Brock Zeman's new CD goes the distance for song length, Release party set for Carleton Place Legion this Friday

Posted Jan 5, 2012 By Desmond Devoy

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EMC Entertainment - Brock Zeman didn't try to beat out songs like 'November Rain', 'Hey Jude', or even 'In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida' in terms of length.

But, while the 'Rain on the Roof', falls just short of Iron Butterfly's 17-minute pioneering heavy metal standard, it still rocks out at 14 minutes.

"For years I tried to record it and could never get it right," said Zeman during a recent telephone interview, as he gears up for the debut of his ninth CD, 'Me, Then You' at the Carleton Place Legion this Friday, Jan. 6.

Fellow musician Robert Larisey will open the show at 8 p.m.

"It's probably the only song I've ever written to record," said Zeman. "It's just a big bunch of big nets and it tells this big story and you just go along with it ... It's kinda like a book of short stories rather than a novel," or a ballad like Gordon Lightfoot's long song 'The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald', which retold an historic event.

"It keeps a common theme of a rainy day, and it goes through four people's lives," said Zeman.

Zeman is actually glad that 'Rain on the Roof', is far longer than the three-minute top 40 songs of Justin Bieber and his ilk.

"Everybody wants these three-minute pop songs," Zeman laments. "They don't tell me anything. The idea is done after the first verse and the rest is filler."

While his final product did, indeed, get it just right, there were bumps along the road. A guitarist friend was over at Zeman's home studio one day to listen to the song.

"I knew that we had a moment of truth in it," Zeman said, recalling that day as the two men listened to the track, one of 10 on his album. "We looked at each other and said at the same time, 'Shoot, we need strings.'"

So, they dutifully tracked down a violinist who helped them get the full string sound on tape.

While this is Zeman's ninth album, it also marks a type of artistic re-birth for him.

"I think that this is the first record that I did entirely by myself with complete creative control," he said proudly.

His fans will also notice a change in his musical direction.

"I have roots in punk rock and that's coming to the fore (in the album)," he said. "I'm shying away from country to sound more like me. It's hard to sound like yourself in a studio, weird as that may sound."

Unlike some artists, such as Paul Simon, who like to write while in the studio, Zeman prefers to come to his basement home studio with the lyrics good to go.

"I usually have a catalogue of tunes to pick from," he said. "I write every day. If I had the time and money, I could put out five albums tomorrow ... I never want to be in a position where I need to write a song to fill a record."

This Friday's CD release party will be a homecoming of sorts, since his first CD release celebration was also held at the Carleton Place Legion.

"It is different for someone who has been with me since the first album," he said of his fans. "It sounds different. (But) I've kept my song-writing pretty much the same."

While copies of his CD will be on sale at the party, they are also available through iTunes, as well as at his website, and at CD Warehouse and Compact Music in Ottawa.

"CD stores, I don't even know how they stay open," said Zeman. "There are still a crew of people who go there, God bless 'em."

Zeman remembers a time when he too would drop up to $250 a month on CDs at a store.

"Since iTunes, it's hard to beat when you buy as many records as I do," said Zeman. As an artist, he likes the method just as much. "I get paid the money, you get the record and I still have the product."

Zeman is also a supporter of the local music scene.

"This area is always talked down about with regards to its musicians," said Zeman. "But the musicians are here. It is a cool area to play music in, if you can figure it out."




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