House Party, Los Angeles, June 2004
Nick Zinner's one of our favourite heroes. From his unique guitar lines to photography, philosophy and down to his distinctive outlook. Choltida Pekanan chats to the man in black about his latest book I Hope You Are All Happy Now, and guess what? The dude has managed to keep her pretty happy!
SS: You’ve been busy and all over the world this year. You were in Japan and Australia for a bit too, was that for projects or holidays? What is it about those countries you like so much?
Nick: I went to Tokyo for a month mostly to be alone and write music. It was the first time in 3 years where I had more than 6 weeks free, and Japan is one of my favorite places. I only left Tokyo once, and probably saw 1/1000th of what’s there, so I’m looking forward to going back again. I was dj'ing in Australia, one of the more extravagant things I’ve been able to do. Basically, I’m addicted to traveling, it’s very much part of my Sagittarius nature. Something about the feeling of absolute anonymity is pretty sexy.
SS: What’s it like living in NYC? Is it a good place for networking apart from good lifestyle and the social scene?
Nick: New York is just filled with creative people with slightly off-beat visions, it’s so easy to collaborate. I always think of New York City like a mirror - if you feel like shit, the city will look like shit. Alternately, if you're feeling up, the city will say, "Well hello there, you're looking very handsome today! You must be very talented! Are those new shoes you’re wearing?"
Birthday Balloons, Brisbane, December 2002
SS: For you, taking pictures helps you make sense of many things that you will soon forget or didn’t understand in the first place. It helps you put things into perspective. Whereas Anton Corbijn first started taking pictures because when he was very young he didn’t have many friends so his father’s camera was a good excuse to help him get anywhere on his own. It was a bit like that extra confidence as well as a companion. You seem a bit like a loner too, was this ever the case in the beginning and/or still?
Nick: Its definitely still the case. When I first started taking photos, I wasn’t drinking or anything, so it really gave me a purpose for being around people at parties and things. It’s much healthier than sitting in the corner by yourself feeling like a weirdo.
SS: Do you think you and camera are switching roles now? Does it now feel more like the camera is taking you instead?
Nick: Those moments don’t come that often, but when they do its pretty rad.
SS: As much as you’d like to have a bit of privacy, your photos are really inviting us to look beyond what’s there; one could spend forever going through the book. People often end up just making up stories within the pictures themselves. Do you mind when they try to get into your head while doing that?
Nick: I like the keep things fairly ambiguous. I prefer if people attach their own interpretations. It’s usually more exciting that what actually happened.
SS: Because the nature of your work being kind of social documentary, do you think the context of either the books or your photos will ever become irrelevant to you one day, or relevant but in a different way? Will you be happy to embrace that?
Nick: Part of me feels that the relevance to anything, or myself, disappears as soon as the image is printed - it becomes one step removed. I like this - photographs take on their own life. And their "truth" or whatever becomes irrelevant. It’s a nice way to get distance and proximity and the same time. Does that make any sense? Maybe just to me.
Ferry, UK, March 2002
SS: The idea of celebrity seems to really scare and shock you often. Surely you read and talk about other people too. The concept of celebrity for most people in the early days, before it’s become an obsessed culture, must have been born out of pure admiration in one’s achievement as oppose to what one is. Why is it hard for you to perceive yourself as a ‘celebrity’? Is it because of the over-hype in the media?
Nick: I guess when I think of celebrity, I think of people like Lindsey Lohan or JLo. They've crossed the line where they are more famous as people than what they’re famous for doing....like, nobody cares that Lohan makes movies, they just want to know if she got skinny because she's bulimic or doing crazy amounts of blow. At least I do. I don’t think I’ll ever cross that line, so it’s weird when I do things like this.
SS: Do you think there’s a difference in fame and celebrity? Do you wish to be recognised or acknowledged for your work?
Nick: Its nice, but I cant expect it.
SS: Do you enjoy talking to fans or are you too shy? Do you like meeting people who like music as much as you do?
Nick: Sometimes I do – it’s great when you work hard on something, and it touches another person. But some people are creepy and just want to say they fucked the guy from Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
SS: I saw that really cute letter from Jim Davis replying to ‘Nicky Zinner’ in (cat zine) Catholic, what is it you love about Garfield? Are there any cartoon characters you like as much as or more than him?
Nick: I totally loved Garfield when I was a kid. He just didn’t give a fuck and was so cute. Odie would try and play with him, but if Garfield hadn’t had his coffee, he'd just slap that dog away. I also really like Keroppi and Badtz-Maru. He has a little alligator as his pet - how rad is that?
SS: Art historians spend so much time thoroughly analysing someone’s work. But how much do certain artists actually spend planning. Your work, both photography and music, are very organic. Do you think we are taught to think too much? Why is that important to try to analyse things otherwise?
Nick: Overthinking is my greatest fault. Whenever I do it, everything goes downhill. I believe the best guideline is "shoot first, ask questions later".
Copenhagen, August 2003
SS: Yeah Yeah Yeahs is a happy accident that luckily stays fairly happy, but you also have so many other musical styles in other projects, both softer and harder. If you were to do a solo project, for now, what would it sound like? Would you like to do more Unitard stuff?
Nick: I’m really into making remixes now, so I’d probably focus on something dancey. or the complete opposite - orchestral.
SS: So many projects here… Is there anything else you haven’t done and would like to do in the future?
Nick: Too much!
That's not it just yet. SUPERSWEET also tracks down the book designer of all of Nick's three books, Stacy Wakefield, and gets her talking about the process of laying out the artwork. Stacy also is the publisher of them amongst others. Check out Evil Twin Publications for the best books with souls around!
No Seats on the Party Car (2001)
Evil Twin Publications
Stacy: This is the first book Nick Zinner and I worked on. The genesis of that was our mutual friend Zack Lipez's writing. He had a collection of poems he wanted to create a book out of. He selected photos of Nick's that went with the writing in interesting ways and I designed a book wtih that material. It was a really satisfying collaboration, it was a good fit. Nick, Zack and I all knew each other because we all played in bands in Williamsburg, Brooklyn in the late 90s and our bands sometimes played together. It was a small neighbourhood then, everyone ended up knowing each other.
Slept in Beds (2003)
Evil Twin Publications
Stacy: "Slept in Beds" which we finished in 2002 was inspired by Nick's series of beds photos. He has hundreds of them, if not thousands! Zack and I both used that as a spring board for our contributions to the book. He found pieces of writing that dealt with related themes, and I created a more ambitious design that played with the hotel-bed feeling of the photos. We limited this book to an edition of 1000 copies because they were so much work to construct. The book features several different materials printed in different techniques by different printers. The text is silkscreened on stiff non-woven fabric and the photos are offset on slick glossy paper. There's even a piece of flowered sheet at the end of the book. The title page is embossed book-binding fabric.
I Hope You Are All Happy Now (2005)
An Evil Twin Publications book published by St. Martins Press
Stacy: This is purely a presentation of Nick's vast photography work from the last few years. We were lucky to find a very dedicated editor at St. Martins Press, Rebecca Heller, who gave us the freedom to create exactly the book we wanted. So Nick gave me a huge pile of photos to sift through, and I started trying them in different combinations and groupings. We ended up creating chapters with different moods and themes, to me it almost feels like a book of short stories that you make up yourself as you look at each section of photos. It took us about a year to turn the vast piles of photos into this book.
All photographs by Nick Zinner. SUPERSWEET has been authorised to use them only in our digital magazine. Please do not reproduce, copy or alter without Nick's permission. Book layout pictures courtesy of Evil Twin Publications.