time um players or I think I I there was just something, it just kind of like it was very electrifying and exciting.

SPEAKER_01 5:57

Like I didn't know how these sounds were being made. It felt like magic in a way. Like I remember there was this song called Led Better Heights by Kenny Wayne Shepherd, who at the time was like the 17-year-old blues guitar player, and it was just this five-minute long thing where he's just sorry, I don't know if we could swear on YouTube, but like he was just tearing it up, and I was just like, How is he doing? I didn't it was it was crazy to me, but like I couldn't picture how you could do that, and so when I finally uh started playing, I would like figure like okay, these are the shapes you make, um, this is how you you know bend the string, this is you know the effects you put on there to get this kind of sound. Um, and so that was just you know, I was very enamored by that. And um but it but like I also wanted to sing at the same time, and I was like, Oh, I don't know how to be the front man, and then also it's it was like that's so much responsibility, so I was kind of like not really sure which one I wanted to focus on. Um and I think for the time being I I discovered a lot of you know for a while I was kind of tuned out of of like modern pop music from about like 2004 to like 2006 or 7. All I was really thinking, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:08

No, but what's interesting about that real quick is you know, I find this whole I'm in a millennial, I'm I think I'm older than you, but I'm 33. And uh it's interesting to me how like part of this whole new generation of like Gen Z. I say this like I feel like an 80-year-old like observing like the younger generation, but like you hear about all these songs from the 70s and the 80s that are kind of being rediscovered through TikTok, and maybe one of the few benefits of TikTok is that like it does introduce it for all the pitfalls of social media. I feel like it serves a purpose, and that young people are discovering music that they never would have discovered before, maybe, you know. And and that is interesting.

SPEAKER_01 7:58

You know, what can I say? I was ahead of my time. I say I was ahead of my time discovering 70s music in 2004.

SPEAKER_00 8:06

Well, I mean, it was harder back then, it's true. I mean, you really had it was almost like you had to be intentional about it and no, it's it's actually so true.

SPEAKER_01 8:15

I feel as though I value I valued music more than when I had to acquire it and seek it out. Because now you can just pay, you know,$12 a month and you have every song that's ever been recorded at your disposal, which you know is a beautiful thing and can be very helpful. And if I'm trying to like find a song, that's certainly easier than it was than trying to find the one like user on Limewire who was sharing one file from across the world that would take you know 12 hours to download. At the same time, you know, I was trying to, you know, get that really niche uh like yes album that like no one had. And so I would have to go and like find each song individually, and then hope they were all mastered the same. And then I was really like anal retentive about how it was organized. I would like have to cat make sure they were all numbered correctly and in the right order because if they wouldn't go in the right order, I was like, Well, this isn't the album then. So I was kind of a tourist in that sense.

SPEAKER_00 9:25

That takes some serious uh passion and serious like interest in sort of the the kids these days don't get it.

SPEAKER_01 9:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:35

What how did and so I know you went to Berkeley, uh, which is obviously for those who don't know, one of the best music schools in the world, maybe. Um, but how did that what how did you decide, like, okay, at the age of what, 17 or 18, you were like, this is this is definitely what I'm gonna do with my life? Because I I find that sort of I find that adventurous, courageous spirit. You know, it takes it takes some courage to say, I mean, you have a lot of talent, so it's it maybe what wasn't quite so scary as it might have been for some who weren't that sure of their abilities, but you obviously there was a moment when you were like, this is what I'm gonna do with my life.

