Trey’s Interview With Zach Of OneRepublic

TREY: I would like to welcome Zach Filkins, I think that’s right, from OneRepublic How you doing man?

ZACH FILKINS: Good, good. I’m doing well.

TREY: Did I butcher your name? Is it Filkins?

ZACH: No, Filkins, you did it right.

TREY: Where’s that from, what region is that from?

ZACH: That’s from, there’s town in England called Filkins. It’s a small, small little like country town and that’s where it comes from.

TREY: And they named the town after you? That’s great, man,

ZACH: Yeah, [laughs] yeah, when I was born they changed the last name.

TREY: Well let me get into this, because, um, not a lot of people know that you’ guys have been doing this for a while. A lot of people think that OneRepublic just appeared one day with timberland. So I got a brief history, now correct me if I’m wrong, Okay? You guys had a major record deal but then that fell through and then you guys were without a label for awhile and then all of the sudden Myspace took off for you guys. You guys became like the number one band on the website. And then after that of course, just about every record label in town is looking at you, including Timbaland’s record label, what is it, Mosely Music Group? He ends up signing you guys, you’re the first rock band on his label, and he even produces your entire album, “Dreaming Out Loud.” Is that right?

ZACH: You have it all right except for the end. He didn’t- The only thing he touched at all is the song “Apologize”, which he remixed just a little bit.

TREY: So that’s the only one he had a hand in?

ZACH: Yeah that’s the only thing he really, but uh, he obviously loves our album. Basically, with him, he wanted to remix “Apologize” a little bit. Even in his own words, he didn’t change it that much, “I just added a beat to it, a couple synths in there” and that was about it. He really didn’t want to change much of our music. He liked how it was.

TREY: So what was working with Timbaland like?

ZACH: Man with him, it’s funny, because he’s very driven; he’s very specific about what he wants. So it’s like he rolls in and we talk for a while. And then we get down to business and that’s about it. You know, it’s funny. But he’s a really funny guy too. I don’t even know if he means to be funny. It’s just his characteristics are just really hilarious. And he’ll just say stuff that’ll crack you up.

TREY: There are a lot of people who use the word “genius” when talking about Timbaland, would you agree?

ZACH: Yeah I would man, the thing is with him, I don’t know if it’s just inherent, if he’s born with it. But he has some sort of knowledge about what most people are going to want to listen to. And think every producer wants that, you know, or wishes they had that. But he just keeps, like, writing these hits. I think it’s- he just seems to know these little things that are pleasing to the ear or whatever. So there’s a genius about him.

TREY: Ryan [Tedder] (lead singer) used to work with Timbaland before OneRepublic, right?

ZACH: Yeah… yeah.

TREY: So would you say that Ryan has a little bit of that? I mean, was he able to clue into some of that Timbaland magic?

ZACH: Yeah. yeah, I think so, man, I think so. You know, he worked with Timbaland enough you know, at the beginning of his writing career that I think he kind of picked up on some of those things. And Ryan, you know, to be honest, Ryan has like his own knowledge of what sounds good and maybe what doesn’t sound so good. And, Ryan also kind of has that point driven, you know, “I’m looking for that one specific thing” kind of attitude. Which makes his writing; it makes Ryan’s writing very specific towards what he wants. He’s sort of, um… here with the final product and it comes out sounding really well.

TREY: When “Apologize” first came out I absolutely loved that record. But I have to tell you the first time I heard “Stop and Stare,” literally I stopped what I was doing cause I had to pay attention to every single note on that song. I’m not kidding with you. And to this day, to this day, I cannot get enough of that record.

ZACH: Oh man, thank you! That’s good to hear.

TREY: It’s just phenomenal that, that we didn’t know about you guys 2 years ago. And you guys have done so much in such little time. But I want to know, what’s your favorite song that you guys recorded?

ZACH: For me that’s an easy answer. Most of the guys will answer the same thing too. Our favorite is “Say”, which is our first track on our album. We all like it for different reasons It was the very last song we wrote. And It was funny because When we went into the studio we were just kind of, we were just cleaning the album because you know we had the album with Columbia and that was like X and a half years ago. So when we had this album and Interscope finally got it from Columbia back into our ownership, then we decided to change a few things because we wanted it to be the very best album that we could put out. So we had to update things. We took some songs off and rewrote other songs. And it was the very last one that we wrote. And I don’t think we thought it was going to be as moving to us as it was. But when we finished it we sat back and listened to it and we were just like “man.” I don’t know what it is but the song - it starts really slow and by the end it’s just this climatic, you know whatever. And that’s all of our favorite songs for some reason.

