I was a total bag of nerves for the interview with Zola Jesus last night as she prepared for her set at Nation of Shopkeepers in Leeds. Were my questions too intrusive? Am I just going to be another annoying idiot blogger? Exactly how do I approach her manager? Etc. But everything sorted itself out and the interview went smoothly. Nika and I were apologizing to each other for being awkward and I couldn’t stop grinning like a kid coz I got to meet one of my favorite artists ever, in person. We sat down by the side of the stage after her soundcheck and the questions began.
She talked about being compared to Florence & The Machine, shitty journalists and on the topic of “gothness”. Enjoy:

Before we begin, i just wanted to say that I really love the music that you do.
Nika: Thank you. Thank you so much!

And find your voice amazing. it’s already been well documented that you are classically trained in opera so I’m not going to dive into that.
Nika: Yeah, ok.

How is the UK treating you so far? Any highlights yet?
Nika: Yeah, it’s been really good. The show in London sold out and we played a show at the Deaf Institute in Manchester and we stayed at this really cool apartment. It was really fun.

Are you sick of being compared to Florence Welch from Florence and The Machine yet?
Nika: What? Who’s that? I’ve never heard of her. Is that a good thing? No one’s ever brought it up to me yet.

You’ve never heard of Florence And The Machine?
Nika: No I haven’t. Is she any good?

Well, uh yeah. Kind of. Commercial.
Nika: Oh! Hahaha

Night & Sea Talk are my favorite tracks. Sea Talk in particular really reminds me of Joy Division’s Athmosphere.
Nika: Do you really think so?

Yeah, totally. Do you think Joy Division was a heavy influence when you were making the album?
Nika: Yeah, I do listen to Joy Division but that wasn’t the only thing that I was listening to. I was listening to a whole buncha stuff like, this, 20th century avant garde music like , you know, Meredith Monk and stuff like that.

You’ve mentioned in an interview just a few weeks back that: “Blogs are just noise. There is freedom in misanthropy.”
Do you really think so? Is that based on your own personal experiences?
Nika: Oh yeah. That. I wasn’t referring to all blogs as noise. There are a lot of good blogs and then there are a lot of bad blogs too, y’know? I’ve experienced problems with misintepretation from a lot of, y’know, journalists and bloggers writing about me and my friends. And after awhile, you just -

Can you give me an example…
Nika: Like you know, stuff about my age, and they talk to me and about me like I’m a 12 year old – I mean, people lose the importance of fact checking. And then you get a lot of these false information and false information gets passed on, y’know?

Do you think that blogs help you with getting your music out there?
Nika: Oh yeah – of course I think they’re important. Blogs, magazi- you know, all press. Without blogs I wouldn’t even be here.

You’ved moved away from doing your songs in lo-fi and you’ve mentioned before that it’s become “too easy”. And I mean, Lo-fi is kinda cool but the quality… aint that great, you know?
Nika: Yeah. Uh huh. Yeah.

So Stridilium II is very polished- every beat, lyric and texture of noise becomes crystal clear, their full power realised. Was this a satisfying achievement for you?
Nika: Yeah it is. The music sounds much better and , you know, my vocals were much clearer. I mean, we used the same set up and the same equipment as from the last releases, it’s just that in this one, we’ve done it in a different perspective.

Speaking of clearer vocals, I’m sorry I’m not trying to be mean but – Spencer Grady, in his BBC review of your album has totally slagged you off on the lyrical quality of the tracks, because you know, when the vocals are clearer, you can hear every word better…
Nika: What? No, I haven’t read that review.

Yeah, and he chose to waste half his review column space by picking on your age (again) and your lack of experience of the 80s – as if you need to justify your own music. What do you have to say about this kind of journalism?
Nika: It’s just not worth it.  I’m not trying to say that I understand the 80s or pretend that I know the 80s. When I record something, it is inherently organic. People are going to continue to pick at it and its hard, you know but I know I’m doing something honest. I mean everywhere I go, the word “goth” keeps getting thrown about, It’s like, I have to establish this new identity – I mean, what IS goth? I don’t even know what that really means. For example, to me, Joy Division is post-punk, not goth.

Yeah. Okay! Last question: What are your plans for Zola Jesus in the future?
Nika: Hahaha – tour more! And then we’re going to record a new album.

Anymore projects and new stuff, like, I don’t know another auto-tune adventure?
Nika: Hahaha – probably, I like experimenting you know. Like I listen to a lot of different kids of music: pop, classical, soul. I like soul very much.

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[Zola Jesus - Night]–>Bad Fotography Highly Recommends!
[Zola Jesus - Sea Talk]–>Bad Fotography Recommends!

Buy Zola Jesus on iTunes here.

Thank you Souterrain Transmissions for helping me arrange this interview

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