Zola Jesus is mainly Nika from Wisconsin, though she has friends called Lindsay, Max Elliott and Dead Luke who help her play live. She studied opera for ten years and takes just as much inspiration from no-wave. She bridges the gap between those two distant pillars with tendencies toward the epic and Jefferson Airplane covers, all painted with the DIY glamour of U.S. Girls and Nite Jewel and a hopelessness that bit prettier than SALEM’s.

Hey - want to do an interview for the Vice Music Blog? Just a few questions.

Nika: I’ve got nothing to do but avoid packing and studying for my Russian exam. Let’s do it.

Why are you packing?

I’m playing a show in Iowa City on Friday with Wet Hair and Peaking Lights, and then Saturday morning I’m flying to New York to play at the Knitting Factory and do a couple radio shows.

Zola Jesus jet set. Do you enjoy playing live shows or is it horrible?

I love it so much. In the beginning I tried really hard to play the songs exactly as they are in the recordings, but that turned out to be a mess. Since then I got a live band and now I can just sing, which allows me to get weird and let the creepy diva come out.

What happens when the creepy diva comes out?

Oh, you don’t want to know.

Yeah I do. It’s an important question.

Okay, okay. Well, I have two really strong passions, as far as taste goes. The first’s the avant-garde. I love trying to discover and invent new sounds. Studying opera for ten years I learned a lot of things that worked for my voice and a lot that didn’t. Since I’m just responsible for singing at live shows now, I’m given permission to stray from the songs and play with my voice, to try to manipulate my body onstage to create different sounds. On the second side is pop music. It’s the pop songs that hit you the hardest. I am crazy about that ’60s pop aesthetic, it’s epic. Combining these two passions is a manifesto of mine, I guess. And thus; the creepy diva.

I can hear that. ‘Sea Talk’ sounds a bit like ‘Be My Baby’ if Martin Rev had sabotaged The Ronettes’ backing track.

It’s really funny you say that, because I’m currently working on a drugged out minimal synth cover of ‘Be My Baby’ with Dead Luke and Adam from SIDS [Sudden Infant Death Syndrome]. But yeah, I want o lure people into my music with pop and then throw some weird 5 octave yodeling at them. I think it would be incredible if they could hear the weird among the melody and go “Hey, I’m into that.”

Do you think you would’ve been as creepy if you hadn’t spent a decade studying opera?

I’m not sure if I’d be as creepy. I think spending that much time getting to know my voice made me realise all the immense power we have over our bodies. Also, studying classical music gives you a lot of perspective. There were so many great composers that are still, after so many years, far more abstract and avant-garde than most modern musicians. It’s all about trying to play catch up now.

Do you have time for that? I barely have time to download the latest Ducktails record.

God no! But that’s what I love about what’s happening right now. There’s a very substantial group of people who believe that it’s time to weird shit up, to challenge the status quo as far as art goes. It’s very exciting, very dynamic. Yeah, do I have time? God no. But I’m totally ready to drop out of college if I have to.

Zola Jesus - Sea Talk

‘Sea Talk’ is from the Tsar Bomba 12″, forthcoming on Troubleman Unlimited.
‘Somebody To Love’ is from a split cassette with Dead Luke issued sometime in the future on Night People.

KEV, NO PAIN IN POP