It’s not often that I hear music from the country of Latvia, so I jumped at the chance to hear country-rockers Next To Zero’s new track, Pretending To Be A Cowboy. It’s an amazing tune with lots of atmosphere – if you somehow missed it, you can find it at the bottom of this interview!
By Jane Howkins
You recently released a single titled Pretending To Be A Cowboy. What can you tell us about the track?
Well, the song was our take on sort of a ‘summer hit’ track – well, at least how we understand it. But underneath the surface, the song deals with somewhat heavier thoughts about difficulties and confusions of the current situation, when it seems that problems would be much easier solved in the way they usually do it in cowboy movies – just shoot from the hip and let it be! At least that’s the philosophy we are trying to practice lately, which also was one of the cornerstones in foundation of the band.
How has the reception to Pretending To Be A Cowboy been so far, and where can it be purchased?
The reception was pretty good actually. Well, after all it was a summer hit! But seriously, for an independent band it was a step-up, because the song got played in new territories like the UK, the USA, Brazil, Spain and Israel, to name a few.
And we also saw some interest raised about who we are and what we do. People also sent all kind of feedback, which was fun to read, and our favorite quote was probably about the song being a kind of “cyberpunk spaghetti western”. Spot on!
Pretending To Be A Cowboy, as well as the other stuff we released, can be purchased digitally on our Bandcamp page:
https://ne…dcamp.com/
You’ve also just released a new single called Never Ever. What can you tell us about that track?
Yes! Never Ever is our third single from our upcoming More Power album, and it actually wasn’t planned to be released as a single. Unfortunately, everything is not going as smoothly as it was planned, and due to various reasons, albums release was delayed.
But because of that, we decided to have one more single released in the meantime, and in a way, it was a perfect choice for a single in our situation, because the song itself is a comment on our frustration. So, no album yet, but another single – here we go! Always look at the bright side of life! *starts whistling*.
Do you plan to release any more singles in the near future?
We do, for sure, but first, we’re going to release our second album – More Power, which may or may not be accompanied by a supporting single. In any case – we are also working on new songs (for another album), so the cycle goes on. We will definitely circle back with another single sooner or later.
Do you plan to release a full-length album or an EP anytime soon?
Yeah, More Power is going to be our second effort, which actually falls somewhere between a full-length album and an EP. We called it an album anyway, but it’s going to be 7 songs long, which people sometimes consider to be too short for an album. But, it’s not the size that matters, right?
Jokes aside, we hope to release it in December (or January), and it’s supposed to be available on CD – a very limited cassettes run is also planned.
Did the pandemic hinder your work much?
Well, it definitely changed the pace, especially for this upcoming album. Though it’s hard to say whether it was for bad or for good, because we actually had much more time to spend in the studio. So artistically speaking it was a plus. But it also influenced the overall feeling of the music and lyrics, which turned out somehow darker than what we would usually do.
Your music is contained within the rock and grunge genres. What/who influences you most as artists? What have you been listening to recently?
Oh, the influences… Well, it’s hard to say, but if you would hold us at gunpoint asking for a straight coherent answer, it would be Kurt Cobain and Trent Reznor.
Of course we’ve been influenced by great American rock music and especially the one coming from city of Seattle, but we’ve always valued the music and feeling it gives you more than particular genres, so we do listen to jazz, metal, classic, electro, country or even ambient and folk.
Anyway, all those influences are pretty fluid, when you are growing you start with digging the Mickey Mouse Club and end up listening to Biohazard.
Where are you based? What is the music scene like in your part of the world?
We are based in Latvia, which feels a bit like the suburbs of a global society, but it also gives some artistic freedom and independence from chasing the trends. But of course, it’s hard to compete in local popularity with the chanson/Schlager type of music regular people tend to prefer here, so we rely on the almighty internet – also there is a vivid underground DIY music scene recovering from the pandemic and everything.
Do you have any tour dates lined up for the UK?
Not yet unfortunately, which is a big mistake. We hope it will be corrected soon.
Any last words for the fans?
Let’s stick together!