How did it all start for ZedEppelin:

I had been learning piano from a young age and living in Budapest before my family and I came to Australia. When I was still quite young, dad bought me a keyboard, which didn’t make any sound – but when it was connected to a computer, a whole orchestra had the potential of coming to life!

This was my first taste of electronic production in a general sense. From this, a deep appreciation for new and intricate sounds developed and I tried to incorporate these sounds into the guitar-heavy rock music that was around me. As I learnt more about electronic music, my tastes shifted but the need to play instruments live got stronger.

The first realization came when I was performing with a talented hip-hop artist Luca Bliss. I’d have so much equipment on stage like keyboards, guitars, pads etc. that moving around between them just became ridiculous! This guitar was my answer to that problem – to perform electronic music and be able to play an instrument live.

How did you come up with the first Launchpad guitar?

I was throwing the idea around with some like-minded friends and sketching up some designs. I was already familiar with and loved the Novation Launchpad but it was too big to fit in any standard guitar body. Once I had some blueprints down the initial contacts with guitar builders didn’t go too well. From the 15 I contacted, two agreed to meet with me and Ian Noyce was one of them. We met, clicked, drew up some more designs, talked and a great friendship began. I’d visit him fortnightly in his workshop near Ballarat. Without his new ideas on the design, this thing would have been very different! His input and ideas were amazing.

What’s the Plan for the album and an artist like Zedeppelin?

Well, post album release I’m planning on going around Australia on a busking trip – the whole setup is portable and this was a big part of the design. A great little company called Juke-Case built my amplification system, with beautiful vintage speakers in an old converted suitcase! My music is also inspired from natural sounds and travelling will allow me to source new material!

So amazing, but how are you going about this

I’ve been saving and saving for a while now and just bought a van to travel in. The initial plan was to travel around Europe this year, sampling sounds off the street from each country and composing each unique sound into a song creating a sonic fingerprint of each place. That will clearly have to wait, but right now I’m looing forward to exploring our very own backyard! Growing up in Europe, I got the chance to see so many beautiful countries but never really had too much time travelling around Australia. I’ve been here for ages now!

How’s the album coming along

Well, I’m the crazy guy who announces a launch night without actually having an album complete! I thought to myself, ‘I have an album in me, I can do it!’ but it was a little bit too ambitious I think. I mean, the skeletons of the tracks were almost down but adding in the intricacies (the guts) and then getting them ready to perform live is just a huge amount of work!! Having said that, it’s very close to done now and in the final stretch it’ll just be a massive focus on programming all the MIDI messages, practicing and getting the live show ready for the launch! Crazy…

Launch date?

May 22nd – a week before my birthday! I’m so lucky to have such amazing people involved in the whole process, helping and supporting me. Philemon and The Townhouses (Leigh Hannah) are two incredible souls and sharing the night with them will be beautiful. My girlfriend Claire Lefebvre is an unbelievable painter and we’re collaborating on the album covers. She had an exhibition last year and we worked together on creating a giant artwork across 100 CD covers, like a colourful, psychedelic mosaic! Except each piece (CD), is part of a bigger work, like a puzzle piece – part of this bigger collective but still being your own your unique piece of art. She’s been such a huge support and creative muse.

How can I get a copy?

100 of those will be available to buy on the night and then overall 500 release in the coming few months, online on www.zedeppelin.com and BandCamp.

ZedEppelin ‘Aerial Sway” Debut Album Launch

22nd of May at The Workers Club

Buy tickets here -> http://tickets.oztix.com.au/?Event=43453

More event details: https://www.facebook.com/events/248024488716526/

With support from:

Philemon: EP is out 22nd June:

The town houses:

Check out more information on ZedEppelin: https://about-blank.co/profile/brotherzee/