Exclusive Interview: AMZY

This week I caught up with AMZY, an incredibly talented synth pop band from Colorado. AMZY offer a distinctive sound that I had to share with you.

Hi guys, so for those who haven’t heard of you before can you give us a brief introduction?

Nick: Hola, me llamo Nick! I slap-a-da bass in AMZY.

Sean: Sean! I play lead guitar and I sing sometimes in AMZY.

Wes: Wes here- the lesser evolved AMZY guy who beats stuff with sticks.

Brennan: Brennan here! I have melodic schizophrenia and I sing lead vocals and play around with synthesizers in AMZY.

So who is AMZY, what are you all about?

AMZY is an Indie rock project that started out with the idea of bridging various influences together to try and find something fun. Our music wraps a blend of vocals and synthesizers around elements of indie rock and pop with the goal of inducing a feeling or mindset specific to the listener. We released our first singles 'Time to Change' and '5 to midnight' in 2014 with both tracks receiving a good reaction in the local Denver music scene. In 2015 we released our first EP, 'We Don’t Walk...We Dance,' which features 5 tracks and a whole lotta fun.

How did the group form?

Brennan, Sean, and Nick were all friends in high school and shared a passion for music and video production. Everyone has been playing music since they were young, but had to back down when we all went to University. Brennan and Sean were working on multiple projects with other musicians, but came together in 2013 to start the project that later became AMZY. Nick joined to play Bass at the start of the 2014 Summer. Wes answered a craigslist ad that we posted and, on a completely unrelated note, also knew how to play the drums!

Where did the name Amzy come from?

When we were in High School we would stay up late almost every night experimenting musically in a shed in the backyard of Sean’s parent’s house. 90% of this experimentation was more or less “noise” and Sean’s mother always had to come out and tell us to shut up. Being the kids that we still are, we never stopped after her warning and only slightly turned down the volume to try and get away with more music. After years of this game she had pretty much given up on trying to get us to stay quiet, but we made her a deal that if she let us continue being noisy we will name a band after her. Her name is Amzie! We understand that we probably come off as "Momma’s boys,” but AMZY helps us remember the fun and excitement we had making music and how the people around us truly shape who we become. We always ask people what they think AMZY stands for because everybody has their own idea. On one occasion we asked fans what they think AMZY stands for and they gave us our alter-egos  “Andrew, Michael, Zachary, and Yusef.” So that works too.

Where do you guys find your inspirations and how do those inspirations fit into your music?

A lot of the inspiration for the sound comes from the music we listened to when we were young and the evolution of the genres we love. The goal is to then try to bridge these different styles together. For example, Sean is influenced by a variety of rock formats like roots rock, Blues, classic, folk, and indie with a slice of electro-rock. On the other side, Brennan likes electronic, synth-pop, and modern alternative. We look at these elements and then start building! However, we try to refrain from putting ourselves in a box because we never truly know where the song could take us. Holding a broad pool of influences and styles gives us more to experiment with and ultimately strengthens the emotion of the song. Half of the time we don’t know what that emotion is until we are halfway through the formation of the song so we just go with it and see how many variations we can make before selecting the best version based on what it instils in us. The lyrics are a projection of the various experiences and transitions we went through in our lives. Finding yourself in the dark after failure, heartbreak, or depression is something that many of us can relate to, but finding a grip on the brighter side and the struggle to pull yourself out has always been a transition that we like to emphasise.

Where do you see yourselves ‘fitting in’ to the modern music scene?

Actually, we kinda hope we don’t fit in. We just want to keep doing our thing and hope people like what they hear. The thing about living in Denver is it has a very diverse music scene and there’s always a place for artists and musicians regardless of what they do. We all help each other out so there’s a sense of community that doesn’t necessitate ‘fitting in’. Eventually everybody just wants to stand out in their own way and we couldn’t ask for anything more. On a broader scale, we want to be able to do this for a living (every musician’s dream) and contribute to modern music in a way that inspires younger musicians to pursue their passions. We are still kids at heart, anxiously waiting for a new album or leaving a show at 2:00am with hoarse voices and a ‘totally worth it’ mindset. It is our deepest wish to be able to instil that excitement with AMZY in the future.

Alphabetically, we would fit somewhere between All American Rejects and Angels & Airwaves.

What's been the proudest moment of your career so far?

Hearing our songs on the radio was fairly emotional for us. We were part of a radio contest that put our song '5 to Midnight' on regular rotation on the Radio. It normally would have been big deal, but it was an even bigger deal that it was played on a station that we started listening to around 4th grade. On top of that, the DJ that spun us (Nerf) has helped grow the Denver music scene from what some people might call a “fly over state” to the next hot spot for huge acts. He was a vital part of our desire to be musicians, as well as the station, and so hearing him and later meeting him was literally a dream come true. 

On top of that, we ended up winning the contest with KTCL in front of a great crowd.  It was quite a memorable show.

Of the songs that you’ve produced, what’s your favourite and why?

The whole ‘We Don’t Walk...We Dance’ EP was unforgettable because we recorded it in the span of a couple days in a house in the Rocky Mountains. If we had to pick a song, we’d go with ‘Feet On the Ground’ because it pulled a lot of diverse elements together and set it all to an energy that felt different, but right. The song started out as pretty much a synth line, some humming, and a verse but it became a testament of just how far we can explore the AMZY soundscape. Furthermore, there were a lot of events unfolding in 2014 that involved the powerful vs the powerless and we wanted to create a battle cry for those fighting against the various forms of oppression.

What does the future hold for AMZY?

We’re working on a full-length album as well as getting a tour planned in the next year or two. Our dream is to be performing with the bands we love while connecting and dancing with people! 

Where can people hear more of you? Have you got any live shows coming up?

You can find our music on most digital retailer sites like iTunes, Beats, Spotify, and Soundcloud.

We love performing so if you’re ever in Denver there’s a good chance you’ll find us! A couple of Colorado showcases coming up are: The Westword Music Showcase, Underground Music Festival, and Taste of Fort Collins where we’ll be opening for Atlas Genius. Additionally, we are putting together a live concert filming with a potential debut of new material at The Bluebird Theatre in Denver on August 14th 2015. We’d highly recommend following us on Facebook (or any other social media outlet) and stay in the loop for more shows, music, and videos!

This is a band which really have me hooked at the moment, their songs are so unique and go to places which you wouldn’t expect. You think you know AMZY when you’ve heard a song but then the next comes on and blows you in an entirely different direction. I would massively recommend checking them out!