Hailing from the busy streets of Brooklyn, brother’s Paulie and David Z. and long-time friend Joey Cassata are trying their very best to make it in the rough and tough world of rock and roll! With two albums under their belt, 2004’s Tuesday And Thursdays, and their most recent release, Ain’t It Beautiful, a comedy series airing on IFC (Independent Film Channel) called Z Rock, and a fall tour on the horizon, Z02 seem to be on the road to success. Things weren’t always so easy for them, though, and so the trio doubled as a popular children’s band, Z Brothers, during the day while rocking out at local Manhattan venues at night. They got their big break, however, when their album was slipped into the hands of Paul Stanley of KISS, and suddenly kiddie parties were a thing of the past as Z02 headed out on a 40-date tour with KISS and Poison.
Since then, they’ve been met with continued success and have been able to ditch their dual lifestyle and focus on the real matter at hand, their rock and roll lifestyle as Z02, now signed to Riker Hill Records. Here, Paulie, David and Joey took some time out to discuss their road to glory and all the adventures they’ve experienced along the way.
You guys have a new album out and a television series, Z Rock, that starts on the 24th and a fall tour ahead. Things seem to be going pretty good, are you where you want to be in your career right now?
Paulie: Yes, if someone would have asked us, you know, five years ago when we started, ‘Where do you see yourself in five years?’ I don’t think any of us would have said, ‘Well, we want to have a TV show and all that stuff,’ so I think this is definitely a surprise, you know. Its an addition to what we wanted so to be able to be playing the kind of places we’ve been playing now and we have a record label, our CD’s in stores across the country and to have a real major booking agency behind us, that’s the kind of stuff that was part of our goal, and to have a television show is just a big bonus.
So Paulie and David, your father actually played in a trio with his brother too called Z, right?
David: Yes, that’s actually where we got the name.
Would you say that you’re continuing a family legacy?
David: Absolutely, for me Z02 definitely comes from there because, like you said, our father and uncle had a band called Z and the funny part of it was they had an Italian drummer named Joe, which is really funny. But Z was sort of created at the end of 2002 so this is sort of Z 2002, or what we like to call it, Z, the second coming or Mach 2, you know?
And so since coming together and recording your debut, Tuesday And Thursdays, you guys have already toured with Kiss and Poison, what was that like?
Joey: It’s really everything you could ever imagine it was. The funny part was when we first recorded Tuesday And Thursdays we put it out on our independent label and we had only played about five or six live shows at that point. We were just playing local shows in Manhattan, and we then heard that we were getting the Kiss tour for the whole summer for 40 dates.
What would you say was the most memorable moment of the tour?
Joey: I think the very first show because I remember driving there, we had rented an RV to drive there, we did 40 hours straight, and the whole time going there I still didn’t believe it was really happening because Kiss is basically all three of our idols. It’s the biggest band, that’s why we all play music, and the whole ride there I just remember saying to my self, until I’m actually on stage and hitting the first note I don’t believe this is going to happen. So I think hitting the very fist note, and I think it was San Antonio, Texas, until that happened, I really don’t think I believed it, so that’s my biggest moment.
David: I think I definitely agree with that, I mean that was the most exciting and that was where we realized that it was for real. But I think all of it together definitely played a part. I remember when we were sitting backstage and we were just sort of, they had like couches and a coffee table out doors, really neat, and Gene Simmons came over, and sat down right next to us and threw out a bunch of Polaroids. And you know, Gene’s, for those people that don’t know, he’s kind of known for the Polaroids, where it’s pictures of his escapades from the previous night or women he was with, and so he throws this out, which I guess was a sign that were part of the club now and that was a lot of fun. That, and also another very memorable moment was when we played Wiffleball with them, with Paul and Bret from Poison and Gene took the Wiffle bat and started balancing it on his nose.
Paulie: I think winning $20 from Gene Simmons in a bet was my highlight.
