Zak Schaffer

Music

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Amelia

Album: Maybe It's Me

Released: Feb 8, 2006

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Amelia
2:57
2,563 plays
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Silicon Chip
3:58
1,830 plays
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Bar Talk
3:31
1,801 plays
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Awakening
8:15
1,629 plays

Total Plays: 7,891 / Plays Today: 1See All Featured ►

General Info

Genre: Alternative / Classic Rock / Powerpop
Location LOS ANGELES, California, US
Profile Views: 21186
Last Login: 1/28/2010
Member Since 10/22/2005
Website www.immensetalent.com
Record Label All in good time...
Bio
Well....... My debut album "Maybe It's Me" is available for download at ..CDBABY... Why listen to some lame stream when you can have it on your Ipod?.... Also, you can now go .. Here .. to watch "Why is Zak Schaffer Making the Great American Rock Album?".... It took us a while, but the entire movie is viewable at google videos. Watch it with someone you love. .... Furthermore, go .. Here .. to listen to the 2005 Holiday CD. All your favorite hits of the eighties done with out all those stupid drum machines and synthesizers!.... Anyway..... For the last five years or so, I've been a bassist, guitarist, drummer, vocalist, songwriter, producer, engineer, whateverer. I've worked with Richard Butler, Pete Yorn, Minnie Driver, Peter Himmelman, Minibar, Jukebox Junkies, and a bunch of other folks. .... I have made one of the great works of American Pop Music. Bar Talk is 11 songs of pure pop mastery. Clever songs, impeccable musicianship, lush harmonies, full tilt rockers, eight minute epics, jazz-pop for your parents. There is no better record recorded in a garage mostly by one dude during 2005..... I've recently started gracing the stages of the Southland. Josh Lopez, Scott Siever, and Mark Noseworthy are my partners in crime. Stay posted. .... So, yeah. That's about it. Rock on. ........Home.. | ..Browse.. | ..Search.. | ..Invite.. | ..Film.. | ..Mail.. | ..Blog.. | ..Favorites.. | ..Forum.. | ..Groups.. | ..Events.. | ..Videos.. | ..Music.. | ..Comedy.. | ..Classifieds......
Members
I did the record mostly by myself, but a few of my friends came in to help out. For shows, I'm backed by White Belt: .... Mark Noseworthy, Guitar.. Scott Seiver, Drums.. Josh Lopez, Guitar..
Influences
I like music that's simple but sophisticated. I came from a pretty wacky family, so I tend to listen to stuff that's orderly. So, not a lot of free jazz..... I got really into the Beatles when I was eight. The Cars when I was ten. The Police when I was 12. Just about everything sucked in the eighties, except Prince. I went through a long XTC phase at the end of the decade. Then Nirvana came along and gave us all hope. .... In the early nineties I got really into super violent movies like Bad Lieutenant, Man Bites Dog, and Laws of Gravity. With that, came Steve Albini records like PJ Harvey's Rid of Me and The Jesus Lizard's Goat. Around that time I also developed a new found respect for AC/DC. God, those guys are tough. .... But I knew there was more to life than music by and for angry white men, and Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder and Al Green got quite a few spins over at Club Schaffer. And Charles Mingus showed me that there is jazz out there for pop fascists like me. .... I was, like most Earthlings, seduced by Radiohead toward the end of the nineties. Around that time, Pet Sounds, First Band on the Moon, I Should Coco really pulled me back into Smart Pop. I've kind of been there ever since. .... In the last couple years, Wilco and Gillian Welch have allowed me to rejoice in my folky roots. Like most children of the seventies my dad taught us to play pretty young, and I grew up listening to him sing folk and blues (not to mention Neapolitan arias and Bob Dylan)..... Lately, I've discovered the joys of Cole Porter and Rogers and Hart. I figured that there had to be some good songwriters before the Beatles, right? .... Whatever it is I'm listening to, it's probably a few minutes in length, contains more than four chords, has a few cool lyrics, some emotional content and is played by decent musicians. Things just haven't changed that much.
Sounds Like
I think the ingredient list is something like this.... Beatles White Album .. Elliot Smith, XO.. Ben Folds Five, Whatever and Ever Amen.. Todd Rundgren, Something/Anything.. Beach Boys, Pet Sounds.. Wilco, Being There.. Stevie Wonder, Songs in the Key of Life..