We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Zach Riley. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Zach below.

Zach, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you recount a story of an unexpected problem you’ve faced along the way?

You’re always gonna face unexpected problems in this industry. They’re inevitable. But you just gotta adapt as best you can and keep moving forward. I’ve definitely faced my fair share already and I’m only a few years into it.

Probably the biggest unexpected hurdle that I’ve faced so far in this endeavour would be bands splitting up. Before starting my solo music journey I had been in a few bands. Sometimes you can gauge when things aren’t going the way you want and you can sort of anticipate the outcome, and other times you just get blindsided.

Unfortunately it’s happened to me on two separate occasions where bands that I had been in for a few years and had put hundreds, if not thousands of hours worth of work in to decided to part ways for one reason or another.

Maybe it was obvious and I just didn’t want to see the signs, but I was completely caught off guard both times it had happened. It felt like I had failed at being a musician. This project that we had worked so hard at just fizzled out into nothing. And when you’re caught in a situation like that you can either decide to pack it up and call it quits, or start again and hopefully you learned some valuable lessons along the way.

I’m extremely thankful for the opportunities I had with those past bands. I learned a lot of lessons and gained a different skills I hadn’t had before. I wouldn’t be the musician I am today without those bands. At the time it was quite difficult to look on the bright side, but if either of those had worked out I wouldn’t be in the position I am today.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?

I first started my music journey around 2010. My best friend played drums and for years I had bugged my parents to get me a drum kit because I wanted to be like him. For Christmas in 2010 my parents finally caved and got me a kit. I played drums for a few years, then picked up guitar a few years later, and that’s when I started singing and writing a little more.

I was always and still am much more comfortable behind a drum kit than any other instrument. I posted drumming videos on YouTube for years and around fall of 2017, a local band had asked me to be their drummer and to go on a 4 month long Eastern Canadian tour with them. It was truly an incredible experience and I’m forever grateful to that band for letting me be a part of that.

A few years later we ended up parting ways and I kinda hopped from band to band for a few years. The last project I was a part of, we had all the pieces we needed except for a singer. An albums worth of songs and lyrics for all of them, but no one to sing. At a certain point our guitarist had mentioned that he knew a drummer that would be interested in playing with us if I wanted to try singing instead. I was so excited but also incredibly nervous. It was the push I needed to try something I had always wanted to do.

We played shows around our hometown for about a year, but I eventually blew out my voice. I wasn’t singing properly and temporarily damaged my voice to the point that I couldn’t sing and barely talk without pain for months. Because of this, that band decided to call it quits. I was so crushed and didn’t know what to do.

Once my voice finally healed with the help of a speech therapist, I decided to try doing my own music. I had written a bunch of songs behind closed doors for years that were a completely different style from that last band that I had been a part of, so I figured “why let these go to waste”. That was basically the start of my solo music journey.

Since then I’ve made so many connections and friends in this industry that I’ll cherish for the rest of my life. There’s so much about this industry that I feel like a lot of artists don’t really know about before going down this road and it’s extremely eye opening. Whether it’s marketing, recording, communication, etc. Being an artist doesn’t just mean playing music anymore.

I do think it’s extremely important to always keep your options open as well. I’m always looking for opportunities to work with new artists in some capacity. Whether that’s writing, recording, touring, etc. I’m down for it all. You can never have to many connections in this business.

I’m still very early into this journey, but I’ve already accomplished so much. I’ve been featured on radio stations, gotten to open for a handful of bigger touring artists. It’s hard to believe my band and I have come this far in a such a short period of time. I can’t wait to share these experiences with anyone who’s willing to join us on this ride, but mainly with my friends and family. I really wouldn’t be here without their love and support. Especially my wife. She’s always encouraging me to keep following my dreams and I’m sure I would’ve given up a long time ago if I didn’t have her in my corner.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

In terms of musicians, one of the best things society can do to help artists is go to shows. If there’s an artist or a band that you’re a fan of and they’re playing a show in your city, go check them out. Buy some of their merch. Showing up to support them in any way you can is huge and there’s no better time to show up then when they’re playing a show.

I’m well aware it’s tough out there and not everyone may have the means to afford to go to a show whenever they want. I’ve been in that situation many times myself. But there’s also plenty of free ways to support your favourite artists as well! Post about them on your story, stream their music, tell your friends about them, etc.

Word of mouth is so insanely helpful in this business and every time you can tell someone new about an artist they may have never heard about before, is another opportunity for that artist to make a new fan and maybe have them show up to their next show or stream their next single.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

It’s such a typical cliché answer but it’s gotta be the fans. I’m still a smaller artist but even I’ve had people DM me on social media or come up to me at shows and tell me how much my music means to them. There’s gotta be no better feeling.

I put so much care and thought into every song that I write, so by the time it gets released I’ve already heard the song a thousand times. It can be really easy to lose some of the appreciation for a song during that time. But when you put it out into the world it’s not just yours anymore. It belongs to whoever connects with it. It can really make you appreciate certain things about your music again that you may have gotten sick of or just didn’t think was that special anymore.

Those fan connections can really turn your bad days around. By far the most rewarding part of this business!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.audiosciencemastering.com/zachriley
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zachrileymusic
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61560765615702
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@zachrileymusic
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@zachrileymusic

  https://music.apple.com/ca/artist/zach-riley/1697215440

Image Credits

Image 1 – Rylie Ortman
Image 2 – Michelle Westman (@visionsbymich)
Image 3 – Michelle Westman (@visionsbymich)
Image 4 – Trav Anema (@travamedia204)
Image 5 – Alyssa Dueck (@linenandlacephoto)
Image 6 – Michelle Westman (@visionsbymich)