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Nick Zinner Is Bringing 41 Strings To Sydney Festival

Nick Zinner and a bunch of cute band kids at the Sydney Opera House.

Nick Zinner will be in town this January for the 2012 Sydney Festival and we're pretty excited about it. He'll be performing his expansive composition 41 Strings alongside the Australian Youth Orchestra. Think about it: Nick Zinner and a bunch of cute band kids at the Sydney Opera House. The amazingness beggars belief. We caught him on email and here's what he had to say.

VICE: Hi Nick, we’re looking forward to seeing you on our shores.

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Nick Zinner: Hi VICE. Thanks, likewise.

This is going to be just your second performance of the show. What can you tell us about the debut?

We only had two days to practice for the first one, it was definitely a by-the-seat-of-our-pants operation - but it turned out so well. It was a free event and around 1,500 people came by. Everyone was really excited to be a part of it.

How different is the experience for you as a performer to your gigs with Yeah Yeah Yeahs?

It’s a totally different animal. For one, it’s not a rock show. I’m also sort of conducting and cuing the string sections, the guitar sections, the drummers while playing, so there’s not really a direct interaction with the audience which is a big thing for YYYs.

You’re working with the Australian Youth Orchestra. Tell us about that.

I’m real happy that came through. String players and rock musicians are not used to playing with each other and I thought a youth orchestra would be more excited and open to playing this sort of thing.

Fair enough. So we hear the show was inspired by Earth Day?

Yeah this clothing company called Loomstate asked me to write something for the event they were throwing around Earth Day. Last year they made a piece called 40 Drummers with Hisham (Akira Bharoocha) and they wanted to top it this year with strings and asked me to write something. Hisham based the drummers piece on the four seasons, and we did that again with this one, just to break it up into sections of four. To have that framework and inspiration to start with.

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Have you ever written music scores of this scope before?

I’ve done some. Like for some songs in the Where The Wild Things Are movie, and also for Karen’s Stop The Virgins project a while ago, but nothing for so many musicians. I don't know how to read music so I had my friend Gillian Rivers arrange everything for the different sections from the score I had written and recorded on my computer.

What can go wrong when you’re working with such a massive group?

String players can easily go out of tune with each other if they can’t hear themselves properly, it’s kind of an acoustical nightmare for them playing with drums and guitars. Guitarists can fuck up or try to put their own touch into a part… there’s a lot that can go wrong. I don't want to think too much about that.

Has working on this lead you to discover a new love for a new instrument?

I’ve always loved cello and viola, but the upright bass is so sick!

We’ve heard that the drum circle gets people in a pretty meditative state, do you find it transportative while you amongst all the strings?

I didn't do the drummer piece last year, but I might do the one in Sydney that Hisham is leading before our performance. The whole experience of playing with so many people is really transportative though, I have to make sure I don't drift away and lose my place in the score.

You’ve been to Sydney a bunch of times now, what do you like most about the place? 

I really like the Zoo first and foremost. When YYYs were there two years ago we were only in Sydney for one day, so it’s been a while since I’ve spent any real time there. But I have some friends there and there’s so much tasty food for me to eat. I’m not really a sunshine sort of person, but it’s one of the few places in the world where I actually enjoy it because the city is so beautiful…at least most of it. I’ll probably spend a lot of time at Red Eye buying records.

Nick Zinner performs 41 Strings with the Australian Youth Orchestra on 22 January 2012 at the Sydney Opera House. Tickets and info here.