Grammy and BRIT Award nominated Zoo Brazil, also known as John Andersson, has released over 160 singles and 8 albums under various monikers. Throughout his career, John has steadily carved out a reputation for himself as one of dance music's most innovative and respected producers and DJs. As a follow up to his last album "Please Don't Panic" and the mix compilation "Songs For Clubs” from last year, Zoo Brazil now presents his brand new artist long player, entitled "Any Moment Now".
John has seen much success as producer and songwriter with Kylie Minogue’s hit "The One" for her Grammy nominated 2007 album “X”. Zoo Brazil’s 2010 artist album “Please Don’t Panic” drew attention all over the world, and harvested the hit singles “You Can Have It All” and “There Is Hope”; the latter was picked up for a L’Oréal and Dermablend “Go Beyond The Cover” commercial on Youtube, where it became an instant success. This lead to over 26 million views (and counting), and various awards. Besides having produced music for HBO series like “Nip/Tuck”, MTV and countless other programs, 2012 also marked the year in which Zoo Brazil was assigned to write three compositions for the opening ceremony of the London Olympic Games. As a remixer, he also worked for Lana Del Rey, Moby, Fatboy Slim, Rex The Dog, James Holden, Pleasurekraft, Sébastien Leger, John Dahlback, Green Velvet, Human League and many, many others.
Travelling across the world as a highly acclaimed DJ, Zoo Brazil performed in established clubs including Ministry of Sound, Space and Pacha, and played all the major venues and festivals in Australia, Europe, USA and South America. All these travels eventually gave John the inspiration and motivation to begin working on a brand new artist album. What was most important for John however, was to deliver a high quality track list that would keep the release interesting from start to finish.
Just as with Zoo Brazil’s previous album, John secured several collaborations with other artists. On the opening track “Give Myself” we hear the vocals of Ursula Rucker, known from her singles with Louie Vega, King Britt and Sander Kleinenberg. Vocalist Rasmus Kellerman, who also featured on “There Is Hope”, joins forces again on “The Dark End”, while vocalist Philip (known from the band The Mary Onettes) delivers his voice on “Glass”, “Heart’s A Legend”, “Just A Breath Away”, “Shout” and “For Good”. American house legend Roland Clark teamed up with John for club track “The Message”.
“Any Moment Now” by Zoo Brazil is a massive album that flows all the way through, boasting a powerful track list of well-produced electronic dance music that should be of strong interest to every fan of the genre.
If you have the chance to hear his great album, I’m very sure that will be mesmerized, energized, and you will fall in love with Zoo Brazil’s ability to bring in every single composition, a certain unique mood and atmosphere. The standards are really high, and the result is so good that ‘Any Moment Now’ will be regarded as a classic album with timeless tracks. It sounds like the perfect opportunity to request an interview with the Swedish genius John Andersson, AKA Zoo Brazil. I’m so glad that despite his hectic schedule, he found time to reply to the questions in such a truthful and straight from the heart way, without thinking about his image, and how others will perceive him through his answers. Musicians are exceptional human beings that god sends to earth to preach the beauty of love, and Zoo Brazil is one of those angels. Check his answers while listening to this great album “Any Moment Now”. It’s a great challenge worth taking. Enjoy this very interesting conversation with Zoo Brazil.
Interview was written and conducted by Dimitri Kechagias, Radio/DJ/Music Journalist
Dimitri: First of all I would like to thank you for accepting my request to do this interview.
Can you let us know why you adopted the alias “Zoo Brazil” for this album, and if this pseudonym signifies something special for you? What other aliases have you used in the past, and did those mean something too?
Zoo Brazil: Well I been producing music under the name Zoo Brazil for around 15 years now.. Before that name I used other alias such as Laid, Cuba Computers, Nars, The Kelly Project and many more.. But for this album I’m under the Zoo Brazil alias, why? I don't really know.
Dimitri: Was your involvement with EDM a teenage dream come true? Are there any specific reasons for your engagement with EDM?
