Insider— 12 August 2020 on Rocket Shop Radio Hour
It’s a Zac(h) Attack
Insider joined host Tom Proctor on ‘Rocket Shop‘, Big Heavy World’s weekly local Vermont music radio hour on 105.9FM The Radiator. Catch up with them at facebook.com/InsiderOfficial
On Wednesday, August 12, Zac Young and Zach Hayes of Insider rolled into Big Heavy World for an electrifying de-electrified performances. Their performance was stripped to its bones to say the least. The two Z’s make up two-fifths of the band, the missing components being Gabri Hurst, Matt Brault and Hunter Meyers. Hayes brought his acoustic base, and Zac had to borrow one of the studio’s stand-by guitars. But like a skeleton struck by lightning, their performance was hauntingly electrifying.
They opened with the catchy crowd pleaser, “PM,” a song that ebbs and flows between plodding verses with poetic assonance and anaphora, and raging choruses full of catharsis. Like the rest of their set, however, we received the muted version without the full lineup and amplifiers. But like how MTV’s unplugged led to the breakout of Nirvana’s B-sides like “All Apologies,” we think the change in tone may have added something to the song. You can compare them for yourself by hearing the original version on any music streaming platform.
The acoustic sound, prior to this performance, was an unexplored avenue for the band. “This is honestly the first time we’ve played an acoustic set before,” says Zac. For him it’s extra unusual, as he normally doesn’t have a guitar in his hands. Hunter and Matt both had to make early departures for college due to COVID, leaving Zac to handle both vocals and guitar, which is something he explores in his free time but rarely onstage.
He handled the late change well though, and the two Z’s may have discovered a new duo to tour around the local music scene—may have. Zac already plays with bandmate Hunter as the band Two Towns, so tossing a third group may be asking too much. What we should focus on anyway is how well the band’s individual members can stand on their own. Zac and Zach killed it, even without drums or lead guitars.
The group carried on the music with another song off their first album, “Little Less Crazy.” Their first album, Thousand Mile Drive, released earlier this year, and has shattered all of their expectations.
“We definitely didn’t expect it to go as well as it did,” says Zac. He thought, “Maybe we’ll get 2,000 listens on Spotify.” At the moment, the album has over thirty-five thousand listens across all platforms. This shocking success has showed itself in other ways too. Though unsigned, the band has made it on the radio both locally and internationally. They wormed their way onto Fresh Meat on the 99.9 the Buzz, and a station in Cambridge, UK via Reverb Nation, a site for unsigned bands to submit songs to assorted opportunities.
Growing the band and finding these opportunities has been little but a demonstration of the group’s entrepreneurial spirit, never demonstrated better than by Zac reaching out to Nick Baden of Higher Ground.
“Higher Ground is something else...Ever since I was kid that’s where I wanted to play,” says Zac.
The band’s lineup met at Milton High School through the school’s rock band project, so they were familiar with the Burlington music scene as fans. Zac and the band were going to shows at Higher Ground since they were kids. Zac was doing some reading one day and came across an article featuring Nick Baden, a booker for Higher Ground. Shortly thereafter Zac was at a show and saw the aforementioned Baden mingling among the crowd. Zac whipped out an Insider business card, handed it to him, and quickly mentioned something about being in a band. That interaction (and their music) was enough to convince Nick and Higher Ground. They had the chance to open last spring for Chicago band Friday Pilots Club.
At that time they were still just a high school garage band with a few EPs to their name. Now, they have a full album behind them, and were also invited back to Higher Ground to headline their own show and sold over 200 tickets. They’ve also played Nectar’s, Monkey House, the Double E, and Summer Sessions where they shared a set with The Mountain Says No. They’ve taken a short tour through New York, and had a two week tour that lasted a month. They were supposed to do a tour of the east coast as well, from Maine to New Jersey with twenty-six shows along the way, but COVID drove an axe through that plan. So long story short, they’ve done a lot.
The future for the band, while uncertain, is hopeful. College has placed a wrinkle in the band’s functions, and COVID has exasperated it, but the band still has high expectations.
“Thousand Mile Drive was great. But how are we gonna do better?” asks Zac. They continue to look forward and find ways to improve the band. They have a residency at Two Heroes, where they play every Sunday, and they have an upcoming show at Rick’s in Milton (which you can find out more about on their Facebook). The final song they played, titled “Lift Off,” is unrecorded and so new the lyrics still reside on Zac’s phone, which we know because he had to read off of them while performing. For those with Hume-ian powers of deduction, you know that means there’s more music on the way. The band does have plans to record more in the future. Another expectation-shattering album, perhaps? One can only hope. We for one could do with more of Zac’s Eddie Vedder-like vocals and the band’s alternative grunge rock.
Text by Luke Vidic.
Photo by James Lockridge.
