After more than a decade away, the Christchurch pop-rock band Zed – who dominated Aotearoa’s music scene at the turn of the century – knew they had more to give.
Their first two albums, Silencer (2000) and This Little Empire (2003), both made it into the top five on the New Zealand Albums Chart, cementing their place in a golden era of Christchurch music alongside artists like Bic Runga, The Feelers, and Salmonella Dub. But even with all that success, something still felt unfinished.
“Initially we all agreed we’re happy just playing shows, spending time as friends and reliving a little of our youth with our fanbase. But the creative spirit is always there, perhaps it’s buried deep, but it’s always there. Maybe for us, a sense of unfinished business?” the band explain. “After a couple of years of playing live we just naturally started sharing and jamming new material… there was just a natural nexus where writing and playing new material felt exciting and invigorating again.”
Future Memory shows that the magic is definitely still alive; it’s Zed, but with a fresh twist. The album, produced by Nic Manders (who worked on their debut Silencer), blends bedroom jams, studio experimentation, and live testing. Instead of heavy distortion and power chords, they lean into synths and melodies, with songs ranging from the funky vibe of “Play” to the expansive feel of tracks like “Bonfires” and “Embers.”
Looking back, they know how much they’ve grown both musically and personally. “We’re all feeling a lot more comfortable in our own skin than we were as 20 year olds,” they say. “So there’s no trying to be anything, just making music, and enjoying the emotion of the ride.”
To celebrate the release of Future Memory, Rolling Stone AU/NZ chatted with Zed to learn more about their reunion, the new album, and what’s next for them. You can check it out below.
Zed’s Future Memory is out now.
Rolling Stone AU/NZ: What made you all decide to get back together after so many years?
Nathan King: Hitting ‘record’ on new music after such a long break was a buzz! It brought back a bunch of memories from our mid-teens when we first started the band, so it felt like a real milestone.
The process of writing new material, having it dissected and workshopped, and putting flesh on the bones of what you’re trying to say is a bit of a deal. It requires vulnerability and humility (especially when your ideas get rejected!) and a lot of love and respect for each other to keep the process working in a healthy way. We were all keen to put our friendships ahead of necessarily getting our own way creatively, and I’m glad we did.
As young kids doing our first record, Silencer, we were new to the process, so there was a real naivety to our approach. This can be a good thing, and we were lucky to have a great Australian producer David Nicholas as a guide, helping us avoid a lot of the classic pitfalls. We learnt a lot from him, and subsequently, from other projects we’ve been involved in separately between ZED records.
The biggest difference I noticed was the collective attitude we took of serving the song first, and not just trying to get our individual ideas committed to tape. That and the fact we had written the majority of the album together, rather than as individuals, so I could trust if someone was pushing for something, they were only trying to genuinely ‘make the boat go faster’, as they say. Plus this time we’ve tried to eliminate money from the equation as best we can by splitting everything four-ways on credits and royalties etc, so that also helped the vibe, and is something I’d highly recommend if you can arrive at that place of trust as a group.
Can you share a moment during the recording process that really brought you all closer together?
King: Well it quite literally put us in close proximity with each other, sharing COVID viruses and flatulence! But taking time out from normal life to make an album elicits all kinds of exchanges. It’s like going on a creative retreat, where you go in with a set of ideas and expectations for what you want to achieve, and how it’s going to be, but through the process actually end up learning a whole lot about yourself and your band mates that you weren’t expecting. There were many moments of vulnerability. Lyrics had a big part to play in this. I’d written a song that didn’t end up fitting on this record, but deals with the regret of our bands’ breakup in 2005. Being able to share that with the others and unpack what it meant was quite a moment for me – an apology for my part in things – something I probably couldn’t have done back in the day.
There was a lot more encouragement and cheering from the sidelines as we were tracking parts. I have a special memory of Ben [Campbell] saying how the first time he heard a demo version of a song I’d written for this record, he’d had to pull over and stop the car as it had made such an impact. Another time, Andy [Lynch] had nailed an absolutely brilliant solo for “Face the Rain,” but we collectively decided to try a different approach. Perhaps younger versions of ourselves would have gotten into heated arguments, and things might have descended into chaos with egos getting bruised, whereas Andy took it on the chin, strapped his guitar back on and tore it a new one. Moments like that build huge respect and makes me feel very lucky to be in a band with such talented people.
We’re essentially a rock band, with guitars as our main instruments, but the timbre has changed a fair bit on this record. We’ve dialed back the distortion and ditched most of the power chords in favour of more synths and melodic lines, which has added a depth and pushed our sound more three-dimensional. We deliberately shifted things from tight and punchy on a track like “Play,” to fully widescreen on tracks like “Bonfires” and “Embers.” I think there was more of a conscious effort this time around to push further into different genres and explore what we could within them.
What inspired the album title Future Memory, and what does it mean to you?
King: We’d been discussing how in our early days we were lucky to have been part of a golden era of Christchurch music – with the likes of Bic Runga, The Feelers, Stellar, Salmonella Dub, Anika Moa, Shapeshifter, and Zed all hitting at a similar time in the late 90s. So many people who now come to our shows cite those formative years as a massive part of their memories growing up, and how our music was such a big part of their life. Anyway, we were in Nic Manders’ (producers) studio space in Kingsland, Auckland, writing and essentially recording the albums’ first track “Future You” on the fly.
