Zak Schaffer

Music:

Member Since: 22/10/2005
Band Website: www.immensetalent.com
Band Members: I did the record mostly by myself, but a few of my friends came in to help out. For shows, I'm backed by White Belt:

Mark Noseworthy, Guitar
Scott Seiver, Drums
Josh Lopez, Guitar

Influences: I like music that's simple but sophisticated. I came from a pretty wacky family, so I tend to listen to stuff that's orderly. So, not a lot of free jazz.

I got really into the Beatles when I was eight. The Cars when I was ten. The Police when I was 12. Just about everything sucked in the eighties, except Prince. I went through a long XTC phase at the end of the decade. Then Nirvana came along and gave us all hope.

In the early nineties I got really into super violent movies like Bad Lieutenant, Man Bites Dog, and Laws of Gravity. With that, came Steve Albini records like PJ Harvey's Rid of Me and The Jesus Lizard's Goat. Around that time I also developed a new found respect for AC/DC. God, those guys are tough.

But I knew there was more to life than music by and for angry white men, and Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder and Al Green got quite a few spins over at Club Schaffer. And Charles Mingus showed me that there is jazz out there for pop fascists like me.

I was, like most Earthlings, seduced by Radiohead toward the end of the nineties. Around that time, Pet Sounds, First Band on the Moon, I Should Coco really pulled me back into Smart Pop. I've kind of been there ever since.

In the last couple years, Wilco and Gillian Welch have allowed me to rejoice in my folky roots. Like most children of the seventies my dad taught us to play pretty young, and I grew up listening to him sing folk and blues (not to mention Neapolitan arias and Bob Dylan).

Lately, I've discovered the joys of Cole Porter and Rogers and Hart. I figured that there had to be some good songwriters before the Beatles, right?

Whatever it is I'm listening to, it's probably a few minutes in length, contains more than four chords, has a few cool lyrics, some emotional content and is played by decent musicians. Things just haven't changed that much.
Sounds Like: I think the ingredient list is something like this

Beatles White Album
Elliot Smith, XO
Ben Folds Five, Whatever and Ever Amen
Todd Rundgren, Something/Anything
Beach Boys, Pet Sounds
Wilco, Being There
Stevie Wonder, Songs in the Key of Life

Record Label: All in good time...