Keith Z. on Les Trembles, Organic Farms, and Adventures in Miming

Keith Zarriello - The Shivers - will perform Sept. 13th at Glasshouse

Interview with Keith of The Shivers by R. Hunter:

W & A: So since completing your first full-length, Charades, you've lived in Montreal for a short spell, you've gone to work on an organic farm, and I was amazed to hear of recent plans to go to Nicaragua for the winter. Pretty wild year you've had, I gotta say. How has the last year been?

K.Z: The last year has been bad. But I've noticed I'm becoming better able to cope and sweat it out then in the past.

How did you like living in Montreal?

I liked it. I spent most of the time there walking the streets day in and day out. I started doing a mime act on the street. My costume was the "Charades" album cover costume but with whiteface and mime makeup. I'd carry around my suitcase with THE SHIVERS spraypainted on one side and LES TREMBLES (the French translation)on the other. I had certain items inside and the suitcase itself was incorporated into my street act.This may be against certain purist mime rituals to use any props but I was doing my own thing really. The French/Candadiens seemed to get a real kick out of it. The only thing was that it was very,very cold there. I was there in the dead of winter and it was an experience. I worked and worked on my French and would try to start conversations with people on the street for practice. This usually resulted in dirty looks or laughter. The girls in Montreal are quite beautiful and very warm. I gave the best performance of my life at a bar up there. It was towards the start of when I got there. I hadn't performed for quite some time and was incredibly nervous. It was only a 4 song set but when I first started, my leg was shaking so uncontrollably that it affected my guitar playing. The shaking leg caused my middle finger to shake and that resulted in my guitar sounding this very strange vibrato. I think some in the audience thought it was my style. I was staring deeply at my middle finger on my left land trying to make it stop but it would not. After 2 more very nervous songs I noticed that I was covered completely in sweat but I had gotten this crowd on my side. I never felt this way on the stage before. I had while walking around on the street made up a little song. It was the last song, I sung it a capella. It was called "I Own The Stage". I guess there was a certain thing going on there because the shaking until that point indicated that maybe I didn't own the stage. I put the guitar down. I took to the mic. I closed my eyes and belted this number. I told these people I owned the stage and that their town was my dancehall. I continued with this song and it was the only time in my life on the stage that I really didn't care anymore. I wasn't self conscious. Well as I finished up this song which ends on a long extended note these people started to go off the wall. It was like when they start cheering at the end of the Star Spangled Banner only ten times better. It felt as if I'd held the note for 10 minutes. They had this bell there and they started ringing it so loudly. The place errupted and I'm not just exaggerating to try and make myself sound good. This place went nuts! For minutes, explosive banging and clinking of glasses and bells. Cheering,clapping. Quite literally a near riot broke out. The bartender and several customers started buying me drinks all at once. I am not much of drinker and am really not much drinking at all anymore but to be polite and show my appreciation, I drank all of their drinks. The downside is I feel like that's the bar I have to live up to from this point on.

Can you explain how you came to live on a farm for three months and where it was?

I met this couple who lived in rural Quebec . They picked me up in the city and took me to lunch with their daughter. I saw the farm and got along with the dogs(which was the criteria for getting the job) so they hired me. Once spring came, I returned and started working there. The town was called Rougemont(Red Mountain) and is known for the apple orchards there. Every family has an orchard and the people come from all over to visit during season. It was a very beautiful place unlike anything I'd ever seen. Just farms and mountains as far as the eye could see. And Green. I found this empty field and I'd go there at night and play the guitar. You would've really liked it. I'd play and stare at the top of this mountain which had a lit up cross on top. There were crosses everywhere. The place is very Cathloic. The man gave me a bike and on my time off I'd take very long bike rides through nothing but countryroads surrounded by farms and mountains for miles and miles.

How was life on the farm? Do you think it was good for you creatively, or good for you in other ways?

The farmwork is difficult. Especially for a lazy American like myself. It was best for my biceps,triceps and forearms. I also started on a book. I wrote songs in the field. It was good but after awhile the physical exhaustion killed the creative side and on Sundays when we had off I'd sit in a chair all day long and not move. But I will say I met some amazing people and learned that some people work so hard for so little. I have a great deal of respect for farmers even if they are kind of dicks and assholes. They are just focused. It's a hard job.

Can you tell us a little about some of the folks you met while living there?

A Bosian couple who were the hardest working phychopaths I've ever met, an African singer who had an amazing voice, an Ontarian social activist, who was my roomate and annoyed the shit out of me with his constant political ranting. An 80 year old French lady who owned the farm and was the gardener and liked that I was a "rocknroller."

You mentioned you were planning on staying on an organic farm in Nicaragua! How'd that come about? Is it gonna happen?

It will just when it's more financially possible.

Lately what kinds of subjects have you been writing about?

Just everything.

From an outsider's perspective you seem to have a pretty adventurous life. Have you written much during the recent stay in Phoenix or are you just waiting to get back out to New York or the next organic farm or whatever?

I am now back in NYC and realize the value of this place more than ever before.

Do you prefer the writing part more (including the sometimes painful experiences that lead you to write) or the performances?

The writing.

What are some recordings you're into or influenced by currently?

See the mix I send you that will give you a good idea.

What's on the horizon? Any shows planned, recordings, stuff we haven't touched on in the above questions?

I have 4 new songs recorded and mastered. One is for the compilaton and the others I don't know what to do with. It was just so I had them really because the recording machine broke. I have no shows planned but hope to once I get settled .

[Note: Shivers will play a Hurricane Katrina benefit on Sept. 13 at Glasshouse Gallery, Williamsburg]

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