He was adopted the day he was born and moved a lot because his dad was a Rabbi, he’s fascinated about abandoned malls, one of his many jobs was in the funeral world and he lived in Israel for a while. Please Meet Ohio's Zac Kolko and his nice & new EP, “Microplastics For The Children”
By Boaz Goldberg
One of the things I gained from making the documentary about Charlie Megira, “Tomorrow’s Gone”, is all kinds of online friends reaching me from around the world, each one doing his thing.
To name just a few, there’s Indie sensation J Mahon; brilliant "French Charlie Megira"multi-artist, Danny Monroe; Another French guy, sort of an extreme doomer outsider, Silas Monisera; Prolific Illustrator/ Comic book writer William Safyan (Ryan Klass); VHS freak Shane McKenzie; Cool guitar guy of Leatherette from North Carolina, Dan Delanois; Wild doodle artist from Texas Lucien Edwards; and lots more.
That's how I also met Zac Kolko, an American musician from Cleveland, Ohio. He watched the film and sent me a really nice message. We started chatting, and then it turned out that about a decade ago Zac lived in Israel.
Like me, Zac has an obsession with abandoned shopping malls. While he hangs out in the rust belt that runs through Ohio, I got a small-scale model in the suburbs of Tel Aviv. Anyhow, what I can't experience in 3D, I read in the excellent nerve-racking thrillers of Linwood Barclay, who likes to place some of his characters in such locations. But what really made me wanna interview this intriguing Kolko is his hot new material. Kolko jumped from soft folk to some rich Rock-N-Roll textures. So here we go.
B.G: Boaz Goldberg
Z.K: Zac Kolko
A rusty edifice of lost prosperity
B.G: Congrats for your new EP, Zac! I really like it, and thinking about the transition you made. You were a folk singer influenced by Englishman Nick Drake - but it sounded American. In your new incarnation, you create Rock-N-Roll that sounds kind of “bright” in an English manner - but somehow, in some of your songs, the result sounds a bit like the Rock-N-Roll songs of Kim Fowley, who is indeed American but his recordings live in a completely autonomous universe. What do you think about this point of view?
Z.K: Well, I can see some comparisons surely, I've always been intrigued by dark subjects with colorful tones, and I think that's sorta where i was at.
Zac Kolko: "I always saw myself as this underground 'cryptid' figure, always on the periphery. folk got too cool for me haha. Strings and violin are very pretty, but I prefer open wounds"
B.G: Tell me about the process of working on your new EP. I know that before this one, you mainly had relatively simple acoustic arrangements. Now, you got Rock-N-Roll songs with elusive complexity. How Did you jump from there to here?
Z.K: I never like to trap myself in a box, i like to explore and push around new ideas, and even back when i recorded my first songs, i always intended to get around to a rock sound. I actually have a couple demos from around that time floating around where I did a couple ''rock'' tracks. i always saw myself as this underground ''cryptid'' figure, always on the periphery. folk got too cool for me haha. Strings and violin are very pretty, but I prefer open wounds.
B.G: Where does your stage name, Zac Kolko, come from?
Z.K: Zac Kolko is just the shorthand version of Zachary Kolko, Which is my actual name. Zachary is too posh and Zacharia is just too old school, makes me feel like a Rabbi, although i did once toy with the idea of calling my music Projects ''Zacharia and the Yeshiva Rejects''. Although in private alot of friends call me Omri, or Ohms, as a nickname.
B.G: You’ve lived in a lot of places in the U.S., and I’m certain it affected your sound. Which places have you had the chance to live in, and where did you like living the most? Is there a place in the U.S. that is ideal in your eyes - a sort of dream of yours - and you haven't had the chance to visit it yet?
Z.K: Yea, so i was born in New Jersey but i only lived there for like 2 weeks, i was adopted the day i was born, my adoptive parents were living in NYC, i spent the first 2 years of my life in the City before we moved to the mountains of NY state, then to Youngstown Ohio where i spent my first couple years of school. Then to Binghamton NY, Rochester NY, and finally Cleveland, although I also lived in Holon and Jerusalem for a little bit, and spent time in Brazil and Atlantic City as an adult.
We moved a lot because my dad was a Rabbi, and would go from synagogue to synagogue. I was lucky to grow up with good parents who provided for me, and i never really wanted for much, which was always a stark contrast to the towns I grew up in. I remember seeing the abandoned malls, steel mills and factories that seemingly stretched onwards and onwards into eternity, with huddled throngs of people milling about who looked quite downtrodden when I was as young as 5. It seared an indelible mark into my brain, and i think even at my age I could comprehend my own luck, and felt quite badly about it.
My dad always made it a teaching point for me, about how our actions can better or worsen others lives. Many of my friends' parents were unemployed, or had serious socio economic issues, and we did not at that point, for us that came later. I love Cleveland, it's a great city, I don't really think there's many other places I'd like to be, although I would like to visit more of the west coast, such as seattle. All of it played a role in my development as an artist, and as a person.
B.G: I saw on your Instagram that you like to stroll in abandoned factories and deserted Shopping malls in Ohio. What’s appealing to you about it?
