Tomorrow night we will have the distinct pleasure of presenting a St. Patrick’s Day/post-snowpocalypse rock show in Providence that Michael Marotta of Vanyaland recently quipped “This lineup reads like a SXSW poster crudely taped to a street pole on 6th Street, but one need to not travel to Austin to feel the warmth.” Among the artists on our short list to approach for this event was Thalia Zedek’s visceral post-punk outfit E. I’ve been keenly following along with Zedek’s uncompromising career for the better part of three decades, so I was beyond thrilled to learn that E would be joining the festivities and performing the evenings closing set. Just last night I had the opportunity to chat with Thalia about the forthcoming 2nd full length, the collaborative approach of E, and a recent pairing with Damon & Naomi.

The Ash Gray Proclamation: What can you tell us about the forthcoming LP from your latest project E?

Thalia Zedek: It was recorded at Machines with Magnets in Pawtucket with Seth Manchester after an extremely long European tour for our first record. We had written a bunch more songs because you can’t go on tour with only 10 songs or you’ll drive yourselves crazy! The rest of the songs we wrote just after we got back so some of the songs were really well rehearsed and some were almost brand new.

The Ash Gray Proclamation: What was the process that led up to heading into Machines With Magnets to record the new album?

Thalia Zedek: The usual. Practice as much as possible before you go in and then try to finish the recording as quickly as you can. I think the whole recording and mixing process took about 4 and a half days. But a lot of that was because Seth is such an excellent engineer and producer and so fast with edits etc.

The Ash Gray Proclamation: When you’re writing new material how do you decide if you will assign it to the next E album or to Thalia Zedek Band?

Thalia: It’s a totally different process because E generally writes collaboratively and simultaneously with each other. But once in a while I will come up with something while noodling and know that it should go to E. Often it’s in the key of E!

The AGP: You recently returned from a trip overseas where you played some shows with Damon and Naomi, how did that pairing come about?

Thalia: We kept running into each other at shows and I’ve always been a big fan of their music. Naomi makes music videos so initially we got together to discuss her making a music video for me. But the timing for that ended up being all wrong, so we ended up just hanging out and talking about touring. It turned out that we had worked with a lot of the same people so I asked if they would ever want to do a tour together. I’d been wanting to do some solo shows in Europe but also wanted the companionship of touring with people that I knew and liked. It so happened that Damon had just published a book called The New Analog so the timing was good for them as well.

The AGP: How were the crowds in Europe this time around?

Thalia: They were really great. It was perfect actually because the crowds were usually about double what either of us would get on our own which is what we had hoped for.

The AGP: With a storied career like you’ve had with Uzi, Live Skull, and Come others may rest on their laurels, but you seem to keep pushing your craft. What continues to motivate you to start up new projects like E?

Thalia: It’s what I love to do and it makes me happy. I tried taking some time off once and I was miserable!

The AGP: What is the one thing that people don’t know about you, but probably should?

Thalia: I like to have a good time!

The Ash Proclamation Presents:E/Minibeast/Bad History Month/Soft Fangs/Baby!/Lost Film @ AS220 March 17th 7:30- $12 Event Details

If you’re inclined to save $2.00 and get a free comp visit our Bandcamp site.
Advance ticket & the six song compilation Upon Arrival

*Event flyer created by the talents of Mike Quigley