SPEAKER_01 10:14

Yeah, I it's kind of just was like, well, this is the only thing I can really see myself like devoting my life and time to that's I'm not gonna be like faking it or being miserable doing. So it's just like this is this is I mean, I'll do things to supplement this passion, but like this is what it's gonna be, and I've I feel lucky that my family was very supportive of that. Um I actually auditioned for Berkeley as a guitarist, and I didn't get in the first time. So I went to the University of Denver for a year, um, and I kind of started finding my voice a little bit more there. I I was at the University of Denver as a get as a jazz guitar performance major. During that time, I started singing a lot more. I would go to like open mics, I would use the practice rooms and like do like vocal exercises and and kind of hone that. And I re-auditioned the next year for Berkeley as uh vocal uh major, and I got in. So, you know, I I guess you go where you are wanted, and that's kind of and and I'm glad and obviously I'm glad that that's how that turned out. I cannot because I was like a I was a pretty okay guitar player, but having if I had gotten to Berkeley with the skills that I had there, I would have been miserable, I would have gotten lost in the heat, and I probably would not be doing music. So I'm glad I did what I was doing now because it's like I feel there are so many more ways I can express myself and say things artistically as someone whose primary focus is, you know, the voice and songwriting and lyrics. Um and well, I here's the thing. I can like I can sing, but I I think I am I think my strength is actually more the artistry than just straight up the vocals. I mean I think the vocals are there. I do what I have to do, I think I'm pretty good. But I but there are singers who are better than me who I think fuck, I'm just gonna say there's bet way better singers who have a lot less to say and I think are not making music as good. So I think I would say I'm primarily an artist who can sing.

SPEAKER_00 12:34

Did you learn the because part of we're part of your your music is that the production is just incredible. Um is that is that something you learned in school, or did you just pick up that or uh I should have.

SPEAKER_01 12:49

I regret every day that I did not focus more on my production skills and because I most of what I do now, I had to teach myself later on the game. Uh I I'm not the primary producer. I I I will produce all my demos. I will write as I I will record as I write, um, but I will usually take my demos to a collaborator or co-producer who know who is more well-versed in like engineering and production and different DAWs, and he'll or she will make it like sound more legit.

SPEAKER_00 13:31

You know, you're part of choosing the right people to work with is that you have a good sense of not only other people around you who are talented and finding the talent and people you uh who can help you create what you want to create. I mean that's that's that in and of itself is a talent, I would say. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:49

Vibe is very important to me when it comes to that. Like, if someone's like, oh, someone like someone could be an absolutely incredible producer, just a master of their craft. And if like the attitude is nasty, it's uncomfortable. Like, if it's not fun, like I don't really want to do it. I've been working with my I mean I've I've worked with a bunch of people, I've released um songs with a number of producers, but I would say 90% of what I've done has been with the same person just because I feel very comfortable to create. Um, I think we've both pushed each other to to do more. Like, I think both of our styles have evolved since we've been working together, and he's he's moved out of the US since I've met him, and we still work together like over like Zoom. Because I'm just like, this is the this is a really good vibe. And I think you know, we I don't think we're limiting ourselves. Like, if anything, I think we're like trying new things, and we just it's a good synergy.

SPEAKER_00 14:46

What was the original uh sort of conception of your of your music? I mean, I I I actually I mean I again I have quite a few of your songs on on Spotify, but I should I I'd be curious. I should I should have done this before this interview, but I'd be curious to go back and hear like your very first song that you ever put out.

SPEAKER_01 15:08

Oh, that's okay.

SPEAKER_00 15:10

Well, I mean how different is your persona as an artist from net how different is it now versus like the way when it started? I don't I don't mean like yeah, how I mean I'm sure you know I'm sure most most artists' first single or song is obviously not as uh polished or whatever as their as their latest material, but just in terms of we'll get to the more recent years, but from sort of from the begin in the beginning, what was your artistic uh persona to make some?

SPEAKER_01 15:42

I let's see. I mean, if I was smart, I would probably get rid of my early, early stuff off of streaming. But I'm but I'm very much uh like you know, respect your roots. Um I didn't I was just kind of trying things out back then. I didn't really know. I was just like, I want to make something. I wasn't someone who just like burst onto the the scene knowing exactly who I was. Um I mean there were there were elements of of me early on that are still uh apparent now. I was I started out in this like cover band back in college where we would just do these like glammed up pop like rock versions of like top 40 songs, and we would have that we had this residency at this club, and that's kind of where I really learned to like perform and kind of who I wanted to be on stage, you know, how I wanted to present myself uh in front of an audience, and it was that and that has actually I think maintained pretty consistently through the years, but I wasn't really writing music as much back then. That was this was like in college, and and it was I was mostly just like I just love performing. Um but I'm like, well, you can't just well, I mean you I guess you could maybe make a career out of that, but I was like, oh I if I wanted to kind of you know grow this, I'm gonna have to figure out what I'm doing. And I'm like, wouldn't that be cool if like the song that you were, you know, leaving it all out on the stage was your own? Um so I really what I kind of honed my craft and my sound there was just listening to a lot of music, developing uh a level of taste for what is a good song, what what you want to hear. Uh, because really my my primary objective when I write stuff is just like, would I want to listen to this? Um am I improving upon the silence?

