Zach Person – Send Me Away
ARTIST NAME: Zach Person
SONG TITLE: Send Me Away
RELEASE DATE: 2 April 2021
GENRE: Rock / Blues
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American recording artist, Zach Person, is the new face of guitar rock. Emerging out of Austin, Texas, Person plays loud, raw, and connects with his music fans on a primal sonic level. Those seeing him for the first time, share one thing in common: they are instant, lifelong fans. Only 24 years old, Person has a swagger, talent, and grit beyond his years. With the poise of a seasoned veteran on stage and the stylings of a megastar, he commands an audience in seconds. In the front seat of his career, Person is an equity partner in the new indie label BlackDenim Records. With the mentorship of the label’s co-founders (manager and former industry rock photographer, Christopher Durst, and Will Loconto, producer and former member of 1980’s synth-pop sensations, Information Society & T-4-2), the trio formed the foundation of the new label of which today is supported by a powerful and passionate team of industry players. “Zach is one of the most talented artists I’ve ever known and his talent was obvious.” Loconto said, “Getting to know who he is both as an artist and human being just reinforced my desire to work with him. He is an amazing soul with much to say. I really look forward to more people listening and watching him. His future is bright.”
“I knew within minutes of seeing Zach perform for the first time that we were destined to work together. I just knew. I can’t explain it. It was just vibrational energy,” said Durst. “I texted my producing partner, [Loconto], right there on the spot and told him that I had just found our next artist. Keep in mind; this was before I had even spoken to Zach. It’s been a beautiful relationship ever since, one of admiration, respect, and trust.”
Person’s self-titled, debut LP dropped on April 2, 2021, and has since been drawing press attention both far and wide.
“Reminiscent of everyone from Elmore James and Duane Allman to The Black Keys and Jack White, Person channels a raw, pure-bred American swagger,” said American Songwriter.
“Between the driving beat, Person’s fuzzed-out vocals, and the layers of bombastic guitar parts, the tune shows off all the reasons that Buddy Guy once said of Person ‘What can I say? The young man is hot!’”
He celebrated with a sold-out release show at Empire Garage in his hometown of Austin, Texas. At the time, his lead single “Can’t Stop Running” climbed college and non-community radio charts with 40 stations adding the track nationwide, and many of them charting the song in their Top 30. In Europe, “Can’t Stop Running” reached #1 on Belgian radio and immediately entered the playlist of (AAA) national radio station Classic 21. Planet Rock Radio and Kerrang! Radio aired the single in the United Kingdom.
His inspirations are varied and include prolific artists like The Black Keys, Jack White, Chris Stapleton, Jonny Lang, Funkadelic, and Led Zeppelin. With his new project, Zach has created his own take on a contemporary hybrid of blues and rock music, arranged in a pop format.
“The spirit of the blues is at the heart of most of my songwriting, therefore a lot of the tracks on this album possess a theme of pain and suffering, and the will to overcome the obstacles ahead of one’s self,” said Person.
In 2017, he represented the Houston Blues Society at the International Blues Challenge, a competition featuring some of the best blues artists from around the world. This appearance would later afford him the opportunity to perform alongside legends like Buddy Guy and Robert Cray.
Zach then linked up with drummer and musical collaborator, Jake Wyble, after posting a “Drummer Wanted” call and a chance meeting on Sixth Street in Austin, Texas. The connection ended up being fate as both young musicians realized they were born in the same small town in New Jersey, and have been playing music pretty much all their lives. Together the duo honed their craft under BlackDenim’s tutelage and the synergy is palpable.
“Playing with Zach is an absolute blast,” said Jake Wyble. “While we each come from very different musical backgrounds, we have a really similar perspective on music and the way we shape it. Our distinct styles fit perfectly. It’s the most fun I’ve ever had playing music and it just keeps getting better.”
In 2018, Person began touring throughout the United States and Canada and made a special appearance at Amazon’s AWS re: Invent in Las Vegas with Skrillex, Thievery Corporation, and Future Islands, making him the first live act to have performed at the conference. He has also headlined several private events for Fairmont Hotels, Firefly Aerospace, GitHub, SXSW, and AT&T.