TREY: I’m going to have to go back and re-listen to it.

ZACH: Yeah.

TREY: I mean if it’s all of your favorites then I’ve got to have to give it another chance. I’m going to have to move past “Stop and Stare” and sit down with that record and just focus on it.

ZACH: Yeah give it a try, give it a try.

TREY: I promise you I’ll do it.

ZACH: That’s probably going to be our second or third single actually. Um, ironically.

TREY: Well that’s perfect that means I won’t have to wait long at all.

ZACH: Yeah I know, hopefully [laughs].

TREY: Alright so you and Ryan, we were talking about him early. You guys went to high school together?

ZACH: Yes, In Colorado Springs.

TREY: When you guys were in high school together did you have any idea that this would happen? That you guys would eventually form band and have the biggest song on the planet? And working with Timberland?

ZACH: No, we didn’t know man, like, we both have the kind of personality, I guess, where if there’s something that we want to do then we will do whatever it takes to make it happen. And I think both Ryan and I knew that at some point that we would get that band together that we always talked about. And that it would be something that would at least leave a mark, on the music, just the music industry itself. But we didn’t, we had no idea that it'd be this big this fast. We had no idea that the Timberland thing would come in. and yeah I would say fifty percent of this is a surprise and the other fifty is just like yeah we thought something, we’re really pushing for something like this. But we had no idea it would happen

TREY: Now what was that like, because you said 50 percent of it was a surprise, the time between being dropped from Columbia and then from being signed with Interscope/Mosely Music. What was that like for you guys? I imagine it was kind of terrifying.

ZACH: It was it was incredibly terrifying. Those were the moments actually when we thought maybe this, maybe this wont happen. You know. That’s when all the doubts came in between Columbia and Interscope. Because, we had just played Cochella, which was, which was the highlight of our career at the moment. And we drove back to LA and to find that our manager called the next day and said Columbia is not committing to your release date and they’re being really weird. And we think you guys are just getting shelved. So we’re going to pull out of Columbia. We’re just like “What? This is ridiculous.” So, so, you know, everything just went straight down. And for a few months there, I think we were all considering in our heads if this was even worth trying anymore or not. Because at this point I think it had been three years that we were really pushing on it so um, you know, it was Myspace you had mentioned Myspace. It was really Myspace that kept us, I believe, from just kind of breaking up. Because we had all the doubts in our head. But then we’d go to Myspace and we’d see all these comments, and all of these friend request and all these people saying “I love your songs”, and “your music is changing my life” and we’ve gotten a few emails even from people. There were a couple of emails; literally people were on the verge of committing suicide. And they heard “Apologize” and put down the pen and stopped writing the suicide note and they decided they’d give life another try. And we were like “man we can’t quit the band if there’s this much impact. We have to stay together.” So that’s where we were.

TREY: Dude, you just gave me chills with the “putting the pen down” line.

ZACH: But that’s what they wrote, that’s what they wrote

TREY: How does that make you feel as an artist, as a person, to know that you had that kind of influence?

ZACH: It’s scary man, it’s scary. Because as an artist, you know, you want to put out your art and you want to affect people. You know, that’s kind of like your goal, you want it to mean something for somebody. But, like, the fact that we might have even saved one life, is like, I don’t even want to say that because it’s humbling to even say. We don’t even deserve that kind of recognition. It’s just like way bigger than us, you know what I mean?

TREY: Yeah.

ZACH: And that’s kind of what you feel, you’re humbled. And you feel like this is bigger than us and we don’t know quite how to deal with this

TREY: I love the name of the album, "Dreaming Out Loud”, what does it mean? Where did it come from?