SPEAKER_00 17:42

Where did the 80s uh sort of I don't know if you'd categorize it this way, but sort of the 80s inspired like sound and where did that come from? How do you decide that that was what you were? I don't know if that's how you would articulate it or how that you're going for it. But to me, that's how it's sort of not every track, but a lot of your music has like synthesizers and sort of in and guitar and like sounds that you don't necessarily hear in a lot of like uh you know contemporary artists' uh music.

SPEAKER_01 18:17

I th I mean I don't know that there was ever like a conscious choice where I was like this is my thing, but there is just a certain you know, if it w when elements of like that, you know, era or style kind of creep into what I'm doing, it's really just because that I think that that is really the genesis of pop music that as we know it today kind of came to fruition in that era, and I still think in some ways it's its purest form, it's its most um bombastic and like unpretentious uh version of itself. Like I think a lot of pop music today is like tries so hard to be like cool or like different and is not as success- I don't know, maybe not as successful in some ways. It it's it's hard to compare, but there is just something about uh the style of writing and production of that era that was just so like going for the biggest dopamine rush you can get. Hit the highest note, get the get the most, the hookiest hook. And I think that really spoke to me in a lot of ways. Like, those are the things that give me goosebumps, you know? Like, I'm not I'm really not very moved by like a a lo-fi, moody, apathetic teenager um mumbling over like some gr grimy, like bass and like a tr like a rip-off trap beat. I don't know. I there it's just like that's just that's just not for me. I'm I'm you know, like there's there's a place for everyone, and I I just think the stuff that I gravitate towards are the things that like punch me in the face a little bit more. And that's not to say that like everything I do have is like has to be like at 11 all the time.

SPEAKER_00 20:20

No, no, you have some, I mean it should have been yours. Not every song is like you know, euphoric, but like uh, you know, I mean you have a bunch of songs that are slower and more sort of contemplative, but but I but I love the facts that are like you don't hear musical like that a lot anymore, where it's just sort of like and it and it builds and there's a crescendo and sort of like a you like a it's and then you feel like yeah, maximalism is like not really the thing right now, and I think that was just like the thing that got me excited to create because that was the style, like that because that was the most fun to perform.

SPEAKER_01 20:58

I really think it all kind of stems back from being like, Well, if I'm gonna be playing these songs and performing these, like what am I gonna have the most fun doing? And um, you know, a song like friggin' I don't know, Habit or Everybody Wants It is like way more is is like a blast to just like move around and like see the crowd get like hype for that, and it creates I think more of a moment. Um but also you know, you but then you can also use that as like a uh a vessel to say something as well.

SPEAKER_00 21:35

Well, I know it's a tough question to ask any musician or or a songwriter, but out of all the songs that you've recorded, what is the one actually okay, cup two questions. Number one, what's your favorite song that you of mine of yours? Okay. And also, what is your favorite? What is what when you perform, what is this, or when you meet people that are at a show or that what is this, what is the song that most people resonate?