After an appearance at Intersect Music Festival with Foo Fighters, Anderson Paak, Beck, and HER in 2019, Zach returned home to Austin to wrap production of his highly anticipated EP. The
EP included the tracks “Can’t Stop Running,” “Send Me Away,” “Let Me Know,” “Back to Me,” and “All Shook Up” and was set to be released early 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
“‘Send Me Away’ was one of those songs that kind of just comes to you from above,” said Zach. “One night I was up late playing with a looper pedal and trying to write lyrics over the chord progression used for ‘Send Me Away.’ I stumbled across the chorus line and the rest of the song came like a flood.”
One of the more stand-out tracks from the EP was Person’s rendition of a classic Elvis hit: “I had just done a cover of ‘Chest Fever’ by The Band for a special event at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2019,” said Person. “It was received so well, that I was urged by my manager to try and tackle another song by one of the greats. I was given Elvis Presley as a challenge, and in my failed attempt to create my own version of ‘Blue Suede Shoes’ I stumbled across a melody that became the hook for ‘All Shook Up.’”
While the EP was a strong representation of Zach’s artistry, he chose to expand upon the project and create a full-length album rather than put the music on pause. Throughout the course of the pandemic, he recorded the remainder of the album, including tracks “Wanna Fly,” “Radio Man,” “How Long,” “Long Enough,” “Crossroads,” “Carolina” and “R.D.M.S.”
“The unprecedented events of 2020 inspired the song, ‘Wanna Fly,’” said Person. “The lyrics encompass various thoughts and emotions that were conceived by a majority of the population as a direct result of the political and social injustices that occurred amidst the already stressful times brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. I wanted to be a voice of wisdom and unity amongst the chaos and division that we all were bombarded with, in the media.”
“How Long” is another song that was inspired by 2020. “The year took a big toll on everyone, the music industry included, and everything got tougher,” he said. “This song tells the story of a couple struggling through hard times, but finding their strength in the love they have for each other.”
The pandemic also allowed Zach time for reflection and appreciation of the music that he grew up listening to and inspires him to create to this day.
About his song “Crossroads” he said: “I’ve always been inspired by the history and roots of American music, and the story of Robert Johnson has always been especially fascinating to me,” said Person. “I wanted to take my own journey to the ‘Crossroads’ with this song and tell my story at the same time.”
With the song “Carolina,” Zach wanted to pay homage to his Southern Pines, North Carolina roots (where he lived between the Northeast and Texas) with the style of music that he learned while living there before moving to Houston.
“‘Long Enough’ was written mostly overnight after deep diving in various music documentaries,” he said. “There’s just something so inspiring about the history of music. There’s an energy that exists of all the echoes of the greats that have made music before you.”
Upon completion of his debut LP (recorded in its entirety at BlackDenim Records’ studio in Austin and produced by Will Loconto himself), Person was offered a partnership with BlackDenim Records as their flagship artist. With his debut project, he has garnered the attention of notable press including American Songwriter, Classic Rock Magazine, American Blues Scene, Guitar World, Premier Guitar, Mojo Magazine, Lyric Magazine, Mercury Magazine, and more.
The overall success of his LP has led to additional collaborations with international brands like Kendra Scott, ACL Live, Austin FC, Soho House, Kimpton Hotels, and BMI. More recently, Zach gained agency representation when he signed with Madison House, who is currently developing his first North American tour of over 100 dates (scheduled to begin November 2021).
Zach has future plans for a European tour scheduled for September of 2021, visiting The Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, and the United Kingdom. His UK debut is
September 13 where he will be performing at the infamous Black Heart in London. Tour support for UK and Europe is provided by Tres Hombres Tour Support, a booking agency based in Belgium.
