Zac Condon

The Singing Lamb: As we all know, you’ve recently released a double EP (March of the Zapotec/Holland) so obviously the question is: where is the LP?

Zach Condon: Where’s the LP? That’s a good question. The double EP was kind of like cleansing the palette. I just felt like I had all this noise going on in my head after The Flying Club Cup and I just had these really ridiculous kind of left-field ideas going on that I just couldn’t write a full album of either of them so the EPs were just a really good way to purge myself for that. And now, after these next couple of tours are done, Canada and Europe and then, actually Brazil, which is exciting, I think I’m going to lock myself away this winter for six months. Not like wood cabin style or log cabin but probably get away from the city. Trust me; I’m as eager to do this as people are to listen to it, hopefully. I actually go nuts if I haven’t recorded in a long time!

Have you put any thought into it yet? Where it’ll be recorded? Have you written anything?

I’ve been playing around with ideas but I can’t write on the move. If I know anything’s coming up in the future, especially tour dates and stuff, which is fine; I actually like tours and I like shows, but if I know that’s coming up, it’s like a complete and utter mental block. I can’t do anything. You never actually know until you sit down.

There was an electronic sound that was introduced on your recent release.

Oh, that’s just old stuff. That’s from when I was really young.

Do you think any of that electronic sound will make it into the new album?

Maybe if I found a really good analog Moog or something, I don’t know. It’s funny because I was doing a French interview once and the guy was like, ‘You’ve scared a lot of people and fans! They think you’re going to go like, disco-tech or something!’ and it’s like, so what if I did; that’s awesome. But no, that’s not in my plans. Not really. And besides, that was old stuff. The big story behind the EPs was like I said – I had this kind of, what I felt to be like an extreme idea of going down and recording a traditional brass band playing my music. But then at the same time, I was having this identity crisis. Like, ‘Wow, I’ve gotten so far away from where I started as a fifteen-year-old kid in this bedroom,’ and so the whole time I was in Mexico, I was kind of obsessively listening to – and this is not like a crazy thing – but I was actually listening to my old stuff obsessively. Like recordings from when I was 15 and 16 that I had unearthed at home. And was like trying to connect the dots in my head, like it was kind of an identity crisis – which is fine, you’re allowed to have that from time to time – but yeah, that was just mostly putting it all out there on the table for everyone to hear, if anyone was curious and I feel like now I can move ahead a little more!

You did start when you were relatively young and you’re not even 25 years old yet! Do you feel like a veteran now?

Yeah, it’s funny right? I feel like an asshole sometimes because I’d be like, ‘Oh, my back!’ or something and like, ‘Oh I’ve done this so many times!’

Ha! Have you ever put any thought into what you’d be doing in 5-10 years then?

5-10 years? Oh shit, um early retirement? I don’t know. Probably the same shit as usual. I don’t have any grand plans; I’m not really good at that!

Would you ever retire at the age of 30?

Oh completely! I’d still write stuff but I probably just wouldn’t tour very vigorously or stuff like that. I just know that that person is in me, that cranky old man, and it needs to rest. So yeah, retirement by 30 is quite understandable.

What’s with your obsession with brass instruments?

They’re shiny and they’re loud! That’s probably as deep as it goes. But I mean, there’s more to it than that in my life. The original attraction, I grew up in New Mexico so there’s mariachi everywhere and that shit is impressive live, I mean it really, really grabs you. I remember finding it more impressive than going to a local punk show. That’s what every kid wants – it’s shiny, it’s loud, it looks cool and it sounds great. It’s so vocal, it’s so personal, the trumpet. I imagine the violin is probably very similar but trumpet, brass and violin and strings – they’re just instruments that are so personal and that’s what makes them so awesome in my head.

And of course, you even have them tattooed on your wrists.

Yeah, I got these when I was 21 actually.

Tattooing wrists hurt, man!

You know what sucked for me is that I have a metal plate right there and so when he was doing the horn, it started to vibrate the metal plate and I can feel it shaking up my arm, and I was like, ‘Something’s not right!’ But we did it anyway.

Yeah, that wrist injury gets mentioned quite frequently in the press. I’ve got to ask: are you accident prone?

Ha! Well I grew up skating, actually and so I was in and out of the emergency room a lot as a kid. What’s funny was that I think my mom was more calamity! People called her Calamity Anne because she’s always getting injuries. But no, yeah I was incredibly accident prone. I fell off shit, I skateboarded, got into dumb accidents, shit like that.

You skateboarded?

Yeah, obsessively. When the injury happened, I stopped skating completely and I sometimes feel like that was when the major transfer to music kind of happened.

So if you didn’t have the accident, would you have wanted to become a pro skateboarder?

I would’ve wanted to be! That was my childhood dream! And not to get all ‘surfer bro’ on you, but like I do find it to be like a really impressive way to spend your life; like a really impressive sport.

What was the worst touring accident you’ve ever had?

