The Soundwave Chronicles podcast brought to you by FD Productions, engages in conversations with pioneering musicians, producers, and experts from the music industry. We get the inside scoop on what it takes to make it in the music industry today by delving into the sources of their inspiration, their creative process, and much more as we explore a wide range of your experiences. I am your host after love, and I want to welcome you today. Sit back, relax, and enjoy.
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Got a very special guest by the name of Zach Crane. He's got an incredible story. Zach is really a rising star in the music industry. A lot of TikTok followers, about almost 200,000. And he's done some major shows, festivals. He's got some pretty cool management going on back there. And based in the south side of Chicago, is that correct?
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Yeah, southwest suburbs.
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So Zach is a singer songwriter, and I think within a short period of time, we're going to see an up and coming Justin Bieber here based on his growth. And I just want to kind of give you guys a brief look into what I'd like Zach to expand upon the tragic loss of his mother, kelly Crane, and due to, well, I'll let him share that and some health issues related to his wife. And I just want to welcome you to the show. Zach, thank you so much for coming.
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On, dude, thank you so much, my man. It's a pleasure. Pleasure. Big fan of what you guys do. Super cool, super cool podcast that you guys got going on.
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Oh, thank you so much, Zach. Yeah, well, people like you make it cool.
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Hey, I appreciate that. Like we said earlier, we're just know, me too.
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I'm just going through my day, going through life, trying to enjoy things like this. Zach, how long have you been in the industry? In the music industry?
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I have been releasing music. I released my first single in 2018. I've been pursuing music, like doing covers and stuff like that since it's been about eleven years, 2011, it's been a grind. Seeing how it's changing. You go through vine, then TikTok comes and takes over. So it's cool that I've kind of experienced different levels of attacking the industry, and finally it's working out. So it's been a long grind.
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I'm sure vine was a rough spot for you as it was for many musicians. Want to tell us about that?
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Yeah, it's kind of like anything. I mean, you got to find your niche a little bit. But I got in early. My budies and I were doing, like, funny videos, and then I was like, I'm going to post my music stuff. I'm going to start singing covers and whatnot. And it worked out. We had some success on there. We built good following, and then, as everybody knows, it just went away. Vine was gone. Blink of an eye, man. And I was like, what the hell? But luckily, with TikTok, it's a whole new beast, and it's cool to see, and it's really cool to see how people are. They're creating their own path on it. So vine was kind of just, like, the place for goofiness, I feel, and just like.
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And TikTok isn't.
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TikTok is. I just feel like TikTok is. The one thing about TikTok that really blows my mind is how involved now labels get with. Cause, like, you see somebody that just comes out of nowhere, and then they just blow up, and their music's, like, number one on charts, but they're from, and they're the artists. Like, you know what saying, like, it's so crazy.
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Lil nas.
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Like, Lil Nas? Yeah. Like, arizona service with, one of my budies that I met years ago, charlie, on a Friday. I mean, he's taken over, right? So, like, it's cool to just. It's so wild how influenced music is from TikTok and how much TikTok is influenced from music. So it's crazy.
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And as somebody who's been succeeding on TikTok, what do you attribute a lot of the success? Just sort of looking around you, because there's a lot of people that are blowing up on that platform. Would you attribute to talent? Would you attribute to just, like, I don't know, building up a fan base, maybe certain strategies, management, certain niches that are working better than others, following trends?
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The thing with TikTok now, for me, I had my success in my little break on TikTok back in 2019 and 2020. Recently, we're trying to rebrand a little bit. I've been focusing a lot on writing this year. Like, in the past couple of months, I've not taken a backseat to social media by any means, because I want my music to hit on TikTok. Obviously, any artist now does. But right now, what we're doing is we're figuring out the next method, the next recipe for having that success. But back before goofy, I did covers kind of like on vine, and I had success with that. But then I went viral for showing an egg hack during COVID I blew an eggshell off a hard boiled egg, and I taught the world how to do it.
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There's like 73 articles on me, on Google, like, Yahoo, New York Post of me just blowing an eggshell off a hard boiled egg, and I'm like, really? This is what did it. I'm like, I post my music and this is what you want to see? Come on. It's a gamble. I mean, you're just kind of winging it and throwing out. It's not a good method to just throw stuff at the wall and hope it sticks. But with TikTok, it's kind of like you got to try stuff and see what works and what sticks.
