Second-year Carleton music student Jude Zappala juggles a full-time school load while playing music gigs at LIVE! on Elgin and the Rainbow Bistro in Ottawa.
Hailing from North Bay, Ont., Zappala first started releasing music when he was 12. A mix of folksy, indie-rock, Zappala’s music is both nostalgic of The Tragically Hip and uniquely his own sound. On top of being a solo artist, Zappala also plays music gigs with his band where he plays guitar and sings lead vocals.
Now, after recording two albums and relocating to Ottawa, he’s celebrating the recent Oct. 1 release of his third album, Yona.
The Charlatan sat down with Zappala to discuss his music motivations, inspirations and next steps in his young career.
The Charlatan (TC): What are your early connections to music?
Jude Zappala (JZ): I come from a musical household. My mom went to Carleton and she’s a high school teacher with one of her teachables in music. Some of my earliest memories are sitting on the carpet in my living room, listening to the White Album by the Beatles.
TC: Where do you get your inspiration from?
JZ: I take a lot of influence from groups and artists I like. Sometimes I’ll latch on to someone and then the next time I put something together, I can really hear that in my music. I wanted to start writing music when I got into The Tragically Hip and watched Gord Downie. I think he’s the coolest guy that’s ever lived.
TC: How do you come up with lyrics?
JZ: You know what, that’s something I’m still kind of discovering. I knew I could play the guitar and write little things, but I felt I didn’t have enough experience to write any good lyrics, so I didn’t try for a long time. A lot of the earlier stuff is instrumental, improvisational at times. Just objectively bad at times — it’s all an exploration.
TC: What do you use for production when making music?
JZ: I stand by real instruments all the way. I learned how to play a lot of instruments just because I wanted to record them. I major in music here at Carleton, so I really like organic sounds, real instruments.
To try things without prejudice — that’s the most organic way to discover what your sound could be. You try things and most of it sounds bad and then you might latch on to something, and you do it on purpose next time.
TC: Has studying music theory helped with your career, or are you improvising and seeing what sticks?
JZ: I never meant to learn anything about music. I didn’t want to, but it has helped. When I started I was kind of making archaic sounds, and now I actually know how to speak the language. The process of getting something out is more streamlined.
TC: How do you release so much music, especially when you’re busy with school?
JZ: That process is pretty cyclical. I’ll be able to write a bunch of stuff over the course of two months, and then find I’ve reached the bottom of the bucket. Then I need eight months of school so that I can just listen to music and think about things I haven’t done and not try to write anything.
Normally, what happens is I will get one idea and then a bunch of them just start kind of popping up, and then another cycle starts.
TC: Who are you listening to right now? Who inspires you?
JZ: This summer I listened to a lot of bands called Television and Wilco. I’ve been a constant listener of The Tragically Hip since I was 10. I guess that’s probably the most nationalistic part about me, I love The Tragically Hip. I wrote like half of all my papers last year on some part of The Tragically Hip.
TC: Are you planning to pursue a career as a solo artist, or continue with your band?
JZ: I have a band here and I write the stuff and we go out and play it. I don’t think I’m a solo artist. I’m a student. It’s fun to play with the band because oftentimes they breathe a lot of new kind of life into it, stuff I wouldn’t have done, stuff I can’t, because they’re better than me.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Featured image by Simon McKeown/The Charlatan.
