Zen Mantra

Zen Mantra is the domain of Australian born, Christchurch based 'bedroom' musician Sam Perry. Formed from the ashes of promising band Pysch Tigers, he released impressive debut album, intriguingly titled, How Many Padmes Hum? via Muzai Records late last month. We caught up with him recently to see how things are going post-release, what's up with the album's name, it's international release and the nurturing musical environment that is Christchurch...

Hey Sam, how’s it going?

Good thanks.

How did you first get into making music?

How did Zen Mantra come about and what led you toward this musical direction?

I was recording my previous band’s album (Psych Tigers), and was starting to really doubt the music I had written, so in-between recording sessions I would write songs on my laptop; experimenting with new sounds that I hadn’t previously tried. Something just clicked, so I rolled with it.

Are you involved in any other projects at the moment?

Not really, Zen Mantra drummer/best friend Harry Guy recorded this killer EP under the name ‘Hush House’. I keep asking him to start playing it live. If that eventually happens I’ll be playing guitar or drums probably.

Christchurch is producing some great music, and always has really - why do you think this is?

I’ve only lived here in Christchurch for the last three years, I’ve lived in Australia for most of my life. Christchurch has been in ruins for most of the time in which I’ve been part of it’s music scene, but I can comment on how friendly the scene is, there isn’t any elitism or pretension or whatever, not that I’ve encountered anyway. I guess it just means (especially for a young musician such as myself) that you can make mistakes and grow as a musician without having to fear being ostracized from the ‘scene’. This is going to sound super cheesy, but I wouldn’t be the musician I am today without the caring nature of the musicians around me.

How is the live scene these days?

Pretty abysmal to be honest. There are a few great places to play (Darkroom, Wunderbar, Dux etc.) but the crowds are usually pretty shit. Hopefully that’s not more of a reflection on my band though haha.

What is your writing and recording process....

Whenever a try and write music it tends to just come out sounding like a worse version of what I am listening to at the time. I have to wait for the random moments when my subconscious spits out ideas. That happens quite a lot though, as my mind is thinking ‘music’ most of the time. When I get one of these ideas I just record it into my laptop as soon as I can, and then try and let the song pour itself out. If it stops coming naturally, I leave it.

Tell us about the new album - what’s the story behind it’s name?

I was talking to a guy called Valis, he runs the psychedelic music blog ‘Trip Inside This House’. When I was telling him about Zen Mantra (this was right after it was conceived) I mentioned I was having trouble coming up with an album name, he then suggested the name ‘How Many Padmes Hum?’, basically it’s a riff or a take off of the Buddhist chant ‘Om Mani Padme Hum’. I thought the title was fitting, one of my primary goals of the album was to put people in a trance, taking them to a different place whilst keeping the catchy elements of pop music.

Was there a particular theme, inspiration or sound you were trying to achieve?

Not really, I was more so trying to achieve a feeling. As I mentioned before I wanted to put people in a trance, but I didn’t want to do so at the expense of the energy. Achieving both these things together was my main goal. If I write with particular genres or bands in mind, I just end up recycling shittier versions of sounds that have already been made.

How long have you been working on the songs and where there many outtakes?

I spent countless hours on the recording and production of all the songs, I am a perfectionist when it comes to outtakes. If it’s not perfect it gets scrapped.

The album is consistently pretty great but the last track is particularly good – tell us about it specifically...

The lyrics were all written around the theme of escapism, a theme that is shared by quite a few songs on the album. A common misconception could be that it’s about romance, but it’s actually just about getting away and doing exciting new things in new places with someone close to you, it could be about your best friend or something. I love 60’s pop, which is probably why I naturally just wrote it to sound like a love song about a girl. The last song on the album is defiantly one of my favourites.

The album is out on Muzai in New Zealand but has also been released overseas correct?

Exciting – so how did you hook up with them?

I was looking around for an appropriate label to release my album in the U.S and a bunch of people recommended I hit up Crash Symbols, so i sent Dwight (one of the co-owners) an email proposal, and he was really into it. So just the power of email really.

It was kind of the same with Kody, I needed somebody to master my album for the vinyl pressing in Jan and I adore Kody's production on Opossom's debut and Bic Runga's 'Belle', so i sent him an email asking him if he would master my album and attached a link to the soundcloud stream.

Have you been reading your reviews? Anything particularly surprising?

There haven’t been a whole lot of reviews, as the album at this stage has only been released in New Zealand, and most of my fans are based overseas. The reviews of the singles that I released before the album have all very positive though. I’m just happy people like my music as much as I do.

How is your live show coming along? Do you enjoy playing live?

The live show is coming along well, the Zen Mantra live band is made up of Steven Marr (Ipswich) on bass, Charlie Ryder (Bang Bang Eche) on guitar, Elspeth Odum singing harmonies, Harry Guy (Hush House/Lucky Charms) on drums and I sing and play synth. The live versions of the songs and the recorded versions are quite different, they’re more energetic. It keeps things interesting. Playing live is one of my favourite things to do, as mentioned previously though, shows have been pretty uninspiring lately.

What else have you got coming up?

We have a show at the Wunderbar on the 23rd of November with Teen Fortress and Yvnalesca, and we are coming up to Auckland to play a show at Cassette on the 25th. I’m writing my sophomore album at the moment, but I’ll save those details for later.

What’s your view on the state of music in New Zealand...

It’s shit that there are world class bands that have to work day jobs to support themselves, but I guess that’s just a con of having a small population (which is great in a lot of other ways). The results of VNZMA’s were upsetting to say the least, Six60 are FAR from the best group in New Zealand, c’mon.