We had the chance to catch up with electronic hip hop band Lonely Together. The duo, ZAK and Rosie, met at Western Washington University and officially formed as a band in early 2018.
Seattleite: Tell us more about how you each got into music.
ZAK: I started writing poetry in high school and a lot of my friends rapped & freestyled growing up. I started writing songs after finding type-beats on YouTube in 2008. That progressed into a rap duo, a reggae / hip-hop band fusion, and after the fourth crew and I went our separate ways, I decided I was done working with other people because I felt like I was wasting my time. About three years ago, I got my first interface / mic set up and started recording myself and teaching myself how to engineer, which was a game changer. Once I had control over studio time and I could record whenever I felt inspired, I never looked back. Starting in 2018, Rosie and I taught ourselves how to produce, and after a few months, we realized we had really good musical chemistry and started releasing songs and finding our sound and here we are!
Rosie: From first grade to middle school, I took piano lessons, transitioning into playing the trombone through high school. My parents loved classic rock and my dad has an extensive vinyl collection, including The Beatles, Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Allman Brothers Band, and Jimi Hendrix, so I grew up very fascinated by live instruments and music in general. Unfortunately my involvement in music took a long hiatus when I went to college, but recently got back into at the beginning of 2018 when ZAK got excited about producing music. With Lonely Together, I am a music producer, keyboardist, songwriter, and vocalist.
Seattleite: How would you describe your sound / music genre?
Lonely Together: Our sound is influenced by all types of music, drawing inspiration from Hip-Hop, R&B, Electronic/Trap & Alternative Rock music. We love ambient, atmospheric sounds and vocal samples. Our strength lies in finding a middle point to meet at between our different influences, and that is when we make some of our best stuff. We have completely different musical backgrounds, with Rosie gravitating more towards major chords & pop/folk music and ZAK being more of a fan of hip-hop/trap music & darker sounds, but that is what makes our sound so unique. You can really hear both of our influences in our music, and in some songs you can tell when one or the other of us took more of the lead to develop a certain type of sound.
Seattleite: Do you do music full time?
Lonely Together: Not yet! We both have full time jobs. The goal is to ultimately quit once we’re at a place where we can pursue music and finally pursue music full-time. Right now we’ve got our heads down, working to build that foundation.
Seattleite: Tell us more about your debut EP ‘Neverlost’. What does Neverlost mean to you?
ZAK: Neverlost means a lot to me personally because it’s really a reflection of my entire musical journey. It’s also I think my most complete project that I’ve been apart of / made. It shows a great example of the variety of sounds that we can create and also lays the foundation for what we stand for as a group. My entire journey I always thought that I wasn’t in the right place or was making the wrong moves because of all of the setbacks, but in the last few months have been realizing they actually all were for a purpose & I was Neverlost all along.
Rosie: My mom was a passionate 3rd grade teacher who spent almost every spare moment she had creating. Whether it was a scrapbook, a watercolor piece, handmade jewelry, or her sweet singing voice, I always was intrigued by her love for art and followed in her footsteps. So when she passed away from cancer in 2016, I found myself confused without guidance, unsure of what to do with my life. Making music with ZAK has helped me rediscover my passion for art and constantly reminds me of my mom. So for me, Neverlost is the recognition/acceptance of where I am and the path that got me here. When I am making music, it helps me realize that I was Neverlost.
Seattleite: I know the two of you are in a relationship. What’s it like to make music with your significant other?
ZAK: It’s amazing. You would think it might be complicated and slightly difficult, but we just found our pocket. It allows us to spend way more time together than we normally would be able to.
Rosie: I love it. I think making music together has actually helped our relationship grow. With the fast-paced, technologic world we live in, music has brought us closer together and we actually look forward to when we get off of our 9-to-5 jobs so we can get in the studio to create together. Since we both have different musical tastes, it can be difficult to compromise on the sounds, instruments, tempo, key signature, drums, etc., but it has also taught us how to communicate more effectively and to hone in on our sound together.
Seattleite: Do you have any upcoming shows? What’s next?
We just had a show on March 29th in Bellingham and will be having our EP release party at Avalon Records in Bellingham on Saturday April 27th & music starts at 3PM. We are currently putting together a show in Seattle that’s looking like it will be in June. We also just found out we got our first local festival performance placement, which we will be announcing soon.
The EP ‘Neverlost’ released today and we have two music videos from the project that will be released shortly after. I will be releasing a ton of new ZAK singles starting in May, and will be consistently releasing new music for the rest of the year so we’ve got a LOT coming. We’re both super excited to start releasing all of this new music to show the variety of sounds/styles that we have and think the project is a great introduction for people. Stay tuned!
Spotify: https://fanlink.to/Neverlost
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/zakmakesmusic
S E A T T L E I T E 