August 22, 2024 • 11 mins
Today Kiwi iconic band Zed release their first album in 20 years, Future Memory.
Formed at Cashmere High School, the Canterbury band will celebrate with a launch party in Akaroa today.
Bassist Ben Campbell joined John to talk about the album, their history and the pressure their fame brought the young group 20 years ago.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Canterbury Mornings podcast with John McDonald
from News Talk zed B.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Good and that's a song called future You from the
new album Future Memory, released today by ZED and Ben
(00:36):
Campbell from zedis with us now.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Mate, good morning, How are you very well?
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Am I the first person in the world to tell
you that that song's got a bit of a Coldplay
feel about it?
Speaker 3 (00:46):
You're not the first. You're finding a couple of members
in the band, but a big Coldplay fans. And of
course we toured with them when they released Parachutes back
in two thousand and two or three. We did there
Australian tour and New Zealand tour, thirteen odds shows just
as they were blowing up globally and it was just
(01:08):
that was a fantastic experience for us. So yeah, we've
always we've always been a little bit connected to them
and inspired and enjoy their sound and the way that
they make music.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
So the two guys in the band who were big
Coldplay fans, did they manage to hold it together during
the course of that tour that they were you know,
you guys were the support act for this major band.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
Yeah, well, I mean I guess at the time they
could play, were just emerging. And I have a very
fond memory of it. Was one of our A and
R people at Universal Music saying, hey, look, this album
has just launched. You guys are going to love it.
And they weren't. They weren't signed to Universal. But she
(01:48):
took us into Real Groovy and said, and she out
of her own pocket bought us all a copy of
the CD and you need to listen to this. So
we we did hold it together. I think we were
a little bit star struck because I mean, what a record,
and it was just they were definitely, definitely stars in
(02:09):
our eyes.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
And that was you said, it's two thousand and two,
so that was must have been on about five years
since you started the band at Kashmire.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
High That's right. Yeah, just just teenagers really, and you know,
we released our first album in two thousands. We've released
three singles leading up to that independently and one of
them was Russian and released I think while I was
still at high school. And yeah, from there those five
(02:38):
years just things ramped pretty considerably. To go from being
at high school to suddenly supporting Coldplay through Australia and
we actually did the Robbie Williams tour through Australia around
the same time. Sing while You're sing while You're winning.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah yeah, when you were when you're
at Kashmia. Who was the head of music.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
That was Gary thin right, and we had Noel and
Penta and those two as a team far out. They
did so much for young people in music development because
Bick Runger had come through previously and we were there
with a couple of the key members of Shape Shifter
at the same time. So we all went on to
(03:21):
have music careers. And without the support of I think
those two humans in particular, I can't see that we
would have taken the same path. Yeah, bellibly supportive.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Akids went through Kashmi and you know, involved music and
it still seems to be going. You know now, were
you a bit of a being a rock band though?
Did you find that you were surrounded by a lot
of jazz musicians? I remember that sort of thing that
in Cashmi, that jazz was sort of like the thing.
Were you guys a bit unusual?
Speaker 3 (03:54):
Well, we were playing across multiple groups, so Nathan and
I were singing in barbershop quartets and we went to
the Nationals and that. So we're doing sort of that
side of thing, which I think gave us a real,
real insight into harmony. And you know, we were also
playing in concert bands and Adrian the drummers and the
percussion ensemble. I actually ended up getting a scholarship and
(04:14):
going to jazz school. So yes, jazz was was a
big part of that music scene and I still love
it and play a little bit of jazz piano. As
a rock thing here we were a little bit different.
There was another couple of bands. There was one called
the Worms, who I don't think kept going after high school,
(04:39):
and to be fair, we probably started off farly middle
of the road and then progressed more to rock. But
Nathan and I had a duo at a very very
inception of Z and we called ourselves Nason Benny and
it was piano and vocals and it was, you know,
we were doing George Michael covers and very very listening
sort of stuff, and then we decided, hey, look we
(04:59):
need a tougher sound. And it was right as that,
you know, grunge period was coming through. I was a
huge Nirvana fan, the Radioheads, and we realized, you know,
we need drums, we need bass, we need electric guitars,
not acoustic, if we're going to kind of step into
that sound. So then we went, hey, let's get a drummer,
and Nathan's best mate Adrian was learning drums, and the rest,
(05:24):
they say, is history.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
Absolutely. I see that it was twenty seventeen and you
performed Renegade Fight or Eden Park before an Ornax match,
and I read that that reignited the band's passion for music.
