“I’m making way for new things”: Inside the fearless return of ZAND

“Honestly,” begins ZAND, “I was just bored and felt like chatting absolute shite…”

It’s a typically frank response from the Blackpool genre-destroyer, when Kerrang! enquires about the meaning behind their sizzling new single. But would you expect anything less from the pioneer of ugly pop, who in their 2023 K! cover debut stressed how they’re constantly pushing to be their most “authentic self”?

Following last year’s massive Cocktail Molotov from the Arcane League Of Legends: Season 2 soundtrack, ZAND is kicking off a whole new era today – and while much has changed, they’re still the same unapologetic artist as ever.

This chapter begins with “ultimate hater anthem” TOES! – ‘ultimate’ being the operative word, as they throw together brilliant, brutal lyrics (‘I cannot relate to you bozos…’) with rock, rap and everything in between. We caught up with ZAND to chat even more shite, and find out what else is to come…

First up, how are you feeling right now as you unveil TOES!?
“Excited! And scared.”

This is your first new music since last year’s Cocktail Molotov, which was such an incredible success. Were you surprised at how much it blew up, and how did you cope within that whirlwind?
“Thank you! I wasn’t that surprised at how well it did, because Arcane has such a gargantuan platform with a fanbase that really gets involved with its soundtrack – that, paired with just knowing Cocktail is a fucking banger of a song in general which would definitely resonate with both an alternative and moody audience had me feeling like I knew it was gonna do well.”

Going into new music, did that make you feel any more pressure than usual, knowing you’d found this whole new audience with the Arcane fandom?
“I didn’t and don’t really feel any pressure, oddly! Just an insane sense of gratitude and excitement that I have this elevated launchpad to introduce more music from. The new fans are so sick. There’s obviously people who want more songs like that but I don’t know if I’ll make one, I’m just creating what I want as per… unless a show or whatever comes along again and asks me to write something specifically for them (laughs). I’ve been sitting on heaps of this music for so long it’s nice to be getting it out.”

You’ve been teasing TOES! by killing off your former self in The Daily Drain. Why did you want to say such a definite goodbye to everything you’d built with your brand of ugly pop?
“So you’ve read the news! The SEWERSTAR is like a little cartoon character based on an exaggerated facet of my personality, not my former self by any means… it’s not like that. I’m not really knocking down what I’ve built – I like the cosy little home I stacked together with ugly pop. Now I’m constructing a bigger one with a different type of brick that I prefer. Maybe it’ll have a cosmic attic that takes you somewhere weird? I’m making way for new things, but obviously shedding the label I coined for my music had to be done in the most theatrical, ZAND way possible: by having its poster child stabbed to death at the edge of a sewer, a noir murder mystery reported by a weird little newspaper with some odd connection to a familiar looking puppet that I found in my loft. Her name is Sue, by the way…”

Shout-out Sue! What can you say about all these teasers – is there going to be even more ZAND lore coming?
“You’re probably gonna be up to your eyeballs in ZAND lore. I love telling stories and world-building. I basically took up puppeteering for this. Now I’m making music videos again – hint! – which I’ve really missed doing, so there’s a ton of Easter eggs to be found and wires to be connected soon.”

TOES! is such a fun mixture of everything – in terms of nerdy production details and working with Dan Weller, what was your favourite thing about piecing it all together?
“The hook for TOES! came whilst I was out on a walk with my dog last year. She’s one of those ideas that was like projectile vomit when she got going; you can’t stop her from cascading out, splattering all over your clothes and walls. I didn’t really have anything to draw reference from consciously. I got home and produced the entire beat on Logic and that came together with writing the rest of the song hand in hand. I knew I wanted a fat pulsating bassline, I knew I wanted a techno synth, and I knew I needed to pair these with chuggy-as-hell guitars. I needed petty double claps. I needed a hi-hat that mimicked a ticking bomb. I don’t know what was more fun – putting the production together or writing the raps. There’s quite a few double entendres, parallels and a lot of wordplay in there. I just have to be a smartass for some reason.
“When I’d finished it on my end, I had no choice but to ask Dan to enact some of his metal wizardry onto the production. The shitty chorus guitars I’d already put down were begging to be replaced with something gnarlier and more distorted, and of course it had to have a very silly breakdown. It also needed a better kick, which Dan found for me, and is part of the intro’s ‘That kick sounds like straight ass, get me a new one. STAT!’ gag – which was not the case for the ‘synth and the clap’ part, though, they’re all my doing… whoops. The bridge is horrifically obnoxious on purpose, the strings I put on there are meant to illustrate when people tip-toe in old cartoons, if that makes sense. Metaphors! I love working with Dan – we’ve been good friends and collaborators for years now.”

Fans have been waiting for a proper debut album from you. Is this a good sign of what’s to come, and what can you tell us about a full-length record?
“Now that I think about it, it’s not going to be like anything the average ZAND listener would expect from a ZAND album. Think of TOES! as a friendly introduction.”

This is the first statement of your new era. How excited are you for this next chapter of ZAND, and what are your current ambitions for where you want to take things?
“I’m hyped! I’m proud of what I’ve done so far. Running this project mostly solo definitely has its pitfalls, but it’s still very empowering in a way. I don’t have a manager, agent or label so keeping at it whilst staying authentic to myself and my artistic vision is all I’ve done and will continue to do. Make music for yourself first and foremost, and anyone that it resonates with is a fat bonus.”

TOES! is out now

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• Delilah Bon: “Before, I felt like I was screaming on my own. Now people are screaming with me”