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So when you blew that cap off the egg, did it sort of dawn on you that certain strategies work better than others? And then I want to just sort of pair that question with what was the success that you saw in addition to obviously being published in major media, but what was it that you saw within? Because I know that your main goal as a musician is to have fans come to you and to listen to your music. Did you notice, like a change on an uptick on Spotify, iTunes, that type of stuff, purchasing albums?
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I wish, man. That's the one thing I wish. It just, it brought people to my page and I gained followers and whatnot, but not for the reasons that I wanted. They weren't there for my music, but I'm still grateful that they followed me and I still have. I mean, a lot of them still do follow me. They stuck with me. And now there's so many different ways that people are utilizing TikTok.
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Wait, just to interrupt you for a minute before you continue. You said they're not there for your music, so they're there for your cooking skills. What are they there for?
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I guess they just stayed around because they're like, oh, this guy did this and people liked it. And then I've been goofy on TikTok, too, so maybe they stuck around because of that. But that's the thing that's crazy, is who's going to stick around for how much can you really do after that? You blow an eggshell off an egg. What else is there to do with that? I'm like, yoga. You guys are sticking around, but I'm not going to just only post a video of me blowing an eggshell off an egg. I hope you understand that. And that's kind of what we ran into. And I'm just like, okay, so what.
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Do you do now? So that's how you're trying to rebrand, you're trying to figure out what works?
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Yeah, and now I'm doing. I love poetry, so now I'm going to start doing my poetry on TikTok, just reading it, and then now I'm going to still post my covers, my original stuff. But now, I mean, the method is, there's so much different things that people do with the algorithm and all that. Nobody ever knows how it works. But now I post and I go live, and I'm very interactive with my fans and my followers, so I have them request covers while I'm on live. So that's kind of my new method. I'm just going to do that for a while and hope know kind of.
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Works well, and I certainly hope it does.
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Me, too.
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I want to just mention, you remind me a little bit of John Mayer. I just went to a concert here in Long island. You got a little bit of the vibe, the John Mayer vibe. I don't know if it's like the conversational flow, but that's something maybe, like, I don't know if that's something that your fans have mentioned. Have they said, oh, you remind me of a certain artist? You should kind of follow that path?
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I'm going to take that as a compliment. I love John Mayer, so thank you for that. I love mean sound wise. Like, with my music. People have told me I like Bozzi a lot. He's a pop artist. I love mean. It's not underrated. He has a song. I just hit a billion streams. I mean, he's big, but he's not as big as he should be. But people say my voice sounds like him sometimes, and that's one of the biggest compliments I've ever gotten.
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You said a billion streams.
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Yeah. His song, mine, that was huge on social media, just hit a billion streams. It came out, like, five years ago, but still, that's a lot of streams.
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Yeah, that's nothing to complain.
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Exactly. So he's still big, but he's definitely underrated. But I've gotten John Mayer a couple times. Definitely. I've gotten the look. Like, people are like, oh, you have the look of John Mayer. I'm like, oh, cool.
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But style wise, singer songwriter style, you don't really look to his music so much as an influence.
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I like it if I'm doing any acoustic stuff. Of mean, I love his writing, and he's a wizard when it comes to creating melodies. When he's songwriting, him and justin Bieber are two of, like, I look up to them for their ability to create melodies out of nothing. It's incredible. So with that. Yes. For sound, finally, we're finally tapping into finding what my sound is. I love ballads. Like Louis Capaldi piano. I like Ed Sheeran the acoustic John Mayer. But then I also like the Bieber pop. So, like, if I can incorporate all that, and then I also am influenced by Michael Jackson. He's my favorite artist of all. So, like, if I can just bring that happy medium and every little aspect and bring pieces, I'd be happy.
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Yeah, well, so you're just doing what you love. Now, let me ask you just sort of went from school to singer songwriter, or was there some sort of transitional period?
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I went away to college, but then in 2019, I went to Iowa State, but I didn't finish. I came home. My mom wasn't doing too good, so I moved home. And also I didn't know the direction I wanted to go with school. I was in advertising, but I wasn't set. So I was like, you know what? I'm just going to work and be at home with my family. And then I did, and I got Covid hit, and then I started working in sales. And I've been in sales for past three and a half years. Right now I'm doing music. So that's kind of how it happened. I just moved home and I really just started taking music seriously. I was like, okay, no excuses. I don't have any too many distractions going on in my life, so might as well just dive fully in.
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But at the time, there must have been plenty of distractions because you were dealing with your mother's health condition.