Zoo Brazil: EDM? Gosh I hope I’m not part of an EDM movement, for me EDM stands for something with bad taste, really something really bad, something very digital not electronic. I do for sure Electronic music, so I’m part of it I guess any way, no matter how much I don't wanna be part of it. I’ve always listened to electronic music since an early age, my father was a musician and did play early 80ish stuff for me. So I guess I developed my taste in music from there. For me it has always been about the music, the feeling and emotion it gives me, not the pose and fame that many people are all about these days.
Dimitri: Did you start your career first as a DJ or as a producer? Do you prefer DJ’ing more and entertaining a big crowd or do you enjoy your creative moments in the studio more?
Zoo Brazil: After doing this for more than 20 years now I guess I have some kind of experience and feel. I love both sides as much, to generate a feeling with a crowd is amazing, as much as being all alone in the studio and trying to come up with new songs. I love both parts so much!
Dimitri: Please choose for us the five most important DJ’s, producers, musicians, or others that have influenced your music style, productions and maybe DJ’ing style.
Zoo Brazil: A really hard one as it switches a lot, honestly I can’t. But people like Brian Eno, David Lynch, Martin Hannett, Henry Rollins, Arvo Pärt come to mind when I start to think.. This very "f*** you" attitude to how things can be done and why I’m doing stuff. I think listen to your heart is the biggest influence you should have.
Dimitri: Which of your many great tracks do you believe was the ”one” that attracted a lot of attention in the EDM scene, and people started noticing you as producer?
Zoo Brazil: Well depends on what you mean; I have done a few records over the years - over 200 single releases now I think.. But I recall some moments that have felt like wow moments, where you think you have done something amazing, and think that the rest of the world should understand it.. You feel a little depressed when people don't. "Laid - Punch Up" was a moment where I felt “shit this is really good and classic” - made in 1995/96 in my living room.. It was not until it was bootlegged and released in 2006 or so it took off ok.. Still a smack old song. Same with the Super hit I did for Kylie Minogue, the co-write was finished in my living room when I was changing between studios in the year 2000. Seven years later it becomes a hit, and sells over 3 million copies on her album. Never really had that NOW moment, it feels like it can be like I have been floating around, with ups and downs. But happy to say mostly ups.
Dimitri: In the press release about your new album you answer: “I only worked with vintage gear and classic analogue synths that I played live, instead of programming them. It gives the entire structure of all songs a warm, human touch”. Would you like to elaborate on that, and let us know if you believe that EDM today sounds superficial because of the new technology. Do you attempt to bring some human feel to it?
Zoo Brazil: For me and what I wanna do with music is something I wanna feel proud of, and something I hope others can feel when they listen. So many people using presets on a digital synth, buying synth loops and already half finished songs which they only need to copy/paste, put a compressor on top, and some white noise, and it’s done. For me it has always been about the music, and I do my own sounds from my synths, and over the years I been collecting and build up an amazing setup I’m happy with. Just like a painter, I wanna start with a totally blank paper, and do everything from start and build from there. There should be small mistakes in music; it makes it human and it’s also more interesting. It’s the same with me when it comes to food, art, films, it has to have something that grabs me. New Technology is great - I love it, but I wanna control the technology, not get controlled by it. Also, my old synths sounds nothing like a computer, still not even close. I must have fun making music and looking at a computer is not that much fun really - I prefer knobs.
Dimitri: Can you describe for us the equipment, software and hardware that you used for the production of your album “Any Moment Now”. Is there any particular sound that is dominant within the tracks that in a way characterises them?
Zoo Brazil: Software is my music program, well its half software and half hardware. I can, but would find really hard making music without Protools, so I’m in love with the program. It’s so simple and sounds so good, it’s so tight and just does what you tell it. So I use it simply as a tape recorder, recording my outboard synths gear on it. In the middle of the making of the album and after over 10 years of looking, I found a Yamaha CS80, which you can hear in a lot of the tracks. I think some of the stuff I used for the album is pre 1985, some preamps and compressors like the UBK Fatso was used on almost every song at some stage. I was buying more and more instruments and studio gear during the process, so I can’t wait to start on the next album.
