Introducing WHO SHOT SCOTT.
Creating WHO SHOT SCOTT was a creative outlet that has turned into something bigger than expected for Zee. We sat down with him to learn more about his journey with his music so far.
How did this all start? Did you grow up loving music and singing? Was this always a dream for you?
"50 Cent. When I was younger, I had a friend whose older sister had a 50 Cent CD. It was the first time I’d ever heard rap music properly, and my mind was blown. Ever since then, I was addicted; I was like, I don’t know what this is, but I just want to be a part of it. It was the catalyst moment; I remember it so vividly."
"In hindsight, I think the music's production got me, the punchiness of it. That was the first time I took ownership of my own music after just listening to whatever my mum liked before that. I sort of went down a rabbit hole after that, and once I got to high school, I started listening to a lot of punk rock and 90s hip hop. As I was listening to music, I was also making stuff based on whatever I was into at the time, and then I just ended up here."
What made you decide not to go by your own name and go by Who Shot Scott instead?
"I very notoriously never say what it means to me, but it has a very significant meaning as to why this music project started for me. It comes from a place of rebuilding myself after a couple of crazy years, after a group I was in broke up."
"I guess my whole identity as a person faced a crisis in my mid-20s. I still wanted to make music. Still, that childhood dream was inside of me, but I just had to figure out what that looked like for me. Producing for myself and creating WHO SHOT SCOTT sort of became the home of the chapter of my music."
Who are your music inspirations? Who do you look up to?
"I never go into the studio and think I want to make a song like such and such, but I think a lot of it comes from my childhood, when I was skateboarding and listening to punk and alternative hip hop. It’s that nostalgia when I’m making my own music, it's like I’m trying to channel my intuition and my intuition just so happens to be correlated with sounds from my teenage years, when I was really angsty and stuff. With my recent EP, my inspirations were not musical, my inspiration came from the art world, such as pieces by Jean Michel-Basquiat."
"I locked myself in the studio and didn’t listen to anything other than what I was making and I just watched lots of Basquiat and Warhol documentaries and took inspiration from their art and philosophy. He was very anti-conformist which was really cool to me, and I think that headspace really came out in my music."
Who are your music idols?
"I’m not sure if I idolise anybody but I definitely have a lot of respect for people in the art world. Rick Rubin is one, I feel like his philosophy on art first is really cool. Lately, I’ve just been very drawn to people who are rule breakers or anti-conformists."
What’s your favourite part of the song making process, writing, mixing, recording, releasing?
"It’s interesting because I do all those parts by myself. I seem to have found a way to love every part. I do each step in stages, so I’m in different head spaces along the way. If I had to pick just one, I guess it would be the start of a project when you’re just writing ideas without judgment and without thinking of what it’s going to turn into. It’s just full freedom."
Let’s talk about your upcoming EP (brain side B), tell us more about this, what made you decide to do another one, the name, what you wanted to share.
"This is part two of the EP I released last year, ‘BRAIN (SIDE A). By no means is it the left-over songs from Side A, it’s just the concept of brain side A and B. I felt I just had to make the second half of it. I like to release music or EPs within a certain framework, it helps me stay accountable. This one felt like I had a lot more to say, from that non-conformist place, so I put a lot of rage and feelings into the new EP."
You’ve co-labed with some cool people along the way, how did that come about/how did you find it working with other artists.
"I’ve never made a collaborative decision on anything other than if there’s chemistry there. I will always put myself out there though, and work with different people, even if I don’t know if it will go well or not. Every now and again I’ll work with an artist that just connects in such an organic way and it just works. I look for that as much as possible."
What do you have coming up that you can share with us?
The two biggest things are my new EP which is dropping in early 2025 and I’ve been locked in to play at Womad in 2025 which is so exciting.
What burger do you think your new EP would be if it were on the BF menu?
The American Muscle Double – just super hearty, meaty, big bodied with loud songs and not very subtle at all. It’s very in your face the whole way through.
What would your ideal BF burger contain?
My perfect burger is the Hamburgini, it’s everything that I want.
To round out an epic interview, we had to put Zee through our quick-fire round.
What is your go-to song for Jam Out in the Car? Break by Fazerdaze.
Who is your favourite artist at the moment? Fazerdaze.
One thing you can’t perform without? Meditation.
One artist or band you would love to co-lab with? Mozart.
Go to BurgerFuel order? Hamburgini and Kumara fries.
Fire or Backfire
Pickles in burgers-Fire
Crocs-Fire
Karaoke-Fire
BurgerFuel Aioli-Fire
Acoustic performances– Fire
NZ Music Month- Fire
Festivals-Fire
Singing in the shower-Definitely Fire, Fire
Pineapple on pizza- Backfire
Supermarket in bare feet- In NZ fire, anywhere else backfire.
Check out WHO SHOT SCOTT'S newest single, GLITCH MFERS.