Andy had written the first half of the chorus melody and had some of the lyrics, but we were stuck for how to tie it up at the end until we struck upon the “future memory” idea. As soon as we had that, I reckon we knew we had the album title – being conscious of making something that would someday help shape special memories down the track.
Are there tracks that really show how you’ve evolved as a band? What inspired them?
Andy Lynch: I think tracks like “Bonfires”, “Embers” and “Into the Ocean” show a different side to Zed that’s always been lying in wait, and that’s the Radiohead soundscape approach, it really came out in these three, I just love the textures, and drifting away while playing them. I think what inspired them is our collective love of being wrapped up in a sonic blanket now and then.
How did your jam sessions influence the final sound of the album?
Lynch: The jam sessions were killer. There’s nothing better than four people in a room feeding off each other in real time. Back to basics and without the rabbit holes of experimenting in the studio with sounds. Just focusing on the songs, hooks and parts. On taking it to the studio, the palette of sounds we were after came into focus, the vibe I guess. This was a really great part of the process which shaped things further, but the raw songs still shined through. We didn’t really gig during the making of the record, but we played live as a four-piece or sometimes five- piece with our producer Nic Manders on keys live in the studio. We gave that a really good wack, so had a good feel for playing everything that way.
Most of the record is all performed live together, before we started to experiment and add the layers. What I think is really cool and interesting this time around is that tracks like “Play”, “Into the Ocean,” and “Future You” were built up off an original demo that had a spark to it, so rather than start again we just carried on! All these different approaches and stages affected the final product and the sound, for sure.
How have the past few years influenced the themes of Future Memory? Was there a specific moment that sparked the album?
Adrian Palmer: It’s hard to recall the exact moment that sparked the possibility of recording an album. We reconvened for some shows after 12 or so years as a dormant band. Initially we all agreed we’re happy just playing shows, spending time as friends and reliving a little of our youth with our fanbase. But the creative spirit is always there… perhaps it’s buried deep, but it’s always there. Maybe, for us, a sense of unfinished business? After a couple of years of playing live we just naturally started sharing and jamming new material – there was just a natural nexus where writing and playing new material felt exciting and invigorating again. Putting an album together was the natural next step.
We’re forever grateful we’ve had the opportunity to do this. The material on Future Memory straddles years of songwriting and draws on our life stage and our decades together as a group. I’d say we’re all feeling a lot more comfortable in our own skin than we were as 20 year olds, so there’s no trying to be anything, just making music, and enjoying the emotion of the ride.
Did you have any worries about reuniting after twenty years? How did you get past that?
Palmer: While we had all crossed paths in various ways during the intervening years, there certainly were a few moments of “this could be a little strange” when we first reunited. But no more than reconnecting with old friends you hadn’t seen for years. We soon realised how deep the camaraderie was, the ‘telepathy’ we had playing live that you only get after years of playing together. So any worries soon evaporated. The egos have tempered, the insecurities are in their place, and we’re just loving the opportunity to play together again and spend time together. We’ve all been through various ups and down in life and to be able to get back together, share our rollercoaster rides with each other, and play music together again has been very special.
There were a few hangups around, “Have we still got it? Will people want to listen to us?” But after the first show together those fears vanished. The friendship between us shines through in the music, and that’s probably been our special sauce during this new album process.
What was it like working with Nic Manders again?
Palmer: We spent so much time with Nic on Silencer – we developed a real close friendship with him early on in both our careers. Since then, he’s gone from being a fresh-faced engineer to an absolute mad-professor of production. He was like a fifth member of the band during the album and while he didn’t force anything, he was very clear on getting us to set up our own guardrails of direction then pushing us to think outside the square – sticking to our guns.
He’s got mad skills and really knows how to create an atmosphere where creativity can flourish. He really encourages you to bring emotion to a performance. Technique is important, but he’ll always draw out the take that sends a shiver down your spine. It’s not just what you’re playing, it’s how you’re playing it. Nic brought a lot of new sonic options to the table and helped us embrace many new production techniques that just weren’t available first time round. If he got up to dance during a take, you knew you were on game.
Which songs on Future Memory are your personal favourites, and what makes them stand out to you?
Ben Campbell: My musical tastes generally tend more towards the darker or introspective side, and that applies for Future Memory too.
The consistent building of tension through “Bonfires” with the payoff releasing into “Embers” is a great moment for me. I like that we take the liberty to be a bit indulgent to end the record, and feel the sonics and writing of these two tracks really capture a side of Zed that I’m super proud of. I’m also loving the funky quirkiness of “Play” which was a genre side step for us, and the simplicity of “Waiting Game.”
What was the album launch show at The Grand Hotel like? How did it feel to perform together again?
Campbell: It was honestly such a buzz looking out into the crowd and seeing a mash-up of friends and family, Akaroa locals, and of course Zed supporters from all around NZ (and Australia!). We were excited to finally be able to road test the new songs and stoked with how well they translate live. It’s brilliant having new material to jam on and mix in with the classic singalongs that everybody already knows and loves.
What’s next for Zed?
Campbell: Good question… What’s next boys? It’s been too much fun to stop now, right? We’ve grown a lot as a band making Future Memory, it definitely feels like we have more music to make. I’m pretty sure we’ll be back together in the studio working on new content soon, the best is yet to come…
