Are you a fan of local indie/alternative rock and looking for some new recommendations, well look no further. The Zolas are playing a show at the Vogue Theatre in Vancouver this Friday, Nov. 27th.
The Zolas are based in Vancouver and consist of five members, but the core of the group is the duo of Zachary Gray on vocals and guitar and Tom Dobrzanski on piano. Both of which were originally part of the band Lotus Child and then moved on to form The Zolas in 2009. Their debut album, Tic Toc Tic, put their name on the market. They worked with Howard Redekopp, who helped produce the album. Redekopp has also worked famously with The New Pornographers and Tegan and Sara. The majority of this album was actually recorded in a recording studio Dobrzanski built in his parents’ basement while he was studying at the University of British Columbia. This studio was actually used by other popular Vancouver bands such as Said the Whale and Hey Ocean!.
Their later album, Swooner, released in 2016, got them some real recognition with a Juno nomination for Breakthrough Group of the Year for 2017.
Frontman and lead writer Zachary Gray ended up stepping away from the band and taking some time to support with writing for other artists such as Carly Rae Jepsen. He is credited with writing and producing on the track LA Hallucinations from her third studio album, Emotion.
While Gray was away, Dobrzanski and the band dove into some new material to shake up the sound with something a little different and new. They leaned into something a bit more political for their album Come Back to Life album released in summer 2021.
As most bands are yearning for live shows again, they will continue touring for the rest of this year into 2022.