ZACH: That’s a song that we wrote, actually. The title is “Dreaming Out Loud”. And the song is not on this album. But hopefully we’ll put it on our second album. And so when we were thinking of album titles, you know, we were really going for self titled, and that was really our first choice at the time. And we were just sitting around talking, I can’t remember where think we were somewhere in New York, in New York State playing a show. And we were just talking about other ideas. And we brought up “Dreaming Out Loud” just because it was a title of a song that we had and we were thinking about it and we were like, yeah in a sense, that really represents a lot of the songs that we had because a lot of the songs that we had were written during the time when we were really pushing really trying to get the band going, and it was just this big life struggle, you know, because you commit everything to make something like this happen. And so a lot of the songs are almost like “Dreaming Out Loud”. Almost like you’re sitting around talking about where you want to be how you’re unsatisfied with where you are now and “I want to be here” and “how can we get here”. So the album in a lot of ways is kind of like, you know, dreaming out loud and just talking about life and struggles, and what we were going through. And we all looked at each other and were like that’s it. That’s the album title right there.

TREY: Are you guys still dreaming out loud, are there still things out there that you guys want to accomplish that you guys haven’t gotten yet, or are you pretty content in where you have made it?

ZACH: I don’t think were ever going to be completely satisfied. There’s always more music to write, I think there’s more challenging music that we can find and we can write, and yeah we want to play bigger venues, we wanna, you know, have a bigger impact and I don’t know, we wanna push ourselves more and more.

TREY: Pick up a few Grammys, play Madison Square Garden…

ZACH: [laughs] There you go…something like that maybe (laughs) Yeah, that wouldn’t be bad either, we dream out loud about that sometimes too but life is always changing and you’re always kind of thinking about what’s next.

TREY: Now rock stars always have a reputation of being hard partiers and lots of woman, not that I have heard anything about you guys… Who would you say is the ladies man in One Republic? You can say yourself.

ZACH: No, no, no. [laughs] No, the ladies man, I guess we always say that it is Drew because he’s the only who’s not engaged or seriously dating.

TREY: So he’s the one you all live vicariously through while on the road.

ZACH: Yeah, we’re always like; “Hey man, I’m talking to this girls; maybe you should talk to her.” Yeah, everything angles towards him…

TREY: I need to set this up with my friends, where they funnel the girls to me.

ZACH: Yeah, we can funnel some of them to you too; you sound like a really cool guy.

TREY: Thanks for the hook up. You guys are on the road now, where you like performing the most here in the states or over seas?

ZACH: I really like the east coast; I’m not just saying that, I really do. The people are great. So, like Midwest, east coast, probably my favorite places to play. Besides that, we’re big fans of Germany, we have done a lot of things in Germany and there’s really good fans there but I don’t know, I think the best fans are in the U.S. honestly.

TREY: Is it weird that people aren’t speaking your language but are singing word for word to your song?

ZACH: That is very weird, man. I don’t think I can get used to that. It is really crazy. We were, at the end of last year, in Germany doing some press and stuff like that. We were in the elevator, we heard this couple fighting in the back corner of the elevator. Its German, so it always sounds like they are fighting but, they were really fighting. Every once in a while we would hear, One Republic and then a bunch of German. So we got out of the elevator and I asked our rep who was with us, “What the hell were they talking about?” and she said that she thought you guys were One Republic, the band who sings Apologize and he didn’t thinks so and so they kept fighting and she wanted him to introduce her to us and he was like no “its not the band” and she said “No, I swear it is”. We were like man, this is happening in the middle of Germany. It was blowing our minds that the knew anything about us.

TREY: So what’s coming up next for OneRepublic, anything on the horizon?

ZACH: We are actually going to film the video for Say, the third sing, our favorite song. We are actually going to film that in Prague because we are going to be in that part of the world…in March.

TREY: What’s the idea for the video, do you have a storyboard yet?

ZACH: Well, we have a few ideas. We want it to look, you know, cool.

TREY: [laughs]

ZACH: We are going to take advantage of the city. Prague is one of the most beautiful cities I think, ever. We kind of want the city to be the star and the just play off that. So yeah, we are gonna do that. We’re going to Australia, New Zealand with Maroon 5, we got another U.S. tour, a U.S. college tour then we go to Europe for almost a month. We’re everywhere.

TREY: When are you guys gonna take some time off?

ZACH: [laughs] That’s the question man. Probably a little bit in May, a little bit in June the maybe, hopefully December 25th.

TREY: Wow, well thank you for taking the time to talk, I wish you and OneRepublic the best of luck, again thank you.

ZACH: No problem, my pleasure. Thanks for having me man.

Read the whole interview here!