What had happened up until.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
Then, well, we took an extended break, we like to
call it. Yeah, I think what happens in that sort
of two thousand and four period. We were based in
Berlin and the Universal and Interscope Music had picked us
up for release over there, so we spent a lot
of time in la working there and recording making music videos,
(06:04):
and then there was a lot of excitement in Germany
around what we were creating, so we relocated over there
and we were touring around mainly Germany but into into
the other parts of Europe as well, and my father
became terminally ill, so I jumped on a plane to
come back and be home with family, and at that
(06:25):
stage things just kind of the dynamics changed in the band,
and and because he was he was a huge mentor
to the band, and we decided, yes, it's time for
us to take a break. Pause. We were all exhausted
from you know, at that stage, seven years of living
out of suitcases and really putting everything into into music.
(06:48):
It was always known, you know, straight out of high school.
And I think everyone collectively sort of said, hey, we
just want a bit of a breather here to go
explore other things, make some music with other people as well.
The pressure I think had been come a lot for everyone,
(07:08):
the pressure from management, labels, radio, and from ourselves. We
had very high expectations of what we wanted to do
and in the end it just cracks things a little bit.
How much is let's take a break. I don't think
we expected it to be twenty one years before we
release the next record.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
It's a decent break. You can't claim you're still tired
after that one, just briefly and not prying. How much
did losing your father influence your own personal thinking about
we wanted what you wanted to do with music and
taking a break from it.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
Ah, you know, I think anyone that's lost someone that's
so instrumental in their lives and we are and we're
a very close family. So for us it was devastating
and it really changed. It changed all aspects of life,
including music. And for me it was a real period
(08:08):
of assessments, you know, what do I want to do
from here I am? You know, I don't have qualifications,
I don't really have skills in a trade. What's the
next step for me? And there was a real period
of soul searching along with, you know, grieving and coming
to terms with his passing, his death. Although you know,
(08:32):
once it's in your blood, music is there, it's really
hard to step away from what you know. So within
a year of that, we formed another bands with I
formed the band with my little sister and an American
chap called Sean, and we started Atlas, which went on
to have a really really significant hat called Crawl and
(08:56):
it was number one in New Zealand for I think
a couple of months. And spent the next four or
five years developing that project and in the infrastructure around that.
So I set up at a record label and was
quite involved in the executive side of things, doing management
and been really trying to take all that experience from
(09:19):
zed but put it into a new project. And you
know the beautiful thing about that being that family was involved.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
In it, with my little sister been since the band.
During the time the band took a break, you got
involved in running a restaurant. Tell me about that.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
I did. Yeah. I somehow found myself in hospitality, which
I didn't have a background. But I've been spending in
a lot of time in Arkara and fell in love
with the community and with the land over here. And
I was trying to figure out how going to base
myself here and something to do and something to make
a career out of. And a wee restaurant called Marmee
(09:55):
Song came up on the market and I thought, let's
give that a go, a big, big decision for me
without having experienced in that industry, and sort of three
weeks later, I was trying to figure out what a
supplier agreement was and pulling all the things together to
make to make that work. It's been fantastic. So marles
(10:17):
On for the last seven years has been kind of
my main go to thing.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
It's been around. It's been around for yolks, isn't it
that restaurant?
Speaker 3 (10:24):
It has. Yeah, I think two thousand and three it
was branded as my mat Soon and I'm the s
third owner of it. So yes, it's fairly iconic now.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
And the location and you're talking to us from Akaro
because the big gig tonight to celebrate the launch of
the album is at the Grand Hotel. There is that
because you just said I'm not I'm not going over
the hill. You guys are got to come over to me.
How's that come about?
Speaker 3 (10:47):
Yeah? Hey, look, I've spent so many, so many trips
up to Auckland over the last three years making this record.
It's time for the boys to come here. And I
think also, you know, I'm tongue in cheek. The boys
have come down quite a lot, and a lot of
the album was written in Ako. It's a very great
place to write and create music. And I bought the
Grand Hotel three years ago and we put a lot
(11:07):
ofsic on there. And this is a real opportunity to
bring everything that I love together, the music and the
hospitality and heritage buildings perfect.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
So owning the place, does that mean you get to
boss the band around a bit more than usual?
Speaker 3 (11:21):
No? I think what it means is that I have
to feed them. That was also part of the drawer
of bringing them down with breakfast, lunch, and dinner in
a couple of years.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
Man different days from Cashmire High School. It is, it
is brilliant. I'll let you get back because you're setting
up now, right now? Is that right?