LYRICS:
In the middle of the night
Your temperature’s cold
I’ve got nothing to fetch
Just a picture to hold
Lucky I was holding my breath in
When you breathed me out
Into the night
And I’m drowning in the winds
Send me away
Send me away
Send me away
Send me away
Well the feeling is gone
It’s come to an end
I’m afraid to move on
Don’t know where to begin
You took me out and you threw me away
Didn’t even check to see if I was okay
Well I’m not
And I’m drowning in the winds
Send me away, now darling
Send me away, now darling
Send me away, now darling
Send me away
Gon’ send me away
Send me a
Oooh
Oooh
Oh
Send me away, now darling
Send me away
Gon’ send me away
Send me away, now darling
Send me away
Gon’ send me away
Send me away, now darling
Songwriter: Zach Person
Old and New School Music: I appreciate all forms of music. There’s something to be learned from both the old and the new. I often look to older music to find inspiration in my songwriting and listen to modern recordings for inspiration with production techniques.
Memorable Day: My most memorable day as an artist has to be performing at Amazon Web Services’ re: Play event in 2018 at the Las Vegas Fairgrounds. We opened the evening of music and played to an audience of 10,000 people. That was the first stage of that magnitude that I’d performed on. It was a proving moment for me…I always dream of performing to crowds of thousands of people, and I was finally doing it.
Press:
Lyric Magazine
Blues Rock Review
Austin Chronicle
Voice: Early on I was writing songs that sounded good “in my head”, but were difficult for me to pull off in a live context. I later began to write in a way that was more tailored for my voice. It even plays a role in how I record vocals in the studio. I may opt to record something more relaxed, knowing that I can really “go for it” live, but I don’t have to if I’m not feeling it on a particular night.
Inspiration: I love the world that you can escape into with music. It takes you away from the pain and stress of everyday life and allows you to be one with a higher power. With music, you also have the opportunity to move people emotionally on a mass scale. I want to be able to help and inspire everyone that hears my music.
Creativity and Originality: There are some artists that you can immediately identify if you hear their music playing on the radio, or in some other context. They have a distinct sonic imprint that makes it undeniably them. That’s the sort of artist I aspire to become.
Plans: Now that the world is beginning to reopen (post-pandemic), our main focus is touring. We’ve been sitting with all of this music and the fans are ready to experience it live! We are doing a European run in August and September of this year, and then following that up with a North American tour starting in November of 2021.
Music Career: My mother was a fantastic singer. She never pursued music professionally, but she was passionate about it and instilled that passion for music in me. When I was about nine years old, I picked up skateboarding as a hobby. I was introduced to the electric guitar through punk and rock bands that would come out to perform at the local skate parks in my area.
Project: It’s all joy. I am thoroughly happy with the outcome of this project. As an artist, there’s always the tendency to want to go back and “fix” things, but it’s more productive to look at the future and keep moving forward.
Teamwork: Once I had the foundation of the song fleshed out, I took it to my drummer, Jake Wyble, to get his feedback and profound rhythmic input. At that point, the song had a really solid, organic feel. Next, I worked with Will Loconto (Producer) to add in all the electronic elements that you hear interspersed throughout the track. Those modern elements really gave “Send Me Away” a uniqueness to other songs I’d previously done.
Financial Support: BlackDenim Records is my record label. Besides being well funded, we have an extremely talented and creative group of individuals on our board that consistently provide innovative and groundbreaking financial solutions.
Songwriting: I typically lean towards writing my own music. I love the personal and intimate connection I have with the songs I create. However, I am open to and would welcome the opportunity to collaborate with other skilled professionals in this industry.
Producer: I am currently working with Will Loconto on all of my music. I love the idea of collaborating when it comes to producing music in the studio. It’s good to get different ears on the music in that context. As long as there is mutual respect between what I want as an artist and what they believe is best as a producer, then the relationship should thrive.
Storyline: “Send Me Away” was one of those songs that kind of just comes to you from above. One night I was up late playing with a looper pedal and trying to write lyrics over the chord progression used for “Send Me Away”. I stubbed across the chorus line and the rest of the song came like a flood!