Episode 9: “(don’t) stay null” with zack.ry
This week, Aoife interviews zack.ry about “(don’t) stay null” from caught in the reverb. “it’s been sort of freeing to enter into this space where you have people you can bounce things off of and you can try things that you’re not used to,” says zack.ry, about their experiences playing with the garages. “I just wanna make music that is fun and pushes me and ultimately says something deeper about humans or about experiences from this community.”
As of the time of this upload, zack.ry now uses he/they pronouns.
zack.ry is an occasional musician, frequent theologian, and perpetual overthinker living in washington, d.c. they’ll make you a bangin pour over and either spend the next few hours in deep existential conversation or neck deep in their tiktok for you page. you can find their music at zackry.bandcamp.com.
This episode of idol board was edited by Ada Quinn, hosted by Aoife, produced by Tangereen Velveteen, transcribed by Merry, and written by Aoife and Tangereen Velveteen. Find all episodes and transcripts of idol board at fourth-strike.com/podcast and follow @idolboard on Twitter for updates. Get all episodes plus bonuses by supporting Fourth Strike on Patreon.
Listen to “(don't) stay null” by the garages on Blandcamp:
Episode Transcript
[musical intro plays]ANNOUNCER:
You’re listening to a Fourth Strike production.[The end of the musical intro plays, followed by the beginning of ‘(don’t) stay null’. The vocals fade out while the instrumentals continue playing under the conversation.]
AOIFE:
Hello and welcome to idol board! I’m Aoife and I use she/her pronouns. In this podcast, I will be interviewing members of the garages about their songs, the creation process, and possible inspirations. My guest for this episode is garages band member zack.ry. Thanks for coming on zack.ry! Can you tell us your pronouns, coffee style, and what song you’ll be talking about with us today?ZACK.RY:
Hey, thanks so much for having me! Uh, my pronouns are he/him, [Editor’s note: As of the time of this upload, zack.ry now uses he/they pronouns.] my coffee style is the criminally underrated cortado, uh, though some people think it’s overrated and we’re talking about ‘(don’t) stay null’ today!AOIFE:
So, first off, when and why did you join the garages?ZACK.RY:
Yeah… so I joined in September. I went back through all my messages to look, um, but I did not, uh, know a lot of the fanbase before submitting music. I had just heard the music that was already out there and was like “this is really cool” and I do music anyway, uh, so before I was even in, like, the Discord or anything I made a song and sent it in, uh, during Season 6.AOIFE:
Awesome! So what is your musical background outside of the garages?ZACK.RY:
Yeah! I have been playing music since I was 8, uh, when I started piano lessons and have just been doing it ever since. Uh, part of my college undergrad degree was in, uh, classical voice and I’ve been a part of lots of different music outlets from like, church band to, uh, like homecoming dance things, uh, and- and then I’ve just made music for my own enjoyment in my downtime, including, uh, I was part of something called Significant Figures, uh, which is a similar concept to the garages of a group of fan musicians making music about, uh, the thing they’re fans about, which is, in this case, Dimension 20, an actual play D&D campaign.AOIFE:
Awesome! I’ve, I’ve been a fan of them for a while, I didn’t realize they had their own band, that’s pretty cool.ZACK.RY:
Yeah we’re a little bit smaller, uh, than the garages and by a little, I mean a lot but it’s still pretty fun.AOIFE:
Yeah, that sounds like a lot of fun. How did this song start?ZACK.RY:
It actually came from a conversation I was having with a friend about the chaos of, of necromancy and the string of incinerations we were experiencing. They had said, uh, we created our own hell with, uh, uh, resurrection and I said “okay, that’s a song lyric” and so the first thing I wrote was “now we live in a hell of our own creation” and just kinda spun out from there into this, uh… I don’t wanna say anthem, that might be too presumptuous, but a jam about, like, we don’t know what’s going on and this is chaos and it’s kind of our fault.[A clip from ‘(don’t) stay null plays.]
