Into The World of Greyson Zane
Into The World of Greyson Zane
Orlando, FL based independent artist and Berklee College Of Music student, Greyson Zane has unleashed the Maverick EP upon the world at large. Featuring a stunning amalgamation of pop punk and metalcore, Greyson Zane’s compositions are jam packed with imagination and intrigue. In this interview for Highwire Daze, Greyson discusses the songs featured within Maverick, his collaboration with Felicity on the super infectious Emo Trash, his favorite horror movie of all time, and more…
Where are you based out of and what is your local music scene like there?
Based out of Orlando for right now. The scene is amazing. I honestly think we have the most talented alternative emo pop punk scene in all of America, probably all of the world. I could just name five bands out of the past five years that have all gotten signed or have all gotten on to do big things like Magnolia Park, 408, Dark Divine, Not Enough Space, Felicity. The list keeps going. I just feel like Orlando is such a great place for all these talented people.
Let’s talk about your new single Hellbent. What is the inspiration behind that new single?
We were talking about fears that day in the studio and what you’re afraid of. I feel like the most common fear among people is the fear of death and everyone’s afraid of death to like a certain extent. It’s definitely not in my top five fears. But that’s kind of what we were talking about that day, and that’s kind of what came out when we were writing the lyrics. So, it’s kind of like being afraid of death.
Maverick is going to be the name of your new EP, and I believe there’s gonna be a song on there called Maverick too. Give me some background on Maverick and why you chose to call it Maverick.
Maverick, the song is really cool and it has a feature from Saxi Rose on it. So there’s some saxophone, which I’m really excited about. It’s kind of like my 1975 moment from the record. But the reason I decided to call it Maverick is because this is like the heaviest that you’ve ever heard me. But also, I still did an alternative song like Sinner. That’s probably the lightest that I’ve ever been to. It’s just, when I heard the term Maverick it kind of gave me this idea of an unorthodox like way to do a record. Because almost every single song on this record is a completely different vibe from one another. They’re kind of all different, like little sub genres under the alternative umbrella.
Let’s move on to Impostor. Tell me a little about that one.
Imposter is my personal favorite from the record. That song was written about impostor syndrome. You feel like you don’t belong somewhere. I go to Berklee College of Music, so I felt like I don’t belong. I felt like I’m not talented enough to be here with a lot of my peers that are just so insanely talented. I’m just like, my God, I could never do something like that. And then being friends with some of the people that I’ve became friends with in the past couple of years that are far more advanced in the industry than I am. I’m just like, “Wow, I can’t believe I’m friends with you. Why are you friends with me?” I feel everybody has those type of thoughts. But you kind of have to drown them out and let yourself know that you do belong. Although I didn’t say that in the song, but it’s kind of the vibe of that one.
Let’s talk about Sinner.
That was the only other song that was written in the studio. The other four songs I had demos of, and I brought in. But that one was written with my good friend Alex Magnan from Young Culture and my producer, and we had five songs, and we were like, well, we should do a sixth. Like what should we do? What should be the vibe? I originally wanted to do like a really, really, really heavy song. So a song that was gonna be heavier than Hellbent or Blood. We kind of started going down that road and then we were like, no. And then Andy, my producer, was like, what if we do the exact opposite? We kind of just got out acoustic guitars and we just started playing some chords and singing and after about an hour of doing that, we had the entire song and that was it. Then I recorded vocals to it. The song that was like the quickest song to get done. That was the last song that we did for the record.
And I’m gonna go ahead and ask about Blood. Tell me about that one.
Blood I wrote right here actually in this chair and on this desk that my computer’s on. I wrote that one about the government and how corrupt it is. Kind of like a 1984 type vibe if you’ve read that book. I feel everyone has to read that book at some point. That was really fun because I got to use like my Slipknot influences for like the second half of the first verse and – like a lot of the heavy bands that I really look up to. So I’m really excited about that.
Felicity recently did a tour and actually played out here in Los Angeles. Is there any chance of you coming out here to Los Angeles to finally do a show for us?
I want to come out to LA really bad. For me to play a show in LA, the timeline would probably be looking like the end of this year or early next year.
At this point, have you had a chance to play Emo Trash with Felicity? And if so, how did it go?
I’ve gotten to play it with them four or five times now. We’re also going to be playing it at my release show, although they’re not on the bill because they’re playing a show the next month. But they’re all going to come out and they’re going to get on stage and we’re going to have a good time doing that song. But it’s so much fun just being on stage with everybody because it’s just like there’s too many people on stage and you can’t really do anything. But it’s just so much fun. It’s kinda like a big party. It’s kind of like a re-creation of all the stupid TikToks that we made that went viral.
I see a Halloween poster in the background there. What is your favorite all time horror movie and why?
That’s definitely my favorite horror movie of all time. The original Halloween. But that’s definitely my favorite because I just remember being like 15 and like I got ridiculously high and that movie was on TV. And I just remember watching it and then I remember taking a shower afterwards and being afraid that like Michael Myers was going to come in and stab me while I was in the shower. I’ve watched a billion times since then. I think it’s like the pinnacle of horror movies. I don’t think that there’s really anything better than Halloween. I feel like this is like the archetype for all slasher movies – and slasher movies are like my favorite type of horror movies. It’s just my favorite. I love the new ones too. Like the ones that have came out in the past like couple of years. I think those are really good too.
What’s up next for you after the EP comes out and the EP release show?
I’m just going to be focusing on making a lot of content and writing a lot of songs and teasing those songs on TikTok and Instagram, seeing which one’s people like the most. Because I kinda decided that’s how I was going to choose what songs make the next record. Just making a lot of content whether it’s from the old songs or the new songs. Obviously, the ones on the new ep. Kind of just like planning stuff out and hopefully playing a couple more shows. And just getting ready for the new record.
And do you have any messages for people who are reading this in the magazine or who are reading this online right now?
If you haven’t listened to my music before I would recommend listening to 2 Cool 4 Me or Imposter. I feel like you get a pretty good idea of my entire sound based off of those two songs. Because it can go like heavier or softer from just that starting point. I kind of write my songs based off of my own personal experiences. If you can relate to them and they make you feel better, then that makes me happy.
(Interview by Ken Morton)