Dimitri: From the album “Any Moment Now”, is it possible for you to tell us the track that took you the longest time to complete, and the one you managed to produce very quickly? How many hours or days do you usually spend finishing a single track?
Zoo Brazil: Hardest one was the track called "Two" as it changes in note all the time, so I think I worked almost 2 weeks with that song before I was happy. It has layers with Roland Jupiter 4, Jupiter 6, Jupiter 8 and the CS80, all with automation on filters and envelopes during the recording. I was changing the drums back and forth a million times. Finally I took the Simmons SDSV Drum module and played on the pads and that felt just right. I’m not talking about the arrangement - I was about to give up 100 times. In some way, the easy one was "Hearts A Legend", it felt just so perfect from the start. I just tried to keep it simple, once I got the feeling I was after in the production.
Dimitri: Do you believe that “Any Moment Now” is an inspired album that will be an inspiration for the listeners as well? Can you reveal for us the source of your inspiration for the album?
Zoo Brazil: It’s hard for me to say as I have been so engrossed with it. I’m happy with it, and feel extremely happy how it sounds, and that the label allowed me to make whatever I wanted to do. There are some songs like "Glass" and "Hearts A Legend" which I feel could be the best work I ever done, but I guess time will tell if that’s the case. All the time, I just had a certain mantra in my head "let music be music " and try to not think about what people want to hear, or get influenced by any others. I was just doing what I felt was right at that moment.
Dimitri: Did you finish the album within a tight time restriction, or were you completely free to deliver it to the label whenever it was ready?
Zoo Brazil: I had almost as much time I wanted, but after almost 1 year they started to ask how things were going and I said, wait, wait! I wanna try some more things out.. I’m happy I did, but at some point I stopped.
Dimitri: Is it possible to compare for us “Please don’t Panic” and “Any Moment Now”? Are there any major differences between the two that your fans will notice, or does your new album continue were “Please don’t Panic” stopped?
Zoo Brazil: For me it feels like a huge difference, but in a good way. I don't really feel like talking about how and why I feel that way, it better people listen, and let them make up their own minds.
Dimitri: It would be great to take us on a virtual tour of the album and give us a short comment about each track. This can be about the production process, the vocalists who you collaborated with, or an amusing story that happened while you were recording it?
Zoo Brazil: Sure no problem. It’s hard for me to talk about my music sometimes, might sound corny as its just music, but I will keep it short.
Give Myself (featuring Ursula Rucker)
Always wanted to work with Ursula at some point, love her voice, so after doing a backing track she came onboard, and now we have become good friends, and we are working on more music. A great classic house track, some Minimoog, Yamaha CP80 piano and a Roland Jupiter 6 are the mains here.
Always wanted to work with Ursula at some point, love her voice, so after doing a backing track she came onboard, and now we have become good friends, and we are working on more music. A great classic house track, some Minimoog, Yamaha CP80 piano and a Roland Jupiter 6 are the mains here.
Glass (featuring Philip)
This was the first track I have done with Philip after having been a fan of his voice for years. I finally approached him, and asked if he wanted to write some lyrics, and it turned out amazing. Love this blues feel in the song mixed with a bit of everything. For me, of the best songs on the album.
This was the first track I have done with Philip after having been a fan of his voice for years. I finally approached him, and asked if he wanted to write some lyrics, and it turned out amazing. Love this blues feel in the song mixed with a bit of everything. For me, of the best songs on the album.
Ahh
Simple club track, I sampled my own voice to make it.. AHH simple really.
Simple club track, I sampled my own voice to make it.. AHH simple really.
Heart’s A Legend (featuring Philip)
Many people say to me it’s the best song on the album and very cinematic, it has this haunted feel to it. Very simple track - one of my favourites.
The Message (featuring Roland Clark)
Classic house club track, been playing out in my DJ sets and it works amazing. We should def do some club remixes on this one.
Classic house club track, been playing out in my DJ sets and it works amazing. We should def do some club remixes on this one.