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Yeah, more about that. Yeah. My mom was sick my whole life. She was in a car accident when I was one, and then fast forward, obviously, she was only 46 when she passed, so she was very young, but best friend my whole life. She was my number one supporter. Truly, like, biggest fan out of anybody in the world. She was the one who, no matter what, was always just like, zach, just keep going after your dreams. Just please don't stop making music like you can do. Please just trust me on this. She was a professional dancer. She was a cheerleader for the Chicago Bulls. Really? Yeah. She was an incredible dancer. So she was in the arts, she was in the entertainment. So she knew how it know coming home.
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And yes, the distraction with that, but it was a distraction that I was used to my whole life. And as sad as it is to say, like I was used to it was something that became normal to me and my mom and I coped with it well, and my music was the thing that helped her. So she was always so involved in my creative process and my life that it was a no brainer that I kept going because of her and myself. I mean, it's been my dream since I was little, but having her as my number one support system was huge. Like, huge.
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And did you have other family members around to be part of this support system? Because obviously, you carry a very heavy weight upon your shoulders navigating family members, parents that are dealing with some of the worst things a person can imagine.
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Absolutely.
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Support systems there.
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Yeah. So I've lived with my grand parents my whole life. My mom's mom and dad. It's my nana and papa. And they've always supported, you know, nana and papa, more old fashioned. So they obviously knew I love music, and they never knocked me like that. It wasn't like my mom. My mom was always, no matter what, go for it type thing, take the risks, blah, blah. You don't have to do it, obviously. Work, make money, do things that you have to do to live, but don't backburn the music. Don't put on the back burner. But with my dad as well, he supported me. He owns his own company, a detailing business for cars and whatnot. So he gets it. The grind and pursuing what you love to do. He was in the union forever, and my papa was a steel mill worker.
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It's the same thing. But after my mom passed in January, my papa and my nana. And it's crazy because my mom passed, and fast forward to march. Things just started happening, and I'm like, it's my fucking mom. I'm like, it's my mom. It's crazy. She's doing it. She's making it happen. And it was so wild, and it was like one thing after the other. Boom, boom, boom. And my nana and papa were like, wow, okay, this is happening, okay. And not to say that they weren't supportive, but now it's like, they see it, so they're like, all right, you got to go in. Do it. We see it now. We see what your mom saw, so it's cool. It's definitely cool.
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Such a majorly impactful event, like your mother's passing at such a young age under such terrible circumstances, how has that affected you as a singer songwriter, in terms of what you write, your lyrics? Does that impact you in any way?
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Definitely. I knew people around my hometown who dealt with mental health or had loss from suicide in their family, or one of my childhood friends committed suicide my freshman year. High school so shook the community. We were just like, holy shit, this is crazy. But my mom dealt with so much, and she fought and fought for years. I mean, my whole life. And I don't knock her for it, but, I mean, when it comes to inspiring music, and now it has finally taught me. It's showed me my why, and it's helped me find my purpose and what I want to do with my music. I don't have goals and aspirations to be an a list celebrity. I don't want to be like this. I mean, it'd be cool, sure, but it's not what I want.
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I want to just help people that are going through stuff, whether it's family stuff, friend stuff, life work, social life, anxiety, depression, anything that it is. I just want to help and be like, listen, it's okay. I'm here with you, and it's okay to not be okay, but let's make sure that you're okay, because we need you here. Everybody serves a different purpose. Everybody has a why. Let's find it and go after what you want to do. Life's too short, and if you have a direction and you have a sense of that purpose, it makes things so much more precious and so much more fun about life. So now that's what I really write about. After my mom passed, I released, on mother's day, my first song for her and also from my life.
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I mean, I've written song many songs in the past, but none of them were genuinely from my experiences in life. It was more so just to fit the mainstream. So to have that ability now to actually, I unlocked that, and I wrote such a meaningful song, and now I'm able to do that. So now everything I'm writing, it has a purpose, it has a meaning, and it feels really good because I don't want to just. I mean, it's fun to write about fun stuff like going to the boat with the boys, summer beer, blah, blah. Parties. Cool. People love it. Media eats it up. But I want to spread a message. I want to bring help to people. They need it. I want to bring hope. So that's kind of where I'm at right now.
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Well, God bless you for doing that.
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Thank you.
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And there are a lot of people in need. There is a mental health crisis across this country, and there's a call for artists like you and for just people that want to have a major positive impact. There's a need, definitely, that's great that you're doing what you're doing, although this is just a natural consequence of what happened to you. Do you have any specific vision of yourself doing something in the next five years? Where do you envision yourself in the next year, in the next five years, the next ten years? What are your short term and long term goals at this point, with everything that's happened?