SPEAKER_01 22:05

The one that resonates the most is probably the radio. Um I I just I think that there is like I'm trying to like think of a way to say it without sounding like high on my own supply. You should be. I I I think it is, I think the the lyrics are just very universal in a way that is like I wrote it about something very specific that I was going through, but I have seen people take that song and like apply it to their own life in ways that are not what I wrote it about in all different iterations, and I'm just like, oh, okay, well, that's kind of what's um amazing about art is that we get to um interpret it how we want it to be. And because if I if I was just writing it for you to just like relate to my diary, then that's gets a little too specific. And um so yeah, I think that's that's the one that I've seen resonate with the most people. What's the most fun? What do I enjoy the most? I think Good Boy is the is maybe like I have a lot of fun performing that one because it's like I really think that taps into my most like niche kind of demographic. It's it's and it's like the opposite of of the radio where it's just like it's just kind of feel good, fun. That's the one where people like will sing along to it the most though also I'm in love with everybody is really fun because that has a lot of like fun. I mean it's just I love the production on that one, but also it's like a lot of fun audience kind of call and response moments, and just it's very hooky, and um I think it's a good it's a very good encapsulation of like my sound, and I think has a lot of room to kind of play vocally. So those are I think those are my big three.

SPEAKER_00 24:10

Yeah, and they're all they're all great. Um thank you. I was I don't I don't know if you'll remember the post I'm talking about, but I remember you did a post, I think it was last year, where you talked about how you and you've been you know you've been what recording, performing for like at least five or six years now, but I remember you said like in the last year two fourteen. Well put putting out material. Oh yeah, well, yeah six years, right? 2020, 2019.

SPEAKER_01 24:38

I mean, my first single came out in 2013.

SPEAKER_00 24:40

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 24:42

But but but but I did, I wasn't, I wasn't really dropping music consistently, right? So but that's a whole other story.

SPEAKER_00 24:49

Yeah, growing to prominence in 2020.

SPEAKER_01 24:52

I would say, I would say I I kind of broke at the end of the pandemic.

SPEAKER_00 24:57

Yeah, right, right, exactly. That's what I discovered. Yeah. In the last year, I remember seeing a post you did where you talked about how even though you have been putting out music for a fair amount of time now, you've said that even just in the last couple years, you finally were feeling like you were able to express yourself, not just like fully, not just um musically, but you know, in terms of your look, your you know, your identity. Yeah, you said that you've undergone a lot of sort of changes in terms of the way that you presented yourself to the world uh and didn't feel as sort of you felt more unencumbered to just be exact as edgy or as expressive without any sort of hold without holding back than you did before. What do you think it was that changed? And why do you think that change happened more so in the last year or two versus you know, when you started? Trying to remember this post. Well, just because I think you know where you were like showing the metamorphosis you did you've made in terms of your look and your hair and your your cl your clothes, like you know, I think I I forgot the exact wording, but it was basically something like, you know, I'm finally feeling like I can be as yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:10

I I think really what it is is just that the moments that I feel like I've felt my biggest triumphs and like successes and like connections to what I'm doing have always just been when I follow my gut instincts and um am my most natural self. Like I feel like people could give me like suggestions on how to market it or like be a little more like streamlined with my presentation or like social media online presence or whatever the hell I'm doing. Um and yet every time something pops off it's because I was fully just like being me, doing my thing, not taking advice, and I'm like, I don't know, I think I know like sorry, I think I know best. I can use a little help from time to time, but I know when I when those moments are. You know, I I think I've I've really kind of come to learn who my demographic really is. Um I think the work is is speaking for itself. And I don't know, I think I have a good perspective and I'm like, you know, saying and like talking or singing about things that I think my audience wants to hear. You know, and I I and that's important to me to not just like put out music to make sound for validation. You know, sure, a little attention is nice, that kind of keeps you going, but I'm like, if I'm gonna be doing this, I want to earn it and I want to do the absolute best I can do, and I feel like I've kind of locked into what that is lately, and I think that seems to be resonating nicely, and it feels good.

SPEAKER_00 28:18

I mean, I I think part of that seems to be anyway that you are an apologetically queer artist, and you've been very open about that, embracing your full identity. Um, how has leaning into that and the your authenticity, your authentic self changed the way that you write lyrics and especially around topics like queer joy, desire, and self-writing? Are those things that you try to uh take, like you know in your audience? Do you try to keep that in mind as you as you consume songs and this year?