Speaker 3 (11:38):
We are. We're building stages and putting lights up, and
the doors open at six. The band's on stage at
eight and we cannot wait to play this new album
for the first time.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
I have a great night in all the very best
with the album. Thanks Ben, thank you very much. We'll
right good. Stop being Campbell from Z.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
For more from Canterbory Mornings with John McDonald, listen live
to news talks It'd be christ Church from nine am weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to the Canterbury Mornings podcast with John McDonald
from News Talk zed B.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Good and that's a song called future You from the
new album Future Memory, released today by ZED and Ben
(00:36):
Campbell from zedis with us now.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Mate, good morning, How are you very well?
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Am I the first person in the world to tell
you that that song's got a bit of a Coldplay
feel about it?
Speaker 3 (00:46):
You're not the first. You're finding a couple of members
in the band, but a big Coldplay fans. And of
course we toured with them when they released Parachutes back
in two thousand and two or three. We did there
Australian tour and New Zealand tour, thirteen odds shows just
as they were blowing up globally and it was just
(01:08):
that was a fantastic experience for us. So yeah, we've
always we've always been a little bit connected to them
and inspired and enjoy their sound and the way that
they make music.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
So the two guys in the band who were big
Coldplay fans, did they manage to hold it together during
the course of that tour that they were you know,
you guys were the support act for this major band.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
Yeah, well, I mean I guess at the time they
could play, were just emerging. And I have a very
fond memory of it. Was one of our A and
R people at Universal Music saying, hey, look, this album
has just launched. You guys are going to love it.
And they weren't. They weren't signed to Universal. But she
(01:48):
took us into Real Groovy and said, and she out
of her own pocket bought us all a copy of
the CD and you need to listen to this. So
we we did hold it together. I think we were
a little bit star struck because I mean, what a record,
and it was just they were definitely, definitely stars in
(02:09):
our eyes.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
And that was you said, it's two thousand and two,
so that was must have been on about five years
since you started the band at Kashmire.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
High That's right. Yeah, just just teenagers really, and you know,
we released our first album in two thousands. We've released
three singles leading up to that independently and one of
them was Russian and released I think while I was
still at high school. And yeah, from there those five
(02:38):
years just things ramped pretty considerably. To go from being
at high school to suddenly supporting Coldplay through Australia and
we actually did the Robbie Williams tour through Australia around
the same time. Sing while You're sing while You're winning.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah yeah, when you were when you're
at Kashmia. Who was the head of music.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
That was Gary thin right, and we had Noel and
Penta and those two as a team far out. They
did so much for young people in music development because
Bick Runger had come through previously and we were there
with a couple of the key members of Shape Shifter
at the same time. So we all went on to
(03:21):
have music careers. And without the support of I think
those two humans in particular, I can't see that we
would have taken the same path. Yeah, bellibly supportive.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Akids went through Kashmi and you know, involved music and
it still seems to be going. You know now, were
you a bit of a being a rock band though?
Did you find that you were surrounded by a lot
of jazz musicians? I remember that sort of thing that
in Cashmi, that jazz was sort of like the thing.
Were you guys a bit unusual?
Speaker 3 (03:54):
Well, we were playing across multiple groups, so Nathan and
I were singing in barbershop quartets and we went to
the Nationals and that. So we're doing sort of that
side of thing, which I think gave us a real,
real insight into harmony. And you know, we were also
playing in concert bands and Adrian the drummers and the
percussion ensemble. I actually ended up getting a scholarship and
(04:14):
going to jazz school. So yes, jazz was was a
big part of that music scene and I still love
it and play a little bit of jazz piano. As
a rock thing here we were a little bit different.
There was another couple of bands. There was one called
the Worms, who I don't think kept going after high school,
(04:39):
and to be fair, we probably started off farly middle
of the road and then progressed more to rock. But
Nathan and I had a duo at a very very
inception of Z and we called ourselves Nason Benny and
it was piano and vocals and it was, you know,
we were doing George Michael covers and very very listening
sort of stuff, and then we decided, hey, look we
(04:59):
need a tougher sound. And it was right as that,
you know, grunge period was coming through. I was a
huge Nirvana fan, the Radioheads, and we realized, you know,
we need drums, we need bass, we need electric guitars,
not acoustic, if we're going to kind of step into
that sound. So then we went, hey, let's get a drummer,
and Nathan's best mate Adrian was learning drums, and the rest,
(05:24):
they say, is history.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
Absolutely. I see that it was twenty seventeen and you
performed Renegade Fight or Eden Park before an Ornax match,
and I read that that reignited the band's passion for music.