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Definitely. Well, one of the craziest things, and it ties into what I plan on doing, is my dear friend Pat Thomaslo. He's on WGN, which is Chicago news and media. He's a comedian as well, but he's a very respected man here in Chicago. And his wife Amy, has trigeminal neuralgia, same illness my mom had. And after she passed in March, we reached out, or were going to reach out, and it turns out he reached out to me after my mom passed, and I didn't even see the message. It was on Facebook Messenger Quest. I did not see it because I don't really check Facebook messenger much. But my manager, he got a message from Pat saying, hey, I would love to get in contact with your artist, Zach, blah, blah.
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And he knew of my mom because my mom, actually, document on paper, had one of the worst cases known, a man of trigeminal neuralgia, which is crazy. Yes.
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Sorry to interrupt. Could you tell us a little bit more about, like, as you're telling us the story, could you tell us a little bit maybe, about the neurological aspects of trigeminal?
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Yeah. So it's coined and it's termed the suicide illness. The illness itself, the disease isn't fatal, but it's nerve damage. It's with the trigeminal nerve, and it's trauma or damage to the nerve or issues with the nerve. And it causes this illness, chronic pain, all day, every day. Some people have it very mild. And then there's people like my mother or Amy, Pat's wife, who have it very. Is just. It's a monster. It is a horrible illness. And the craziest part is, too. And we just found out Travis Barker, one of the world's best drummers, drummer Kourtney Kardashian's husband, that's how the mainstream now knows him, as the Kardashian's husband. But like, one of the best drummers in the world, he has, which is wild.
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And I pray to God that he uses his platform for awareness for this, because the world needs to know more about this, and it's wild.
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Do you attribute this to the accident that your mother was in when you were child?
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Yeah. So she was in the accident when the car was. It flipped in ice, went through a forest and. Graphic a little bit, but a tree branch literally went through her face, and it got lodged, the bark and everything. So dental work, all that. Fast forward nine months later, she was diagnosed with trigeminal neuralgia. And post diagnosis, she still was the lovable. She was a mother to her best extent. She got her teaching degree, got her cosmetology degree. She did everything. So that's why I am just so passionate about just going for everything. If you physically can do it, just do it. And mentally, obviously, people get defeated mentally. And it's understandable, especially nowadays with the way of our world. But if you can keep going and going after whatever you want to do, that's what I was saying earlier.
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Do it, don't stop. Don't let all these things just cripple you, because it's easy to allow that. But, yeah, our car accident was the reason for that. And some people just develop it. It just happens, which is so wild. And with the illness, the pain gets worse year after year as you get older, too. So there's no cure right now. And that's the issues. That's what we're trying to strive for. So with Pat, when we connected, he has this foundation, laugh your face off. And it is a trigeminal neuralgia foundation. It's an event. It's a comedy show mixed with. It's to raise awareness, raise money for a cure. And when he reached out to me, he wanted to sit down and talk. Just meet me and hear my mom's story. We met, became literally best friends.
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I look at him as an older brother, literally. And we've only known each other since March, but he's one of my closest friends, and I was honored. He asked me to be a part of. To be the first musical act towards this for his event. And I did it. It was about a month, two months ago, a month and a half ago. Intimate, meaningful shows I've ever done in my life. Yeah.
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You broke up. I don't know if it's the Internet connection.
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Okay. Ad froze a little bit. Okay.
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Yeah, a couple of times.
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Okay, cool. But, yeah, I mean, literally ads, such a meaningful, such an incredible experience. So I performed my mom's song until then, and my other single, don't panic, $80,000. So we broke the financial goal for raising money.
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Oh, you raised $80,000?
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I didn't hear them. Incredible.
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Because it broke up again.
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Okay. Yeah, we raised 680,000. Oh, wow. Okay.
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That's quite a bit higher.
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Yeah, it was crazy. So it was an incredible event, and now I'm part of it now. So every year we're going to be working at it and I want to bring it nationwide, worldwide if I can. That's what my goal is. I want to take it to the next level. My manager and I are creating a clothing line called Calm and collected. It's mental health based. Hope to have that out by latest springtime next year. We're touching up everything right now, but I just want to make an impact. I just want to help people. That's the goal. My goal with my music as well, by next year, or the following, is to play at La Palooza in Chicago. It's been my biggest amazing. So that's a huge goal of mine.
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And I want to just really connect with some of my favorite artists and bring them together. And I really hope to. Like I said, it all ties back to the main purpose that I found. And I just want to raise awareness for trejoma, neuralgia, for mental health, suicide prevention, and I want to bring laugh your face off to the moon. I want everybody to know what this is and I want to take it to the next level.
