The Zolas have been around since 2008, and their most streamed song since 2013 is still their song, “Strange Girl”, and Zachary Gray says it wasn’t even a hit to the radio or the fans. He says it just ended up in people’s playlists, and the way it’s recorded is something the band doesn’t really play. 

Strange Girl

There is this cool guitar riff in the song, though, and it turns out it’s based on a song from the Hollerado band called “Juliette”. I actually listen to Hollerado, and The Zolas have toured with them many times.

A song that The Zolas loves to play at the end of every set even if it isn’t successful is “Escape Artist”. Those who were familiar with older songs from The Zolas would DM the band, sharing how much the song means to them. It’s strongly relatable to people who feel like there’s two of them, or when they don’t want to be themselves.

They also got to tour with Hotel Mira in the States, and Zach mentions that the band has been desperately trying to get a tour in the states for a while and maybe Europe, just anywhere besides Canada. 

He has advice for any new musicians from Canada, and that’s not to play in Canada especially if you know your potential. Doing well in Canada means your band is only known there, and you’re stuck there. Becoming big in other places as a Canadian band will eventually circle back to gaining a Canadian audience as well as rising in other Countries.

“Ancient Mars” and “Swooner” had a four year gap between them with the only song released in that gap was their “Invisible” single. They felt that would be something that would do well on Canadian radio, and that single led to the success of “Swooner”.

Zach is another big artist from Vancouver that helped write a song from Carly Rae Jepsen besides Josh Ramsay from Marianas Trench. He knew her in Vancouver when she dated his best friend, and he happened to pitch her the song, which she liked.

There are some things that Zach wants to pursue outside of his band, but there’s a part of him that really wants the world to know how good his music is, and that keeps him on the path of making music.