AOIFE:
So obviously, Jaylen’s necromancy is a prominent part, like, of the song, and it’s also been a very prominent part of a lot of songs for the garages and for Blaseball as a whole. Why did you personally choose to write a song about that?ZACK.RY:
Yeah. For me it was the first major event that I had experienced with Blaseball. I joined, uh, near the tail end of Season 5, uh, and so the first big movement that I saw in Blaseball was the organization for necromancy, and then the immediate effects of that, and so it was just this massive tumult of… stories, and of reactions, and emotions to something that was very much a consequence of our own direct actions, which is like so much fodder to write about. There’s not enough words, not enough songs to cover those sorts of themes, so I figured I would throw my hat in the ring and try and carve out a little corner, uh, for myself and just, uh, make some art about it.AOIFE:
Yeah, hubris is a very popular, like, trope when it comes to like, art, I think.ZACK.RY:
Yeah, yeah and I think what’s interesting with the garages is we kind of, uh, go both ways with that? We talk about the hubris of ourselves and so we’ve got a lot of that around necromancy but then we also talk about the hubris of the gods and the power figures in the game and in life in general, uh, and how it is the downfall of both sides, honestly.AOIFE:
Yeah, definitely. So, for this piece, what were your musical inspirations?ZACK.RY:
Yeah… I definitely knew I wanted to steer more like, pop-punk sorta deal, um, which has not been my typical history with music, I think I tend to go a lot more like singer-songwriter sort of deal, um. So with this one I was like “the garages are in Seattle, they’re like, grungy and they’ve, they’ve got a rock vibe to them,” so I really wanted to pull for more of a emo punk sort of vibe so the, the things I were thinking about were like All-American Rejects, and like a little bit of, um, I know they’re not, uh, not necessarily punk but like Metro Station and like these upbeat things that you want to move to but also you’re like “oh this is angsty I get it.”AOIFE:
Yeah… one thing that I felt was particularly angsty about the, um, piece is the multiple spoken sections that you have in it. Why did you choose to add those?ZACK.RY:
Yeah, those were a last-minute deal. Um, and part of it was just me playing around with, uh, different settings in my DAW, my Digital Audio Workstation, being like “oh this is a really cool sort of muffled voice effect, what can I do with this?” and, uh, ultimately the idea of having commentary go throughout this song… Uh, or at least the second verse is really where it focuses, uh, was kind of a cool thing for me where it was like, we are getting to tell the story of these characters and in a way adopt their voices but at the same time, uh, we are simply commentators. So, getting to, uh, throw those little snippets in was a fun way to throw my own voice into the hat, I suppose.AOIFE:
What effects do you usually use, like, outside of this song, how do you figure out which ones to use for this song, for other songs, like how does that process work?ZACK.RY:
I think it’s sort of an even mix sometimes between going in with an idea and then just playing around once you’re already in it, uh, so for me, normally I just automatically throw some reverb on. I, I want a little bit of an echo, a little bit more like of a, a dreamy sort of sound to what I’m recording, but in this case I also wanted to have some drive going on with it, I knew there was an edge to this song and so I wanted there to be like an edge to the sound as well. So I turned up some of the overdrive on some things and intentionally clipped some of the sounds, uh, so that they would spike. Which started out as an accident because I didn’t set up my recording settings correctly and then I was like “okay no that sounds kinda neat.” I think for me outside of the sort of experiment of the garages I, I tend to go like a little bit softer vibes which I’ve touched on somewhat with some of my other songs but, uh, in this case really wanted to dial up both settings and vibes that would give a little bit more intensity.AOIFE:
Yeah, definitely. It’s really interesting how, like, we have all of these artists who go in very different styles, very much stepping out of their wheelhouse sometimes.ZACK.RY:
Yeah.AOIFE:
Like we have artists who generally do more kind of singer-songwriter works doing punk music, we have artists who generally do punk doing country music,… [zack.ry chuckles] it’s very interesting because it’s, it’s definitely a community-based band instead of like a genre-based band.ZACK.RY:
Yeah, absolutely. And I think it’s been, for me at least, and I think a couple other people I’ve talked to, it’s been sort of freeing, uh, to enter into this space where you have people you can bounce things off of and you can try things that you’re not used to, uh, because ultimately it’s not as much of a project that’s focused on yourself, so you’re not… I don’t wanna say “you.” So I’m not as concerned about the, like, brandability or anything of it, I just wanna make music that is fun and pushes me and, uh, ultimately says something deeper about humans or about, uh, experiences from this community and this has been a really cool sort of just giant experiment in that way.AOIFE:
Yeah, so kind of on that basis, like, why Blaseball? What do you think it is about Blaseball as a fandom that can bring together so many artists to create fanfiction, fanart, and even music?ZACK.RY:
Yeah, I think it’s a couple factors, I think we’re in a perfect sort of crucible for it in that a lot of people are having to spend more time indoors, uh, and be at their screens, uh. So there’s just a lot more free time with which we can do this sort of art, but then additionally I think Blaseball is this really unique combination of factors where it is just enough input for you to work from, but then outside of that everything is fan-driven and so it’s this intensely already, uh, creative and collaborative community and so it’s kind of just like a- a really enticing thing to want to get to be a part of. Uh, to see someone else making something and that thing be received well and, uh, and, and to want to get to work with them and to push yourself a little bit further so I think Blaseball has really touched on… not just… inspiration, but also a lot of the things that are frustrating to us about what is currently relevant in our lives so we have this combination of a lot of free time, because of the irresponsibility of the power systems in place and then you have Blaseball which is commenting on these power systems and the sort of inescapability of it and the- the rough effects that innocent people have to go through because of it and then additionally just like an intensely creative and collaborative fanbase so I think it’s just a perfect storm of, of factors.AOIFE:
Yeah, absolutely, so kind of on that, how has the community reaction to the garages, what has that been like for you? ZACH.RY: It’s been extremely wild [chuckles] uh, I think. But I am not used to sharing my music as widely, I haven’t really released much of my own stuff before because I haven’t had a whole lot of time to practice it and I, I haven’t been like in love with the sort of production quality that I’ve put out there before. But with the garages and being around so many people who have so many different skill sets, I’ve learned a lot and I’ve gotten to experiment a lot, and so, uh, it’s been really cool to be on this timeline where I’m just practicing and releasing frequently and to do it with the garages and to see people respond so well to… not just my things but everyone’s music has been really humbling and, uh, thrilling and just like builds the anticipation to keep coming back to it, uh, to, to know that there’s people that… want to listen, that there’s an audience who’s committed to consuming and responding to and sharing your things has been just extremely motivating and, uh, gratifying.AOIFE:
Yeah, definitely, like, it’s, it’s a really great community to be a part of. Um, but yeah, so lastly, what do you think is the most underrated song of the garages, not counting your own work of course?ZACK.RY:
Yes, uh, I think anything by zandterbird, uh, is underrated. In particular ‘stay gold, mikeyboy’ has stayed in my head since the first time I listened to it. It just like, it’s my go-to shower song now. Uh, so I think everyone should listen to more zandterbird but specifically ‘stay gold, mikeyboy.’[A clip from ‘stay gold, mikeyboy’ plays.]
AOIFE:
Awesome, well, thank you so much for joining us on idol board, a podcast where we interview members of the garages, an anarcho-syndicalist blaseball band from the fictional location of Seattle. We make songs about being gay, the apocalypse, and fighting the gods, and you can find our music at blandcamp.com, with an L, Spotify, or on YouTube. We’ll see you next week! Now, here’s ‘(don’t) stay null’ by zach.ry, of the garages![‘(don’t) stay null’ plays in its entirety.]
AOIFE:
Ka-chow!ANNOUNCER:
idol board is edited by Ada Quinn, BONES, Jennifer Cat, Nerdy Sims, and zach.ry. The show is hosted by Aoife, produced by Tangereen Velveteen, transcribed by SigilCrafter Aya and Merry, and written by Aoife and Tangereen Velveteen.[outro music plays]