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Well, that's an amazing mission that you should really be proud of. Not that you need to hear that from me, but that's.
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No, I appreciate it. Seriously.
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Yeah, it's incredible. And I hope you win a grammy. You deserve something, like, with such a noble cause, you really deserve the sky's the limit. I have so many questions for you. I'm just trying to think of where to start, but I'm actually curious what your thoughts are in regards to this mental health. What's the word stigma in this country? What are your thoughts on how the media, just the country in general, deals with, navigates mental health?
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A lot of the time. It's so overlooked. It's such a focal point. It's huge. Mental health is such a, it's so important and people know that, but it's overlooked. People don't understand that. You may have all the money in the world and you may be this celebrity or this influence, but if you're not there and you're not happy, you don't love yourself. You don't feel confident and comfortable in your own skin. That's the one thing you have to do first. You have to love yourself. You have to love your environment. The environment is huge, and I feel like that's just the biggest issue right now with mental health and Hollywood and entertainment media, just even the normal day to day, nine to five lifestyle. You need to have your mental in check. You have to be happy with yourself.
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You have to surround yourself with good people. And nowadays, people think that money fixes everything, and they think that you could have all the cool cars, the clothes, the girls, the guys, whatever it may be, but it's not it. And I've learned that in the past year. But since, even just since January, I'm a total different person. Truly, I have changed. And it's not the cliche, like, I'm different, but I am literally looking at myself from December or literally since the day I found out about my mom to now it's totally different because I am more aware of my mental. I'm more aware of taking mental days, mental nights, time to just reflect, putting aside a night of going out and spending time with my family, because I've realized all of this ties back into mental health.
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Like, your appreciation for what you have and rather than looking at what you don't have. So there's so much, and it's. Long story. That was a very long answer.
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That's a great answer. And that's why I'm silent here, because I want.
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No, I want you to unravel what.
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You'Re saying is fantastic, and I want you to just keep going.
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Well, I appreciate it. It's such a crazy time right now in the world, and there's so much hate, and it's so sad. So, I mean, that alone plays into such a hard mental toll. But on top of it, too, the biggest thing is social media. I mean, it's destroyed. Like, girls are looking at people like the Kardashians, and they're great. I mean, they're incredible. Businesswoman not knocking them at all. But, I mean, this thing of curation.
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The hyper curation of stuff.
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Yeah. And just the hyper fixation on being perfect, it's like, nobody's perfect. Embrace your flaws. Embrace your issues. It's okay. I have insecurities that I deal with every single day, and I'm working on them. I don't want them. The goal is to not have them anymore, but having them is. But, like, people think, like, oh, my sad. Like, oh, I'm broken. Like, yeah, you're broken. We all are, in a way. Just embrace that. And that's what's the issue, is the media makes it that not normal.
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So, Zach, as a big influencer, as you are, and somebody who has a lot of potential to impact at the global level, and you're on your way there, what are your thoughts? You're now somebody who even politicians might start consulting with, and you hear about these things in Washington. Like, Lindsay Sterling, she's in Washington. They're consulting with, like, what are your ideas on how to change society for the. About. Have you thought about ways in which we could improve mental health status? We can improve people's self perception. We can improve maybe just like, what people value in the society. What are your thoughts?
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I'd say connecting with like minded people. I mean, in media or politicians, things like that. I just always try to. I don't know.
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Wrong answer. I'm just curious if you have.
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If you have. Yeah, no, I mean, like, you know, I guess I never really thought about it like that. Like, just connecting with like minded people, you know, sticking to your movement, sticking to your plan. Like, with me, I want to, like I said, release music that speaks to people, helps inspire people. But my manager and I have our vision because my manager lost his brother to suicide last year in May. He started managing me in late February, March, April ish, and those like three month span officially. And then we had my first headlining show last May 19. That night, leading into the next day, his brother passed, and that's what brought. We were just on a business level. We became best friends. My manager is like my bigger brother. He just had his own kids.
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So there's a lot of things that we live for now, and he's tied into me. So we want to bring awareness surrounding yourself with the like minded people, with the people who have the vision, people who have the same support. And yeah, you may not be on the same wavelength mentally. We all deal with our different struggles, but if you're aware, I feel like that's what's going to bring it, like, connecting with.
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So just raising awareness alone is like the first step to fixing society.
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I feel like.
