ZZ Ward

0:00Hi, I'm ZZ Ward and you're watching MSN Exclusives. So life is a touring artist now. Yeah. What's it been like? I mean, this year has been crazy. Yeah, it has been crazy. But it's been great. I mean, it really takes a lot of time

0:46to figure out, you know, your life on tour. Because it really is like your life on tour, you're living out on the road. So, you know, it takes time to figure it out. But I mean, since we're coming up on South by Southwest again, which literally marks like a year of me going to South by and then being on tour, which I had never been on tour before. So, I mean, the things I've learned in a year. Yeah, so like what would have been the hardest things to get used to, would have been the easiest things to get used to? The easiest things to get used to are probably like playing for, you know, sold out crowds. I mean, that's easy to get used to because it's fun and meeting my fans that are great. The hardest things are probably just trying to figure out like, you know, it's not normal. Like you don't like, you don't like go to sleep at night and then, you know, get the full nights of night sleep

1:32every night and then get up for work. It doesn't really work that way. Like sometimes you have to get up and do like 6 a.m. radio or 6 a.m. TV and then go back to sleep and then get up for another interview and then go back to that and then like get up for like, you know, a show at 11 o'clock at night. So, you know, there's like, it's just a crazy schedule and you're always moving. You're constantly like leaving, you're never staying in one place. And you want to bring a little puppy into this world with you? Yes. When does a dog arrive? Well, she's already arrived. Well, I don't get her. She actually yesterday, she was, she's 8 weeks. So all the other puppies are being taken and she'll be there until she's 10 and a half weeks because I'm not going to get her until after South by Southwest. Right. March 17th. It makes sense to not bring the dog to South by. It's a little crazy. Yeah. I mean, I just think, I actually thought about it a lot

2:18to bring her like right on tour. But I don't know. I just think it's a little bit too much for, you know, her being like a little baby. So, talking about writing on the road, have you been able to write? Like, I know some people come right on the road, some people can't. Now that you've been this full-fledged touring artist for a year. I'm not going to say that I can. I haven't yet. But I don't think that it, I think I'll be able to if I want to. It's just kind of, you know, there's so much going on. And when I wrote the record, I, there wasn't, there wasn't like so much going on. So I had all this time to write. So it's definitely a new part of my life to try and figure out how to make time to write when I'm constantly doing touring and doing promo and shows. So. Did you write the record in the studio or was it like written before?

3:05Most of the songs were written before. I went into the studio and produced them just in my apartment. And then you have guys like Ryan Ted or DJ Premier. How do they bring differently to songs from a guy who's a musician as opposed to a DJ? Like, how do you work with them differently? Well, with Premier, we went in and we kind of wrote something over, over, you know, a track that he was, I can't say a track that he had because that's not how he works. He makes things like on the fly. He samples and makes things on the fly, which is incredible. So, you know, I wrote over, you know, something that he was making when I was in New York. And then with Ryan, I had already written last love song. And he believed in the song and I actually want to produce it. So, which was also an amazing experience because he's like, he's like a genius and I had never seen any producer work like him.

3:51Like, he came in with like notes on like, what he wanted to do and we were going to like do it, which is, you know, and I'm just just like, what about this? Like, trying to get something in, you know, because he's like, he's a mad man, but he's a genius. So. What two songs are you going to play for us today? We're going to play 365 and then my single put the gun down. What is the inspiration behind? Let's start with 365. You say the word black-topping it in the first line. And notice there's another tune on the record. Blue eyes blind also starts with black-topping the first line. Oh my God, I didn't realize that. It's what I'm here for. In the black-tap. Wow. So what's the word black-top? What do you like that one? It's sexy. It is a sexy word. The black-top. I mean, I was just think of the black-top as like, I mean, you could think of the black-top like out in the cold winter. But to me, I always, I guess in both songs,

4:37I'm kind of talking about it like, you know, in the summer. In some sense. Like the street. Yeah, the street. I like it. It's a bluesy word. So, 365, what is it about? Where did you get the inspiration from? You know, I think that my songs are very straightforward, I'm very honest. So when it comes to like talking about the stories behind the songs, I usually don't really go to and to depth with them. It's just, it's about waiting for somebody for a long time. You know. It's a break-up record. Yeah. Except for one song. What did it move like you stole it? That's the happy one. That's a happy tune on the record. Yeah, it's the hooking up song. Yeah, exactly. And put the gun down the big hit single. Where does that one come from? You just said you don't like talking about that. No, it's okay.

5:22I'm just saying I can give a little bit. But it's kind of a, it's a song about feeling very vulnerable to another person being able to take the person that you love for me. Before we played these songs, I asked five quick questions. One word answers. Okay. Well, actually we're going to do six because someone tweeted me one and I was like, okay, I'll throw it in there. Okay. Road or studio? Studio. Lening or McCartney? Lening. When you hear a song, what usually hits you first? Lyrics, melody, or rhythm? I love it. Song you've written your most proud of. Last love song. Cool. And this is the one from Twitter. ZZ Top or M Ward? ZZ Top. I thought it was cool. And in one word, ZZ Ward.

6:08Dope. Dope. I like it. Let's play some tunes. Okay.