One day I got a friend request on Facebook from Chris Zurich….That same night while riding my Bridgitte I heard someone yelling out “Hey, Chicpea”, and it was Chris! After chatting with him for 5 minutes I knew we would be friends, he is a super down to earth guy, with an adorable smile. A week or so later I checked out his website and listened to his music. He is extremely talented and on top of that is a new citizen of the weird arts space craft that is 660 Studios.
What’s your name? My name is Chris Zurich.
Tell me a little bit about you and your music? I am from Philadelphia and I literally just moved to Jersey City six months ago. I used to play in a band in Philadelphia and it was called New West. There is a record label on the west coast called New West so we had legal trouble when they tried to sue us because of the name. That sort of broke up the band but I had already kind of decided I wanted to move to New York.
So you want to switch from rock to r&b right? How come? Just more my style. There are a couple of things… number one the whole band dynamic; having to organize five to six people at once versus just being able to work with one person. I think there are actually a lot of options with electronics and I like them. Style-wise, it’s just more inline with my voice type and it’s also the ability to work with one person. I feel like there is more options with instruments. You’re not limited the the five people in the band… you can use samples of old materials…its more dynamic I think.
What are your musical influences? All over the place. I mean if I had to choose, I like Bjork , Portishead…. Big Jeff Buckley fan, Radiohead… Recently I am into the Grizzly Bear, James Blake and hip hop too.
Tell me a little bit about the song you will be playing for us? That song is kind of interesting because when I started working with Roland, a lot of what we were focusing on was trying to find exactly who I am as a singer. We found that I’m sort of close to the classic soul like Sam Cook or Stevie Wonder…And this one particular song “Selfish Love” was built around a sample by a friend of mine who makes hip hop beats. But I kind of rearranged the beat so that I can write a song around it and it has that old feel to it.
Now the interesting thing about it is that I was walking through the subway and the song was done but it needed a little extra touch. One day I passed by this asian guitarist playing in the subway station and I was like this is really good but I kept on walking and I got to the end and I was just like… I like what he’s playing. Why would I not turn around and talk to him?” So, I turned around and said “would you be willing to record something for me?” and he said “I don’t speak English I’m here for 2 weeks. I’m from Japan.” And I asked if he had a business card he’s like, “no” but he pulled out a piece of paper he had his name written like 20 times on it and he ripped off a little and he handed it to me with his phone number. So I called him up and I invited him to the studio and he just recorded for like 2 hours and I just picked the best little bits of it and I put it in my song and it turned out to be like a great experience for him because this was his New York experience.
How do you like Jersey City so far? I love this city. My recording studio is up in Brooklyn up in Clinton hill. I’ve been coming there for a bunch of years now from Philadephia…. I had been traveling every other weekend to Brooklyn and it was only a matter of time before I moved here. I absolutely knew that New York was a destination that I needed to move to for a while. Jersey City was the perfect neighborhood and I feel it welcomed me in. I got to know alot of people through 660 and from just socializing… I can’t walk anywhere without seeing people I know. I love that! it feels so small for me.
What is your favorite Jersey City food or hangout spot ? Other than 660 of course. Yeah well I think this is one of my favorite spots, I also love Wonderbagel, sitting outside. It feels very relaxing even though it has a big goofy style… it looks like a french cafe to me. I also like PJ Ryans, I am a regular there.
Checkout Chris’s newest song! you heard it first here!!
https://soundcloud.com/chris-
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