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I mean, because you've acknowledged that something is broken, right? Yes, we all agree that something is broken in our very powerful, wealthy, all empathic, whatever, omnipotent United States of America with our hands in the rest of the global geopolitical mess at the current state. But there's something wrong. And you've just mentioned mental health crisis. You mentioned suicide within your inner just people who, you know, who you've interacted with. Statistically, that's significant. I mean, that's a disproportionately larger percentage of problems that clearly are going unaddressed and. Clearly.
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Exactly.
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So it's something that needs to be fixed, right?
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Yes, it's something that needs to be not normalized. That's not the right word because suicide is not, you know, how what are they saying now, oh, my God.
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Speaker 2
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Not maybe not being okay as opposed to suicide?
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Speaker 3
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Yes. It's just like things like how they're saying suicide is like it's in normal discussion now, which is so crazy because it's so common. Like the. That is what that leads to. That should not be the end not goal, but end result. It should be. Listen, what I want to do, too. And I tell everybody if I get the chance, go to therapy. Even if you don't have trauma issues in life, everybody should just talk to somebody because God, for I pray that people have just a smooth life. Like, no issues. Hell yeah. Coast through that. Bless you. You're lucky as hell. But everybody's got their own stuff that they go through and everybody should talk to somebody. Like normalizing. Having a therapist, I believe, is such a huge thing now.
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Speaker 3
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And I tell people, I've told friends or friends of friends, or in normal conversation, they'll be like, I don't know, sound like I'm crazy or sound like I have problems. It's like everybody's got issues. It's okay. There's days I'll talk to my therapist and I'll be like, I want to have anything that I'm like. It doesn't have to be a sad conversation. Just like, yeah. Watch the bears lose again Sunday. Hell yeah. It's like, cool, awesome. See you next week. But just having that person that is literally paid to listen and understand and give guidance, empathize, that is so huge. That's it. I think everybody should talk to somebody 100%.
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Speaker 2
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And do you feel like, how early should this start? I know we're veering off a little bit from your music career, although I happen to see this relevant because you have an impact.
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Speaker 3
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This is what I want to do. Yeah.
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Speaker 2
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Actually, before I embarked on the whole, like, how early should we start having people, children, maybe adolescents, maybe young adults, having somebody, not necessarily by mandate, but encouraged to speak with a professional or to speak with somebody who's there to listen. I just want. Just putting that on the back burner for a minute. I don't know if it was like Guitar center magazine where I saw there's a pretty renowned international touring artist who actually decided, okay, I've had enough. I've made my millions, and now I'm going to quit and go to school and get my psych degree. And I want to be a therapist. And I was just fascinated by that post. Rare that you're ever going to meet somebody like that. This is sort of like that one extreme.
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Speaker 3
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If you. That's what is so important that tying back to your question, know, in media and Hollywood and all that's a great way to segue back to that or get back to that. Is people normalizing, utilizing your platform for this type of to. I hated school. Like, holy Christ, I hated school. But when I was a community college, before I went to, I wanted. I was just talking to my girlfriend about this. I wanted to be a forensic psychologist for the FBI, but then I learned I'd have to go get my phd. I'm like, oh, more.
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Speaker 2
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Now you're in the school of life.
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Speaker 3
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What's that?
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Speaker 2
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As Jay Z says, now you're in the school.
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Speaker 3
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Now you're in the school life. Yeah, now you're in the school of, you know, I'm not qualified to sit and give. I I guess me helping people or talking to people is just my. And, like, I never want people to think that I'm trying to just preach or claim that I'm this all known prophet that just knows the answers of how to be good mentally, because I don't know. I'm still figuring it out. But I want people to know. I want my platform, and I want my fans, future fans. I want my friends, I want my colleagues, like my peers, whoever, to know if you need to talk or you just need an ear or just guidance. Again, I'm not a professional, but I would love to talk. I don't care if you're pursuing music and you're struggling. I'll help you out.
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Speaker 3
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I'll talk to you. I'll explain to you how I did it, how I'm still doing it, hoping to get where I want to be. So that's, like, what I feel like these people should be doing, taking your platform, using it for the greater good. I feel like not enough do that.
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Speaker 2
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Not enough. Yeah, I guess it's something that needs to be sort of embedded in the fabric of our society.
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Speaker 3
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Absolutely.
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Speaker 2
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It becomes, like, this mainstream type of thing. But back to your music. What are one of the songs that you've produced a lot. What are some of the songs that you are most proud of? Maybe in terms of their message or in terms of the melody? Maybe both. That you kind of want to replicate?