SPEAKER_01 28:52

No, you know, honestly, no. I just I've never really done that consciously. I it's it's the type of thing where like I only I don't want to say I only know how to write from experience, but like my best stuff always comes from writing from experience. Whenever if ever I'm like in a session and I'm like, you know, writing about something that I'm kind of putting on a persona, maybe maybe I'm like writing for someone else. It just it's like it's a very different experience. When I'm writing for myself, it almost always has to I would say 99% of the time it's like from a firsthand thing, and that's how it ends up coming across better.

SPEAKER_00 29:37

When did you come out? And did you come out before you did you come out before you started recording, or was that?

SPEAKER_01 29:45

Oh, for sure. Yeah, it was like some. You've always been in high school.

SPEAKER_00 29:49

You've always been in high school. I see, okay, got it. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:54

I mean, in in my professional life, it's I've always been pretty out, you know. I've just and I've not really, you know, been intentionally like, I'm gonna make this queer. It's like this is this is gonna be queer because I am. So that's just how that's just how it is, you know.

SPEAKER_00 30:14

We talk a lot on my podcast. It's you know, even though it's about pop culture, it's also about politics and the state of you know the movement uh for LGBTQ rights. Um, you know, I know you've posted about the current crackdown on LGBTQ people and visibility and expression in media and politics, and even in the music industry at times. Have you felt any of that pushback personally? And has it affected the way you create or the way that you present yourself?

SPEAKER_01 30:46

Maybe my privilege is showing a little bit. No, not really. I'll be I'll be honest. Like, not but it's also you know, a large part because like I am not a signed artist on a major label on a national platform. No, which honestly has its benefits in this sense, like I think I also don't, you know, and I'm not trying to manifest, you know, a roadblock for me or like a like a glass ceiling, but I don't know that I could handle it beyond a certain level. I've learned that in recent years I am a very I can be a very anxious person. Um I I like doing what I do um with without a lot of limitations or um and and also the world is just a and the internet is just a cruel, cruel place, and I'm a sensitive soul, and I just I don't think I could take whatever you know Chapel Roan is going through. Like I just don't think I can handle that. And maybe and maybe there are ways I could deal with it, but um I don't feel a ton of pushback because I feel like how the way I've operated is in such a way where my audience the intended audience finds the music. There's not a lot of moments where it makes it to the wrong side of the internet because you know those those people are not looking for me. And I don't really want them to find me, you know? Well that's okay. I think I think that works out best for everyone.

SPEAKER_00 32:31

I I agree. Um, do you have, I mean, like I know you posted about I think when you I think it was when you were on tour maybe last year, the year before you were talking about a lot of the political, you know, situ the political uh uh setbacks or you know uh legal setbacks, political setbacks that the community has faced in the last year or two, and going to I thought it was great that you went to some conservative leaning states like it did when you were on your tour. And I mean, do you how do you feel about the situation that the community is in right now as a country?

SPEAKER_01 33:09

Uh I feel pretty bad about it. Yeah, to put it simply, no, I it's there was um yeah, there was a moment last year I was I was on this lineup on this tour uh early last year, like February last year. And you know, we started in Tennessee and we went to like North Carolina, and um where else do we go?

SPEAKER_00 33:35

Was that a conscious decision to go to those places? So I wasn't the booker for the tour.

SPEAKER_01 33:40

I I they reached out to me to to join the lineup, and it was you know, I love traveling to perform, you know. It's it's I feel like when and here I I love performing in LA too, obviously, but I do think when it's a a city that you know doesn't get as many people coming through, they they show up with a lot more energy per person. So, you know, when we were doing like shows and you know, like Raleigh and like you know, Nashville. Nashville's pretty big, but still. Um I'm actually I'm totally spacing on like some of these places we went. It was it was so many shows back to back, but it was a lot of like kind of middle of the country south type.

SPEAKER_00 34:24

I think that was great that you I mean look, all these places have I you know I've been I've never been, I've always wanted to go to Nashville. Uh I've been in Memphis, but like what's great about going to those pleas, you know, on the face of it, you go, oh, these are conservative places or states, but you know, the truth is in all these, even in the most red of states, you've got these incredible communities of people who are, you know, not even about party per se, liberal, conservative, whatever. It's just more about, you know, you've got diverse communities, even in places like Tennessee or North Carolina or you know, Alabama. Um and so it's great that you're you're going there and you're and you're speaking to them and performing for them.

