Mike Zito: Live and Singing the Blues (Web Exclusive)

Mike Zito is a long time blues artist who is emerging as a force on the blues scene. After years of touring and releasing independent projects, Zito released his first national album in 2008, earning him critical acclaim and a spot on the Billboard Blues charts. His next album, Pearl River, stoods as yet another solid achievement. This artist is undoubtably one to watch. He came in to talk to us about his newest album, Greyhound, and play some soul grabbing live blues music for us.  

Click here to listen to Greyhound, another track played live by Mike Zito.

Ron Bennington: So tell me a little bit about the Greyhound album. How did the whole thing come together.

Mike Zito: It was – I’d been writing songs for a couple years after my last album. And the actual song Greyhound is a story of when I was on drugs and ran away from home; from St. Louis. And I stole a credit card and a guitar and took off for Key West. And that really happened.

Ron Bennington: You headed to Key West to get away from people?

Mike Zito: Yea, and I wish I would say I was a kid. I think I was 32 years old. And I had already had three children. And I had a music career that was doing well, and it all just went down the shitter with all the coke and the drugs. Next thing you know my drug dealer’s after me. The best idea I had was– I gotta get the hell out of here.

Ron Bennington: How long did it take you to get your life back?

Mike Zito: I was probably not in Key West more than six or seven months, and then I was like, I gotta get off this island, this is crazy. I felt so much guilt. And I got a job and they moved me to Texas. And I went another six months and the girl I was dating could tell, okay well, there’s something wrong with this guy. I had just been through enough. I had been homeless, and I was a drug addict. I got this job making like 50 grand a year, complete drug addict. All the money in the world and it still wasn’t enough. She really cared about me.   And the last time I got high I remember thinking, I’m going to go for a couple hours, have a good time, and it was like 7 days.

Ron Bennington: Seven days goes by?

Mike Zito: Yea. And I thought, every time I got high, that’s what happened. I always want to go and have a good time; let’s go have a beer and talk– and then everybody goes home and then I lose my job, I sell my shit, I go break in and steal shit– it’s crazy!

Ron Bennington: So what helped you get sober?

Mike Zito: She had told me, hey go to a meeting or you’ve got to get out of here. And I had never been, and I went. And then I went and got high that last time and afterwards I thought, okay they’re right, something’s wrong. I went straight back to the meeting on my own, and I haven’t left since.

Ron Bennington: And how’s the music changed since you got sober?

Mike Zito: Well I didn’t play music for at least a year. I thought, well I won’t be able to play music ever again– how am I gonna play in a bar? I thought it was a cult– they’re not going to let me go to a bar anymore and play. But  through time everything worked out; it was just process. I started playing again, I had somebody say, ‘hey I heard your records, why don’t we give you some money, you make a record.’ And then slowly but surely, I started seeing, man you could make money doing this.   If I would show up on time and do a good job…and pay the band….this could work.  I wouldn’t have to work during the day. And I started really really huffing it and doing it. And I made a commitment, and everything just fell into place.  But playing music was very hard at first.

Ron Bennington: What was hard for you?

Mike Zito:  Because you’re not fucked up, you can hear everything! If this guy plays the wrong note, it’s like, hey! What are you doing? What did you play the wrong note for? Jesus christ!  Like I could hear everything– and then that was a real process.  Cause you’re so in your head about everything, and it’s weird. You want the best music?  You’ve gotta get out of your head and get emotional.

Ron Bennington: Right, you want to connect.

Mike Zito: And the last thing you want to do as an addict, is get emotional and let your feelings out. But the whole thing’s really come around. Now I feel like I’m having the most fun ever.

Ron Bennington: I think that a lot of people get addicted because they’re trying to make some subconscious connection. Like you’re trying to feel connected. But the reality of it is, music is probably the fastest and purest way to do that. Cause, I watched you play and you kind of leave the reality of the moment you were in just before. I’ve sat and talked with you and watched you play and one moment you’re with me, and the next moment you are the blues…you are that song.

Mike Zito: I appreciate that, that’s what I’m going for.

Ron Bennington: Tell me a little bit about Pearl River too.

Mike Zito: Pearl River is a really special deal. It’s a river down in Louisiana, and Mississippi. And my manager is out of New Orleans. I’m really lucky, I fell in with these guys, Tab Benoit, and Cyril Neville, Anders Osborne. There’s this big scene in New Orleans that’s really hitting right now.  If there’s anything that could happen big again in music this is it. And I fell in with them. I did that record in New Orleans, and Cyril gave me these words to this song, and they’re really heavy man. When he would go fishing with his dad in Pearl River, his dad would tell him, “See how black the water is? It’s because they would hang the slaves and throw the dead bodies in the river.” That’s what he would tell his son, you know? So he wrote these words about this, and he gave it to me, and he goes, ‘I think you should write the music.” And I was like Jesus. So I wrote the music and I sang it and I sent it to him and he liked it. And then we recorded it, and it won the Blues Music Award for Song of the Year.

Ron Bennington: So how long is this since you got sober? How long did it take before you started meeting people like this?

Mike Zito: A couple years? Within a couple years. Because where I ended up in Texas was right on the gulf coast right on Louisiana. And I had met Tad Benoit in St. Louis years ago. And he really liked me, so when I moved down there, I started going and playing shows with him. So two, three years. It was a slow process, man, those guys in New Orleans got their own thing going. It just started working out, it just started making sense. But then it won that award, and that was a big deal. That really opened things up for me, and things. Started immediately getting better gigs and better shows.

Ron Bennington: And now you’ve got another project coming up– a side project.

Mike Zito: It’s with Cyril Neville who is the youngest Neville brother. He’s been there since the beginning– he’s phenomenal. And Devon Allman, who is Gregg Allman’s son, that I grew up in St. Louis with. We worked at Guitar Center together and we’ve always known each other. And then the drummer from the Neville Brothers, Willie Green. And a bass player out of New Orleans, Charlie Wooton. It’s called the Royal Southern Brotherhood.

Ron Bennington: And where’s the music gonna come from on this project?

Mike Zito: Man, we’re all writing songs together. The three guys, we got together, and I had an idea, what about the Allman Brothers and the Neville Brothers?  How come they’ve never done that? And there’s a big long history of them doing shows and recording for the same labels. So we just started writing songs, and trying it out and it’s just killer man, it’s awesome.

Ron Bennington: When’s that project going to be done?

Mike Zito: We’re going to record next month, it comes out in April.

Ron Bennington: Dude I wish you nothing but the best, seriously. Seeing you guys live is amazing.

*****************

For more information on Mike Zito visit @ZitoRox or MikeZito.com and you can find more information on Royal Southern Brotherhood on RoyalSouthernBrotherhood.com.