Let me think…I think I broke my brain on one tour; that was the worst injury I’ve ever had on tour. You don’t really injure yourself on tour…well that’s not true. Oh shit. You know what’s better than any of my injuries is my drummer, Nick. Okay so this one tour, I decided to bring this one skateboard on tour. I don’t skate anymore but I do kind of roll around and I thought it would be a good way to blow off some steam before shows. But right before this Cleveland show, Nick Petree jumps on the board. He’s never been on one before, well maybe he’s touched it but you know, he’s obviously not a skater and he’s kind of joking around on this wooden floor inside the venue like, ‘Haha look at me! I’m skating!’ and then he flips and cracks his skull open, right above his eye! It swells up to the size of a golf ball, maybe bigger and it was just kind of squirting out blood like one of those nasty horror films and he was just staring at us like, ‘Is it bad? Is it bad?’ and we were like, ‘No, no it’s fine, Nick! You’re looking good!’ They ran him to the hospital, we did sound check and I think I played drums – which I suck at! – and he actually played the show that night but there are some funny pictures of him and a giant swollen eye and a big patch. That’s probably the worst injury on tour, of any of us.

Do you bring your skateboard on tour anymore?

Absolutely not. No.

I’m always curious when it comes to musicians – do you read your own reviews? Or do you block out all media?

I guess it depends on the mood, really. If you’re feeling self-conscious sometimes then yeah, definitely don’t fucking read the reviews. When I started out, I did a lot because it was just so much to take in and now I don’t. I always read the Pitchfork reviews because I’m curious on how they’ll weigh in on things. I’ll read print magazine reviews because it’s just cool to see it on paper and it’s just so permanent; you know, there are a few big things that I might check out. Other than that, I definitely cut myself off. I guess I don’t want to hear much anyway!

Do you regularly read Pitchfork and blogs like that?

I don’t but I do check in when my friends are on it. As a kid, I read it a lot. When I was 15, yeah – it helped me discover a lot of bands; I’m not afraid to admit it!

Of course we’re in Toronto and so I must bring up your friend, Owen Pallett. Is he going to be at the show tomorrow night?

I wish! We just saw him in New York, actually because he’s mixing and mastering some stuff that he’s working on in New York with, ah fuck forget his name…the producer, but anyway, he’s there right now which is unfortunate but we’re going to meet up for the Pitchfork Festival.

Has it ever hit you that you guys sounded alike, vocally?

Yeah, you know I didn’t think so but he sang on that song on The Flying Club Cup, “Cliquot” and then everyone was like, ‘Sing Cliquot live!’ and I was like, ‘I can’t!’ It just goes right above my range in this weird way that Owen can hit and I can’t. I don’t know; I just realized it when 90% of people had gotten it completely wrong but that is interesting.

Yeah, it hadn’t hit me either till recently when I was listening to The Flying Club Cup with friends. I turned to them and said, “Man, I love that song with Owen Pallett on it,” and they turned to me and said, “Owen Pallett’s on this record?!”

Ha! He’s all over the damn thing! Singing just on the one though. There comes a point in recording your album where you just get sick of hearing your own voice. Like seriously, how many times can I drone on my songs!

You should just hire Owen to sing all the tracks on your next record; no one will notice.

Yeah, right! That would be funny. Oh man, sometimes I wish I could do that; recording vocals is beautiful and rewarding but can be very intense and that’s where the true self doubt starts to settle on things. Well, it’s like you can listen to this digital voice recorder afterwards and hear yourself and be like ‘Oh I sound so nasal’ – same thing for recording vocals. You just think it sounded great and it sounds awful and you’ve got to go back and do it again.

Yeah, I was just working on my Dodos interview and I thought I sounded terrible!

Oh cool, yeah I just met them recently!

Yeah, it’ll be your first time playing together tomorrow, correct?

Is it? I’m so in the dark about the shows we’re playing sometimes! I don’t even know the venue we’re playing and it’s not because I don’t care or because I’m some kind of jaded rock star, it’s just I’m so fucking so unorganized in my life, it’s amazing. I roll out of bed and they’ve got to tell me where to be!

Is your house just as unorganized?

Oh god, it’s a fucking mess! Which sucks because it’s a really nice place; it’s probably the first place I’m proud of being in because it’s actually decent; it’s next to a park and nice stuff like that and yet it’s trashed. It looks like a fucking frat house, it’s horrible. I need a life assistant more than anything!

Ha! Okay last question: if you were a singing animal, what would you be?

Well there are a couple of answers for that. I speak French pretty well but for years and years I just spoke with a really good accent and really horrible grammar and I just realized that it wasn’t because I was really good with languages, I’m just really good at mimicking people so I’d be like a parrot or something. I’m just really good at mimicking people, like if I hang around them too long.

But other than that, I don’t know. A donkey.

Why?

Because they sound funny and they have sad eyes. I like them! I fell off a horse in Morocco and now I’m scared shitless of horses but I really like donkeys because they’re so peaceful in comparison. I wouldn’t say I sing like a donkey, I just like them!

For more Beirut,
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/beruit
Website: http://www.beirutband.com/

Be sure to catch Beirut tonight at the Phoenix! This is a sold out show!