SPEAKER_01 35:06

Yeah, I've I find that the oftentimes the people of the state do not necessarily reflect their policies. Um I don't know, if if even if the majority of them do, or like, you know, it's like, well, they did vote this in, there is a a still a large portion of them who are community, and um they are not representative of their the politics of where they live. And I think you will find uh progressive pockets just about anywhere you go. Um it's just kind of a matter of how safe it is to be there. Um sometimes, you know, it's not necessarily enough people to like book a show there, but um, you know, every to every every place I went there, it was like the sweetest, you know, most enthusiastic, uh kind-hearted, softest souls you could find. And even if it is in, you know, like deep Florida, like I I I think we we tend to j overgeneralize based on you know that one asshole senator. Yeah, that's true. And that's just not necessarily the truth for everyone.

SPEAKER_00 36:33

No, absol absolutely. Um, even in Cal in like just the inverse, in California, you've got a ton of shitty people.

SPEAKER_01 36:41

Oh my god. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:44

You got two hours outside of LA, or even an hour, and you've got Trump banners the size of like, you know.

SPEAKER_01 36:50

Not even two hours. You go to Beverly Hills.

SPEAKER_00 36:53

Right. Well, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 36:54

Very good point.

SPEAKER_00 36:55

Ten minutes away. Yeah. Um, so there you're right. There's nuance to everything and everyone and every every place. Um I'd be curious, not just because I, you know, not not so much of me. I want to know. I'm excited to know if you're working on new material right now. But more than that, I guess I'd be curious to know what what subjects and topics and uh issues or thoughts have been going through your head where you go, okay, this might be something that I'm gonna that I want to, you know, put out there in terms of ish things that you might that might make for uh for for subjects for your next uh for your next material. Let me look at the track list. Oh, wow, okay.

SPEAKER_01 37:39

So you do have yeah, I've got I've got stuff coming through. So I I've I've made a actually at first it wasn't a conscious effort, but um as I started writing, I realized, wow, I actually don't have any songs about like heartbreak or breakups or like a scorned lover like that. Because like honestly, for the first time in my life, I am like so happy with somebody. Not the first time ever, but like it I'm in, I'm you know, I'm like a year deep into this thing and it's only just getting better, and I and I just feel like amazing with them, and like to a point where it's almost like weird to me. But I'm just I'm not in a heartbreak headspace, which I very much was with the last EP. I was that was like that that little piece of work was my therapy to get through that, and I think it worked, it worked pretty good. Um, but you know, um, and this one I'm kind of it's it's it sort of explores the parts of my head and my thoughts and my life that are outside. Like now that I've dealt with that, what are the other things that are um making up my day-to-day? And it's like dealing with uh the you know the dynamics of open relationships, the dealing with uh uh the weird body image we're going through as like a culture that's obsessed with like fucking GLP ones, but also being like a kind of like a public person. Um you know, I have that one see at the table is very much about how like I am no longer the young person in the room right now, um, but I'm still I'm going through that. Yeah, but and it's really it's I've and in that sense I've kind of come to the conclusion that's like I only feel bad because the world is telling me I should feel bad about it. But like truthfully, like even if I'm not like a list musician or whatever the fuck, whatever the heck, um, I am better than I have ever been right now. So um I don't know, it's sort of like why am I giving myself such a hard time? Um there's some stuff about like the sanctity of you know queer spaces. I've got one about my parents' divorce, I've got one about like uh basically a fuck off to the government's like, alright, well you don't like uh you don't like looking at us. Fuck well, I don't know, cut your eyes out, bitch. Um so it's it's it's it's a little it's a little darker, it's a little angrier, but um I don't know. I'm I'm a little ti this is just my kind of thing where I'm a little tired of songs of love songs. Not really, like I think I think those are a lot of them and they're and you've written some great ones, and I mean and it's the most universally relatable subject matter, so like I get it, and then and it's an evergreen subject matter, but I'm just like I there there are some discographies where lit literally every single song is about a relationship, yeah. And I'm just like let's get some new shit. Yeah, I don't know, like it's it at a certain point, it becomes like I don't think you have anything else to say.