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Speaker 3
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Yeah, perfect. Talking already about it. My song until then, that I wrote for my mom, that was my first ballad, my most emotional, raw, like, as raw as it gets. So that I've actually been writing a lot of songs like that now that will be coming out. And I've been touching a lot on mental health in my music, so that's good. But my song need to say my newest release, newest single back from the summer. Definitely one of my most proud releases. I love just. It's fun. And my budy Kelvin and I wrote it a year ago and it was just.
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Speaker 2
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Tell us the name again.
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Speaker 3
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My budy Kelvin. Oh, the song need to. Yeah. He's a songwriter as well. He's incredible. Helps me on a lot. We collaborate, but songs need to say. It's like a summer song, for sure. It just has that high energy, fun vibe to it. And I love making songs like that. I want people to be, not just to be sad when they hear my stuff. So I want to keep making that upbeat stuff as well, those fun, positive songs. So don't panic. I love that. That was the first song that got me on Chicago radio, which was huge. One of my biggest accomplishments to now, which is super cool to say. I never thought I would. My past three releases, don't panic until then, need to say all of them are and have been on Chicago radio now.
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Speaker 3
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I think right now we're on five stations. We're definitely. My main goal is to bring pop music to Chicago. Chicago is right now huge on house, huge on dance. The scene's huge. You don't really hear people coming from pop country, anything, like funny.
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Speaker 2
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I didn't realize that. When I think of house and dance, I was like, oh, Europe.
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Speaker 3
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Yeah, Amsterdam. Oh, God, yeah. Like, we go. This is the first. I didn't go, but my producer, Jared Gla, he's a house dance producer artist as well. He's phenomenal. But he's produced majority of my stuff, need to say, being one of them. And we go to Amsterdam every fall for Amsterdam dance event. And that was my first radio interview, actually, was Nexus radio out in Amsterdam, so last year. And Amsterdam's huge. But, yeah, Chicago, like, the scene. Like, clubs in Chicago, you're here in like, you get pop artists come through, obviously, and rap and hip hop head country. Excuse me, but it's wild.
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Speaker 2
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Yeah, just quick question. You mentioned that you work with a local producer for most of the.
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Speaker 3
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Jared. He went to high school near me. He's one of my best friends. He just moved to Arizona in the summer, so now he's out there. But he still produces, still helps me out with everything. He's incredible. But, yeah, I collaborate with a lot of different producers as well, though.
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Speaker 2
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But he's sort of your go to or preferred producer.
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Speaker 3
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Yeah, he just understands my sound and stuff.
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Speaker 2
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And I guess what's the writing production process. Is he creating the structure around the song and then you sort of build in the lyrics? Or are you sort of just approving? Disapproving. I'm sure you have a lot to deal with the touring and the concerts. You make it time efficient.
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Speaker 3
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Well, we definitely. I mean, I collaborate with a lot of producers, like mentioned, like for the tracks. If I. If Jared is going to do it, ground up and produce me a track full know, he'll send me over the track, the instrumental, the beat, and I'll come up with a melody I'll write or my manager and I'll sit down in the studio here. And we'll soon going to be heading out to Arizona, starting probably next spring, going down there maybe like once every other month and just grinding out for a week or a weekend or something and just writing a bunch, like a catalog. So just depends. But yeah, usually my process is I write without tracks sometimes, but that's like poetry more.
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Speaker 3
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But my way is I like having the sound, then I'll come up with a melody and then just plug in the lyrics. So that's what we'll do. And he'll send over stuff or I'll go out of my way and I'll find stuff with other producers and then I'll write to them and then we'll work together. It depends. My manager sometimes finds some or we get sent them.
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Speaker 2
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It's cool. Now, do you have an aspiring producer or do you aspire to work with a certain producer or do you have like a dream collab that you want to share with us?
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Speaker 3
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I would love to work with elenium as an EDM collab kind of going like that dance route, especially since I'm so close and tied in with the EDM realm and I have my, have the people out in Amsterdam and Netherlands and stuff like that. But dream collab, oh, God, I love, like I said, bozzie, he's probably him and Bieber, obviously number one because Bieber is just, he's a dream club for most. But I love, man, there's a couple I love, John Bellion. We'll love to collaborate with him. Kid Leroy. I love the kid Leroy so much, but I'd say Bozzi is my number one dream and even to just also sit in a room with him and do I want to see it? Because his process, he's a flipping genius.
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Speaker 3
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I mean, this dude is so talented and he's a year younger than me, but I've been following him. We are both on vine together. We started around the same time, like 20, 14, 15, posting covers and doing that because that's how he started on vine, and now he's the global artist, so it's cool. But, yeah, he's probably number one. I'd say cool.
