We recently connected with Zach Wilkinson and have shared our conversation below.

Zach, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

When I was around 12-13 years old I discovered electronic music and was completely infatuated with how it was made. I remember our school gave us MacBooks and I jailbroke it to be able to download FL Studio and I was always in class trying to make something I found Interesting. My biggest inspiration at the time was Skrillex and Pendulum. My friend’s musical influences were all Hip-Hop inspired and thus began my addiction towards finding a merge between the two genres. I think a lot of my idols now are Wondagurl and the Lucid Monday collective of artists. The sound they have reminds me of why I began this journey to create.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Hey my name is Zach, my producer name is “Z W” which are my initials. I produce a range of different sounds in multiple genres but I love to make experimental RnB. My most prominent works are with Ti Steele & Elvisious, we also form a group known as “Toxic Boys”.

As far as an independent artist I mostly make instrumentals for other creatives to showcase their talents. I originally started out like most others I feel, just posting unfinished projects to SoundCloud. Within time I developed a very ambient sound that could carry a full length track with interesting changes and variations despite having any original vocals. Making a series of coherent tracks became my next goal in solidifying what kind of genre I wanted to head towards.

After 10 years just trying to make things that I found worthy of putting out I found other artists with the same style that could match my music. As always it was a very rough sound to begin with but we quickly found a lane that we could push and adapt into. Thus creating Toxic Boys, when we make anything under this alias there is always a tension relief and we feel as if we can experiment and reinvent ourselves as creators. Normally we don’t make orthodox music and its very much a journey with every project.

Outside of music I am also a 3D artist, video editor, & merch designer. I have worked with some industry professionals with over 100 millions of views to bring their creative vision to life and to help grow the brand. I am very much so a behind the scenes person, I want to help grow another artist to become the best they can be. Being involved in the making of so many different formats of content I think I am very capable of handling any task to get the desired result.

My favorite pieces I’ve made all have been collaborations with other artists. Some being “Away by Ti Steele”, “Clarity by Elvisious”, and “Who TF Are You by Toxic Boys”. It is safe to say we have already outdone my favorite tracks but you have to wait till the new ones release. :) Glad to work with any new and upcoming artist if you’re hungry to work and have a unique sound!

Have you ever had to pivot?

At a point I didn’t think music was for me and that point was around 6-7 years into producing, I had hit a wall. I then started my 3D journey and spent all my inspiration and time into trying to create visuals for pre-existing projects. I took such a healthy amount of time off music when it came back around to make instrumentals again it was super fresh. I had also learned a very useful new skill that I could always pivot to when I felt a dull streak in one medium.

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

The most rewarding part is making something that you enjoy personally. The self appreciation reassures me I can do anything I put my effort into. Keeping an open when starting anything helps get this result too. Overcoming a task that seems like a mountain are the most rewarding and satisfying.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://instagram.com/zchry.w?igshid=NzZlODBkYWE4Ng%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zachary-wilkinson-5ab494247/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/zzchryy

Image Credits
Photographed by, Ti Steele & Elvisious