SPEAKER_00 41:26

Right.

SPEAKER_01 41:27

I don't even so I'm I'm kind of like chat yourself.

SPEAKER_00 41:30

Sometimes on the same album, you'll have like two or three songs that have the word love in it, you know, or exactly heart, whatever, heart, my heart, heart, love, all those words are you know have been overused, uh to say the least. Um but I don't mean you by the way, I mean by other artists. Oh no, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 41:50

I guess the royal you, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 41:52

But uh, but no, you know, uh what when do you think that material might when do you think the first the first of uh that new material may be it's already oh I've been dropping it already.

SPEAKER_01 42:03

I've I'm like three songs deep into this era.

SPEAKER_00 42:06

Okay, right. Well, I mean I I've been following your your new material, but I've so it's gonna it's gonna be a continuous drip, is what you're saying.

SPEAKER_01 42:13

It's gonna be it's I'm I'm I'm in a place where it's like I I you know I I I thought I had to keep like pumping it out, pumping it up within like a very specific timeline, and I'm just like I have to just kind of accept that this is not how I work.

SPEAKER_00 42:28

Well that era's kind of dead anyway, where artists have to put out I mean, from what I understand, you know, it's not like you have to put out an album or at one time, you know, one time. It's like, you know, in a way, it putting out content song by song or EP by EP is actually a more it generates more interest. It keeps you keeps your as that seems a lot every two years or three years putting out you know an album and that's it for the next three years.

SPEAKER_01 42:57

Um yeah, I it's it's the type of thing where it you know a extended um album site like song by song type of thing is maybe more beneficial only because with the attention span of audiences today, um you drop a single, you might get like kind of two weeks of hype about it. Nope. If you drop an album, you'll probably get about two weeks of hype from it. So it's kind of like, all right, well, it's it it really is not like economical or beneficial in that way to just like people are like, where's the album? It's like, well, we're making it work, but you know, this isn't really like the easiest rollout for every artist. Like it's not all not everything is like made equal like that.

SPEAKER_00 43:46

No well, Z Z, do I call you Z? Or is it a Z machine as a baby? Okay, all right. Z Z Machine. Uh, I can't tell you. I'm a massive fan. I hope anybody who's watching Watching who hasn't heard your music uh or hasn't heard every all of your music because you've got so much great music. I hope they go and check it out. Where where can people um follow you? What is the best way for people to follow you, buy your music, listen to your music?

SPEAKER_01 44:14

I mean, if you type in Z machine everywhere, Z-E-E machine, two words, I should be the first one to pop up.

SPEAKER_00 44:22

Instagram, TikTok, YouTube.

SPEAKER_01 44:24

I'm I'm everywhere you can be found except for like Discord. I don't know. Yeah. Uh yeah, no, I I've made sure that I I am probably the first Z machine to pop up. And if I'm not, I'll take care of them.

SPEAKER_00 44:43

I think I honestly I I I last time I say it, but I really think you are one of the most talented musicians, period. That's that's out there. And I'm very kind locally as a writer, as a producer, as a performer. I have not yet seen you live, which I which really bugs me. I wanted to come to the on the the uh show on the second, but um I promise next LA show, I will be there. I got you. We'll see you later. Five or six years in, I should have seen you live by now, but uh but I'm I look forward to it and I really appreciate you uh coming on.

SPEAKER_01 45:18

Yeah, of course. Thank you so much for having me.

SPEAKER_00 45:20

Of course. See you soon, hopefully.

SPEAKER_01 45:22

See ya soon.

SPEAKER_00 45:27

Thank you for joining me today on Duke's Download. This podcast is part of Pridehouse Media, hosted by me, Duke Mason, and produced and edited by Josh Rosenswike. Original music composed by Nell Balaban. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. And while you're there, leave us a rating and review. It really helps others to discover the show. I'd love to stay connected with you, so join the conversation by following me at James Duke Mason on Instagram and X, or by emailing me at questions at Dukesdownload.com.