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Speaker 2
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Well, hopefully you guys will cross paths soon enough.
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Speaker 3
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I met him last year, actually, last year, yesterday. So that was a dream come true, but now we just got to get to the next level.
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Speaker 2
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Yeah, next up, maybe it collabs in the works. Hopefully for you guys.
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Speaker 3
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I would love that. I would love it.
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Speaker 2
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Is there anything. You have a lot of inspirational notes that you've just sort of shared with us in the last 45 minutes or so. Is there anything in particular you just kind of want to leave our audience just kind of thinking about anything that you just want to relay that is particularly important for people to focus on?
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Speaker 3
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Yeah, I've been saying this now so much, and I live by this. As I mentioned earlier, I definitely just want to tell people whether you're doing anything, whether that's pursuing a dream or just in life, find your why and find your purpose. And I always say this, once you do that, you're unstoppable because you have a vision, you have a direction. You found why you're doing what you love, why you're doing what you do. So just go for it. When I found mine, I've become a different human being. Literally. This year has been such a hard year, but such an eye opening year and such an inspiring year. I will look back and say, 2023, one of the hardest years. It was the hardest year of my life, but it was the most fulfilling as well, because I found my purpose.
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Speaker 3
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I found my why. And people I know and I've talked to people, there's people who've never found and look back, and they're like, I wish I did this. Blah, blah. I never want to live like that. I've never wanted to be that person that looks back when I'm 80 years old saying, wow. Talking to my son, my daughter, my nephew, grandchildren, whoever, my wife, and saying, man, I regret not doing that. I wish I did that. So I encourage everybody to find your why. Find your purpose. Dig deep, and just enjoy the little things. Enjoy the stuff that'll get you there and then run with.
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Speaker 2
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So there you have it, folks. Find your why. Find your purpose and run with it.
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Speaker 3
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Yes, sir.
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Speaker 2
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Very inspiring words from Zach. Zach, thank you so much for inspiring us today. And could you just tell us where to find you?
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Speaker 3
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You can find me, honestly, anywhere. Most socials, Instagram TikTok, Facebook. But yeah, Zach Crane on Instagram, Facebook. Zach Crane, official on TikTok, Spotify, apple music, just Zach Crane. Zach. And then C-R-E-A-N for everybody listening. And I'm getting better at it. Zach. I always have to tell people now, pronounced Crane for anybody that's confused or just doesn't, because it's so deceiving. So just telling everybody that you can.
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Speaker 2
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Find me C-R-E-A-N folks, it's pronounced Crane. But don't go to Crane. Go to C-R-E-A-N. Otherwise you're not going to find them.
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Speaker 3
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Exactly. So yes, you can find me anywhere. And anybody listening, if you need any guidance or just need somebody to talk to, don't hesitate to reach out.
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Speaker 2
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So you welcome, folks, fans, listeners, to send you dms.
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Speaker 3
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Yes. All the time. Schmooze with you. Okay. All the time. Oh, I love talking to people. Yeah.
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Speaker 2
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In terms of keeping people posted on your work, do they sign up for your mailing list? How do they know what's happening next?
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Speaker 3
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Yeah, so we're actually finishing up my website right now. It's going to be finalized in the next couple weeks to a month ish. We're finishing up the website in the next month or so. And I'm usually very good with keeping people updated on my socials. So like Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, all that. Like TikTok, everybody will be in the know. So we'll set it up to where we have emails going out and stuff. If you subscribe to emails, shows or merch or stuff like.
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Speaker 2
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Yeah, okay, so the merch store isn't set up yet. I didn't hear the first part.
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Speaker 3
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Oh, man, this connection is glitchy connections here. I know. Yeah. So setting up on the website and my socials, I announce everything but my website and whatnot. Will have all the merch info, show dates and all that. So keep a lookout for that. Zachcrane.com.
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Speaker 2
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Got it. Zachcrane.com. And again, thank you so much for coming on.
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Speaker 3
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Of course, man.
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Speaker 2
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This has been inspiring for me, and I'm sure that our listeners very much have enjoyed watching and listening to this interview. Guys, go check him out. Check out his amazing music and connect with him. Send him a DM. Send him some love. Zach is a rising star. So stay tuned for his next project.
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Speaker 3
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Thank you, guys. Thank you so much.
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Speaker 1
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Thanks so much for tuning into the Soundwave Chronicles podcast where you can stream our interviews wherever you get your podcast. We hope you enjoyed the interview and learned something new today. And if you did, please leave a review so we can keep bringing you great content. Thank you and have a great rest of the week.