Interviews: Rachel Minton of Zolof the Rock & Roll Destroyer

Our friend and frequent contributor Evan recently spoke with Rachel Minton, keyboardist and co-vocalist of Zolof The Rock and Roll Destroyer. They talked about the band's upcoming album, music piracy and the ups and downs of being in an independent band.

You can click Read More for the interview.

What can fans expect of the new album? How does it differ from others?

The new album deals with some subjects that we haven't before in
Zolof songs. It's a bit darker lyrically, but I also think it has
some classic fun Zolof moments, too. I think we're maturing as a band
and I hope that it reflects in our music.

When does it come out and who will it be released through? Are you
guys still on Eyeball Records?

I think if you really love the songs you should support the band and buy some music. This is especially important if you're stealing music from small bands because that's how they support themselves. They don't have a major label to give them tour support, etc.

We're releasing it ourselves on our new label, le pamplemousse
records and our friends at Flightplan records are helping us out.

What tour schedule can fans expect for the next few months to
support your upcoming release?

We're super psyched that we're touring this summer with Suburban
Legends, Patent Pending and Jet Lag Gemini. If all goes according to
plan, our record release date is September 25th and we plan on backing that
up with as much touring as possible.

From what I know, your former label, Eyeball Records is
strongly against piracy, how do you personally feel about the
matter?

Isn't every label against piracy? But seriously, this is a difficult
topic because on one hand i'm definitely part of the problem. I think
that everyone downloads music. Hopefully, it's just a sample, though,
to see if you like the album. I think if you really love the songs
you should support the band and buy some music. This is especially
important if you're stealing music from small bands because that's
how they support themselves. They don't have a major label to give
them tour support, etc.

Recently when we went attended our mastering session for the new
record and we got into a discussion with the mastering engineer about
how much care (and money) goes into every detail, trying to make your
CD sound as amazing as possible and in most cases it just gets crunched
down to an mp3 anyway. So I also think that it's important for people
to buy the physical CD for the sound and the packaging and to fully
understand where the band is coming from.

Diving deep in to the past, why did Anthony Green part ways with
Zolof years back? To me his job seemed pretty redundant to me at least..

A lot of people don't understand this, but Zolof wasn't a "real" band
when all the original members were around. We didn't play shows, we
didn't tour. We practiced a few times. We were essentially a studio
project, with each member contributing individually with Vincent at the
center, not collectively. We've been friends with anthony forever and we
let Anthony go beacuse he was going through a lot of personal issues at
the time and we wanted him to really focus on that. We're still really
good friends with Anthony.

What are your feelings about the lack of women in today's music?

I don't have any strong feelings on the lack of women in bands.
However, i think there are a ton of women moving the scene along at
magazines, pr companies, labels and as managers, etc and i think that's
awesome.

Do you feel at all out of place being in a scene where the
majority of the band members and audiences are male?

I guess I haven't really noticed the audiences being
predominantly male. I have noticed that for every tour we've ever
done except for one I was the only girl in a band, but it hasn't really
phased me much. I think for the most part I'm considered one of the
guys.

I read somewhere that you had/are having problems with Duet All
Night Long release. Apparently the major labels didn't like people covering their songs.

I never heard anything about that. There weren't any major labels
involved in the release at any level. The compositions of the songs,
however, are owned by who wrote them. Reignition, the label that
release 'duet', pays mechanical royalties to them on every song that's
sold.

Who picked the dirty title?

I think it was Jonathan London, the director of our video "Argh…I'm
a Pirate" and Reel Big Fish's "Don't start a Band".

Who/what do you think takes away the experience of being in a band?

Gas prices.

Being in a small band means you're always broke and don't have health insurance. That's probably the worst part. In all honesty, pretty much everything else rules.

How does being in a smallish indie band complicate your life? Is
Zolof your primary job, and if it is, does is it secure you
financially?

Being in a small band means you're always broke and don't have health
insurance. That's probably the worst part. In all honesty, pretty
much everything else rules. When we're not touring Vincent and myself
run Skylight Studio and we record and produce other bands CDs.

If there was one thing you could change about the music scene,
what would it be?

Bring back cassette tapes!

Favourite release of 2007 so far?

It hasn't come out yet, but Motion City Soundtracks, 'even if it kills
me'.