zen fuse box

Thanks to everyone who has helped our new cover of Olivia Rodrigo's Brutal reach the #2 spot on our Spotify page!  Take a moment to check out our stuff on Spotify and let's get it to #1! 

Zen Fuse Box on Spotify

Hey fans, friends and fiends!  Our latest single has dropped on Spotify, YouTube, Apple Music, blah, blah, blah!

This one is our cover of Olivia Rodrigo's Brutal, which will also be featured on our upcoming collection of cover songs, tentatively titled Audio Dropouts.

As we were choosing songs to include on our covers project, we were looking for a contemporary song to cover, since our other choices seemed to skew a bit older. As luck would have it, Steve's daughter was playing Olivia Rodrigo's Sour album…

This past weekend Zen Fuse Box enjoyed some long overdue studio time and worked on our upcoming album of cover tunes!  Our last covers album, 2016's Sound Revival, was so fun we decided to do it again!  We had a productive weekend, and added overdubs to some previously recorded songs, including Brutal, by Olivia Rodrigo, Donovan's Sunshine Superman, All Day and All of the Night  by the Kinks, and I Feel Fine by The Beatles.

We also started work on a few new covers, including Sufjan Stevens' Chicago, Up From…

Because we love talking about ourselves, here are some thoughts on Phone Message Song, which is featured on our 2021 album Try It Now!

Pete

      The storyline lyrics for this one really flew out of my noggin, coated with nerdiness and pop culture references. The idea is like a rom-com situation where this couple - a guy and a girl - have been friends for a while and everyone all around them can see they are made for each other, except they themselves: like Beatrice and Benedict in Twelfth Night to use one…

Here we go again, overexplaining ourselves!  In this installment of "A Deeper Dive" the guys comment on Porch Light, from our 2021 album Try It Now!

Rich

     Steve wrote this song, and when I first heard the demo that had no vocals yet, I thought it was an upbeat, happy tune - especially with the cool brass tones from Alan. Then Pete wrote his lyrics, which were very dark and it took me a while to get used to the lyrical/musical juxtaposition (I think I just pulled a hamstring writing "juxtaposition"). Now…

Welcome to the latest in our occasional series where we present the band's thoughts behind the creation of a song. Today's installment is The Text from our 2021 album Try it Now!

Steve 

     The music for The Text started with the bass and drum groove. With our second album Dogs in Helicopters, we inadvertently established a pattern of trying to present a tune which only had one chord, but was still interesting. On Dogs, that tune was Yesterday Always Knows, which is in F#. On Turnpike to Jupiter, it was…

For those interested in the guys' thoughts behind the song, we present a deeper dive into Je Ne Sais Pas from our latest album Try It Now!

Steve: 

     Usually, when I present a new song to the band I have a fully formed song with music and lyrics that we collectively refine and record, with lots of creative input from the other guys. In a break from form, this one was submitted as an instrumental track (working title “Police Raid," and second working title after lyrics were added, "Happy Place") that I…

With the start of Spring, we continue to work in socially-distant and covid conscious ways!  This past week, Steve spent some time in the mountains of North Carolina, where ZFB classics including Flat Rock and Yesterday Always Knows were composed. Steve reports that he has written two instrumental pieces of music, that may be developed into full songs for a future project!

Meanwhile, back in our home base of Florida, Rich set up an outdoor pop-up studio, where he and Pete worked on overdubs for our cover of…

For those wanting a deeper dive, we humbly present the guys’ thoughts on We the People, the first track on our 2021 album Try It Now! The genesis of the song was an instrumental arrangement by Rich, so we’ll let him go first: 

RICH: 

     In August 2017, like most Americans I watched the events from the white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, with shock and disgust.  I also witnessed, in a peaceful display of strength against hate, that many counter-protesters came to Charlottesville.  Sadly…

Please head on over to YouTube to see our zany new video for the song, Try It Now!

Zen Fuse Box - Try It Now! - Official Music Video