No Zu Communicate in Circadian Rhythms

NO ZU is a rhythmic weirdo band that hails from the suburbs of Melbourne and shines on festival and neighborhood rec center stages alike. Headed by Nic (the guy with the trumpet), their sound doesn’t really fit in anywhere, just like you. Only joking, they probably have heaps of mates. NO ZU is playing shows in Melbourne and Sydney to celebrate Hand Games’ first birthday, so head on down and try and work out what the hell they’re talking about in the following interview. Or just go and have a quality dance. Get tickets here.

VICE: So you guys are playing Sydney and Melbourne coming up, what city’s best?

Nic: Neither is better, I’m pretty excited about both. But I come from Melbourne, so we’re starting to get to know Sydney a little better, it should be fun.

Do things get all psychic-mind-meld when you guys record?

I do a lot of the recording myself and definitely things can feel spiritual at times. It’s a lot of physical communicating and talking how humans do, emails and phone calls. But there’s definitely something we communicate because anyone coming into the group realizes a lot of things are unsaid. We kind of all just have to feel the same jam and what we want to achieve, basically that’s just rhythmic music.

I’m getting some unsaid communication vibes already. What’s the deal with all the chanting?

I’m just a fan of circadian rhythm and I’m interested in the idea of rhythm in vocals, I guess that’s what chanting is. A rhythmic style of singing is kind of a big part of it because we’re not really a pop music kind of thing. It’s influenced from a lot of salsa music, Afro beat, and music from around the world.

I can honestly say that’s the deepest I’ve ever thought about circadian rhythm. Are you actually saying words in your songs or just making noises?  

Yeah they’re words, but the way I write a lot of the vocal parts I sing are gibberish and lyrics are what comes from it. But at the same time I’m really conscious of what the vocals are relating to the feelings, it’s about feeling more than anything.

I’m feeling that. How do you bring all this together with so many people in your group?

I keep harping in on this, but it’s all the percussion and rhythms. The textures and the medleys you can create, it’s the undercurrent of percussion that I find really fascinating. It’s like a forest floor of percussion underneath it all.

Cool, I don’t think I’m psychic enough to be in your band. But I did like your videos for Loving You Overtime and Emotion. They’re connected, what brings them together?

In a lot of ways they’re very different, but in most ways they’re very similar. They’re both explorations of the everyday, the honest everyday I live. And they’re just about choosing to find the beauty in everyday things and not having to look elsewhere. Also it’s challenging the perceptions of cheapness versus glamor.

Lets talk about dancing, you guys are always moving around on stage, who has the best moves?

I’ve got to say Andrew’s got a pretty mean “disco shuffle” which involves him moving his body with his shoulders down keeping his head completely straight with a very odd expression on his face.

Now that I can relate to. What’s the difference between recording and playing live?

Not much hopefully, I’m really interested in the idea of when you’re listening back to a record and it has the same energy and you can still picture the stage setup of going to a show.