What had happened up until.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
Then, well, we took an extended break, we like to
call it. Yeah, I think what happens in that sort
of two thousand and four period. We were based in
Berlin and the Universal and Interscope Music had picked us
up for release over there, so we spent a lot
of time in la working there and recording making music videos,
(06:04):
and then there was a lot of excitement in Germany
around what we were creating, so we relocated over there
and we were touring around mainly Germany but into into
the other parts of Europe as well, and my father
became terminally ill, so I jumped on a plane to
come back and be home with family, and at that
(06:25):
stage things just kind of the dynamics changed in the band,
and and because he was he was a huge mentor
to the band, and we decided, yes, it's time for
us to take a break. Pause. We were all exhausted
from you know, at that stage, seven years of living
out of suitcases and really putting everything into into music.
(06:48):
It was always known, you know, straight out of high school.
And I think everyone collectively sort of said, hey, we
just want a bit of a breather here to go
explore other things, make some music with other people as well.
The pressure I think had been come a lot for everyone,
(07:08):
the pressure from management, labels, radio, and from ourselves. We
had very high expectations of what we wanted to do
and in the end it just cracks things a little bit.
How much is let's take a break. I don't think
we expected it to be twenty one years before we
release the next record.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
It's a decent break. You can't claim you're still tired
after that one, just briefly and not prying. How much
did losing your father influence your own personal thinking about
we wanted what you wanted to do with music and
taking a break from it.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
Ah, you know, I think anyone that's lost someone that's
so instrumental in their lives and we are and we're
a very close family. So for us it was devastating
and it really changed. It changed all aspects of life,
including music. And for me it was a real period
(08:08):
of assessments, you know, what do I want to do
from here I am? You know, I don't have qualifications,
I don't really have skills in a trade. What's the
next step for me? And there was a real period
of soul searching along with, you know, grieving and coming
to terms with his passing, his death. Although you know,
(08:32):
once it's in your blood, music is there, it's really
hard to step away from what you know. So within
a year of that, we formed another bands with I
formed the band with my little sister and an American
chap called Sean, and we started Atlas, which went on
to have a really really significant hat called Crawl and
(08:56):
it was number one in New Zealand for I think
a couple of months. And spent the next four or
five years developing that project and in the infrastructure around that.
So I set up at a record label and was
quite involved in the executive side of things, doing management
and been really trying to take all that experience from
(09:19):
zed but put it into a new project. And you
know the beautiful thing about that being that family was involved.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
In it, with my little sister been since the band.
During the time the band took a break, you got
involved in running a restaurant. Tell me about that.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
I did. Yeah. I somehow found myself in hospitality, which
I didn't have a background. But I've been spending in
a lot of time in Arkara and fell in love
with the community and with the land over here. And
I was trying to figure out how going to base
myself here and something to do and something to make
a career out of. And a wee restaurant called Marmee
(09:55):
Song came up on the market and I thought, let's
give that a go, a big, big decision for me
without having experienced in that industry, and sort of three
weeks later, I was trying to figure out what a
supplier agreement was and pulling all the things together to
make to make that work. It's been fantastic. So marles
(10:17):
On for the last seven years has been kind of
my main go to thing.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
It's been around. It's been around for yolks, isn't it
that restaurant?
Speaker 3 (10:24):
It has. Yeah, I think two thousand and three it
was branded as my mat Soon and I'm the s
third owner of it. So yes, it's fairly iconic now.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
And the location and you're talking to us from Akaro
because the big gig tonight to celebrate the launch of
the album is at the Grand Hotel. There is that
because you just said I'm not I'm not going over
the hill. You guys are got to come over to me.
How's that come about?
Speaker 3 (10:47):
Yeah? Hey, look, I've spent so many, so many trips
up to Auckland over the last three years making this record.
It's time for the boys to come here. And I
think also, you know, I'm tongue in cheek. The boys
have come down quite a lot, and a lot of
the album was written in Ako. It's a very great
place to write and create music. And I bought the
Grand Hotel three years ago and we put a lot
(11:07):
ofsic on there. And this is a real opportunity to
bring everything that I love together, the music and the
hospitality and heritage buildings perfect.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
So owning the place, does that mean you get to
boss the band around a bit more than usual?
Speaker 3 (11:21):
No? I think what it means is that I have
to feed them. That was also part of the drawer
of bringing them down with breakfast, lunch, and dinner in
a couple of years.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
Man different days from Cashmire High School. It is, it
is brilliant. I'll let you get back because you're setting
up now, right now? Is that right?
Speaker 3 (11:38):
We are. We're building stages and putting lights up, and
the doors open at six. The band's on stage at
eight and we cannot wait to play this new album
for the first time.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
I have a great night in all the very best
with the album. Thanks Ben, thank you very much. We'll
right good. Stop being Campbell from Z.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
For more from Canterbory Mornings with John McDonald, listen live
to news talks It'd be christ Church from nine am weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
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