Even with all that success, Z02 still had day jobs and were working as the popular kids band, the Z Brothers, to make ends meet. If you had to pick which version of the band you like playing in best, which one would it be?
David: That’s no contest. I definitely could speak for all of us on this, Z Brothers, the children’s thing, strictly was just to make money and a way to make a living and not have to do a nine-to-five. Z02, our rock band, that really is what we do for real. The thing about Z Brothers, the reason we did it and gravitated towards that was, number one it paid very well. Number two it allowed us, because we made our own hours, and even doing a party, we were there for 45 minutes sometimes an hour, and what it did is it allowed us to still tour with Z02 because we made our own schedule. So if we had a tour coming up we just wouldn’t book anymore, it was as simple as that. And lastly, we still got to play music, so at the end of the day we still got to do that.
Were you ever worried about being pigeonholed and having more success as a children’s band as opposed to being a part of Z02?
David: Absolutely. That’s why when we were doing Z02 we never publicized that we did children’s music and the funny thing about that is even though we didn’t publicize and we never spoke about it, work was coming in constantly. I mean, there’d be times where we’d have five or six parties in one day and on the flip side of that, we’re fighting tooth and nail to get every little inch as Z02, and I think because that was the case, it was such a funny duality. I think that’s the reason we wound up getting our television show.
Can you guys just tell me a little synopsis of the show [Z Rock]?
Joey: It’s really like David was just telling you, it’s based on our real lives, we did do Z Brothers during the day to pay for the bills at night. So it’s really a culmination of all of the stuff that happened to us and all of the adventures that we went through to get to the point where Z02 is now. We like to say that it’s Z02 kind of like a year and a half, two years ago, cause we are signed to a record label now, Riker Hill. So in the show we’re actually a little less successful than we are right now. So it’s kind of building up to where we are probably now. The show really just takes place in the life of Z02, but its exaggerated versions of all our stories. It has to make good TV, it’s just like Larry David on Curb Your Enthusiasm. He is Larry David in the show but he plays the character Larry David.
In the show you guys seem pretty wild. Are you guys that wild and crazy in real life?
Paulie: That’s actually pretty tame for us. I remember when they were asking us to give them the stories and stuff, some of things we told them, they looked like deer in the headlights. They’re like, ‘We can’t do that.’ I said, ‘Yeah but you’re IFC I thought you’re uncensored, you’re uncut!’ He said, ‘Yeah we’re IFC but we’re not the Spice channel!’ So for us its funny because a lot of people ask us, ‘Are you really that wild or is your life that crazy?’ and the truth is that that’s a very tamed version of what is was really like.
You guys have some pretty well known names on the show. On just the first episode was Joan Rivers and Sebastian Bach. How did you get these people to be involved with Z Rock?
David: From what I heard, a lot of them actually contacted the show, because what they did is they put out sizzle reels and the idea to agents across the boards. It was great for us when we heard that Joan Rivers had contacted the show, she is an icon in the industry. So when we heard that we knew that we had something good on our hands and then, basically, once you get one its easy to get the next one. So once, Joan Rivers was on board, everybody else started saying, ‘Oh, well she’s doing it so I’m doing it.’ Now you have two people, now you have three people and so on and so on. We’re very lucky in that sense and I know we actually, a lot of other people were approached, and from what I heard nobody really said no, the only reason they couldn’t do it was because of scheduling problems.
So what’s next in store for you guys? You’ve been on tour, you’ve recorded two albums and have your own TV series, what are you guys looking forward to in the future?
David: World domination! Does that count?
Paulie: Basically, what we would love to see happen is the TV show, as much fun as it is and as great as it is for us, we would really love to have this become just another tool to get people to recognize Z02 as a real rock band, what we really do. Come to the shows and hopefully buy the CDs and play them loud and enjoy them. If everything went perfect in a perfect world, we could do both-tour in the summer and fall and film another season and record a record. If we could do that every year, a season, a record, a tour, and then take a month off to come home for a little bit and then do it again, I think we’d be happy boys.
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