Two
Hardest track to make on the album, and over 8 min long, and changes chords all the time.. I got almost seasick recording this.. But turned out amazing! Might sound not-that-complex, but I think people will discover more and more in this song the more they listen closely.
Hardest track to make on the album, and over 8 min long, and changes chords all the time.. I got almost seasick recording this.. But turned out amazing! Might sound not-that-complex, but I think people will discover more and more in this song the more they listen closely.
Just A Breath Away (featuring Philip)
Not sure what this is.. When I listen to it I can’t get a grip if it’s a club track or some kind of 80ish pop record. But I love the feeling - some huge Yamaha CS80 pads and strings all over it.
Not sure what this is.. When I listen to it I can’t get a grip if it’s a club track or some kind of 80ish pop record. But I love the feeling - some huge Yamaha CS80 pads and strings all over it.
The Dark End (featuring Rasmus Kellerman)
Rasmus and I have done a few racks over the years, so I felt just right to ask him again, and we came up with this kind of deep progressive song. CS80 all over the spectrum again.
Rasmus and I have done a few racks over the years, so I felt just right to ask him again, and we came up with this kind of deep progressive song. CS80 all over the spectrum again.
Shout (featuring Philip)
One of the first songs I made for the album. I guess the label must been surprised hearing this coming out from the speakers in the office, lots of live drum recordings, and me trying to play bass and guitar like I was in some UK rock band. Sadly I’m just alone. Lots of reverbs and Simmons SDSV drums. Some people might get surprised.
One of the first songs I made for the album. I guess the label must been surprised hearing this coming out from the speakers in the office, lots of live drum recordings, and me trying to play bass and guitar like I was in some UK rock band. Sadly I’m just alone. Lots of reverbs and Simmons SDSV drums. Some people might get surprised.
Sweat
Straight up tech-house track, more or less the style that I’m DJ’ing. It has been a secret weapon in my DJ sets, so I just had to add this to the album, so people don't think I turn all Rock n’ Roll after the last track.
Straight up tech-house track, more or less the style that I’m DJ’ing. It has been a secret weapon in my DJ sets, so I just had to add this to the album, so people don't think I turn all Rock n’ Roll after the last track.
For Good (featuring Philip)
Last track on the album, but also the last track I did for the album. Very big Roland Jupiter bass chords and haunting vocals and a DMX drum machine. This track just builds and builds - still very simple. Fits a pool party, and at the same time driving home alone in the night.
Last track on the album, but also the last track I did for the album. Very big Roland Jupiter bass chords and haunting vocals and a DMX drum machine. This track just builds and builds - still very simple. Fits a pool party, and at the same time driving home alone in the night.
Dimitri: One of my favourite questions to all DJ’s is that one about self-reflection and self-criticism. Out of 10 with what score do you rate the various elements of your DJ performances and why?
Zoo Brazil: This was an easy one!!
a) your mixing skills: 11
b) your ability to choose the right track for the right occasion: 11
c) your friendly attitude towards the fans that come to shake your hand when you perform and after?: 11
a) your mixing skills: 11
b) your ability to choose the right track for the right occasion: 11
c) your friendly attitude towards the fans that come to shake your hand when you perform and after?: 11
Dimitri: Do you usually spend some time interacting with your fans through the internet and the social networks like Facebook and Twitter? Do you believe that those tools are vital for your self promotion?
Zoo Brazil: I have such a hard time with social media - it feels like you need to scream so loud to get noticed, and if you don't scream people will not notice you. One of the reasons I started to make music was that I don't have to scream and shout, so I have a really hard time dealing with all this nonsense really. But I will try to get better with all that.. Most of the big names have people doing it for them all the time, so it looks like it’s them. So I need to get someone doing it for me too, but it all feels so wrong, so I can’t.
Many thanks to John for the time he dedicated to replying to my questions .
Many thanks to Jeroen Polak at Black Hole recordings office for his great support to help organize this interview.
Many thanks to Mark at Black Hole recordings office for his big support for my radio shows with great music
Many thanks to Paul at 1mix radio for proofing the final version of this interview.
You can buy the album here:
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