Z.K: I think my fascination with abandoned places is because of my interest in the past, i can imagine in my head what a mall must've smelled like, what it sounded like when it was thriving, i think a great deal of human life is hounded by the heavy weight of memory, of what was, what should've been, and what never could've been. To me, when I am walking in a place that once had so much life, and now it's utterly devoid of anything, it's like a tomb to a long gone day. A rusty edifice of lost prosperity.
B.G: I understand that the name of your new EP, “Microplastics For The Children”, corresponds with the huge problems globalization has brought with it - the massive imports from China that created the rust belt, etc. And yet, your title sounds somewhat poppy, sort of tongue in cheek. Am I right?
Z.K: Yea, I was trying to come up with something that was catchy, and a bit snarky, I thought it fit the bill. I was going to call it ''Rust Belt Messiah, Judas and Zacharia'' but i didn't need more people thinking i'm crazy haha.
Zac Kolko: "'Woke' is just a word. In my estimation the American left and the American right both have disdain for jews, but in different ways"
"We sang Hatikva every friday"
B.G: What's it like for you to live - not necessarily as a musician - in Cleveland, Ohio? I mean, in 2024 U.S.A - with all the problems of the world going crazy?
Z.K: It's hard for me to say, I just wake up, go to work. I am lucky, i dont have a lot of money, i don't have a lot of anything, but i'm lucky, my life is not in danger, i don't have to deal with rockets, or worry about food, stuff like that, i just live the best i can. My worries are just the normal ones, like how can i provide, and be the best person i can for my family and friends.
B.G: In one of your Instagram videos you said that you ran for a political party in the past. Can you tell us more about it? What’s the story?
Z.K: Yea, i have been interested in politics since i was a very little kid, my father used to talk to me about labor rights and take me to a restaurant near our house where presidential candidates would eat War crime level bad pancakes to prove they were ‘’one of us’’, i was a pretty lonely kid, i read a lot. Too much probably. I ran for town council in the town outside of Cleveland I live in. I lost terribly, but it was a good experience. I plan to try again sometime. I've always had a desire to help others, and if I can do anything to make the world a little better, I'd love to.
B.G: You also talked about all kinds of jobs you had in the past. Wow. Please give us your eclectic list, including, of course, your job in the morgue - Where Did it happen and how was it? Do you sometimes dream about that place?
Z.K: Some People say i can't keep a job, i just say they stay too long. Life is all about experiences for me, i use jobs as a canvas, to find new stories to write about. I get bored easily, I like to be mobile. i want to kibitz and schmooze, can't help it, just my nature. I’ve worked in kitchens as a cook, at a grocery store as a butcher, a couple construction jobs, I laid bricks, climbed onto roofs. Sold video games, sold military antiques. I used to clean horse stalls too haha. Working on farms sucks, I was never built for kibbutz life.
I think the job that truly stuck with me was working in the funeral world, I think I opened a Pandora's box inside me, frankly. I still get nightmares sometimes. My job was to pick up the dead from the place of death, transport them to the morgue, get them placed in caskets, drive the hearse to the cemetery, several times a day usually, was like a shabbat elevator of death, neverending. Up and down all day long. I then worked at a cemetery where I did the funeral planning, met with families, and coordinated with funeral homes. It was hard, i mean sometimes there's just no words yaknow?
B.G: Israel. You lived in Israel before. How did it come to be? and why did you return to the U.S.?
Z.K: I grew up in a very Zionist Household, my Bubby's family moved to the Mandate in the 20`s, We sang Hatikva every friday. I have family in and from Israel, (One of them, Nitzan Kolko is an amazing jazz artist) That sorta stuff. I always wanted to make aliyah and join the army, so when I was 18, I went to Israel with a couple hundred dollars and no plan at all. My first time around i was there for a couple months, i spent a lot of my time in Jerusalem. I volunteered to help out lone soldiers for a little bit, but I managed to see most of the country by bus, on foot, whatever.
I truly fell in love with the north, walking around different towns, seeing new places. Meeting new people. I do find it funny in hindsight, I saw Hadera, Tiberias, Afula, all kinds of places, but I think I spent less than 20 minutes in Haifa. I had no money, so I was doing things like taking shekels that tourists tossed in fountains, blending in with tour groups to get a little food at hotels, I mean, a decade later I look back and think what lunacy that all was, but it was fun.
I left Israel and came back about a year later. I spent about 5 months in Holon, that time living with an ex. My goal was still the army, but health issues, and life circumstances put an end to that. If I was a little older and more rational than dedicated, I would probably have stayed in Israel, but I have no regrets.
B.G: As a secular Jew with a Jewish identity, what is it like to live in the U.S. today, with all the vicious lies being spread about Israel? What do you think about the whole thing called “Woke”?
Z.K: I have definitely experienced antisemitism here, I'm very proud to be jewish, even if I am not religious. I am pretty steadfast in my support for Israel, and frankly feel Israel is held to an impossible standard. 'Woke' is just another word, in my estimation the American left and the American right both have disdain for jews, but in different ways.
B.G: You told me that you plan to return to live in Israel, this time with your wife. Wow, for real? Can you tell us more about the plan?
Z.K: Yea, we haven't laid the foundation for it yet, but I think Israel is better for jews in the long run.
Zac Kolko: "They rebel by living in seedy neighborhoods and i rebel by living in a basement in the suburbs. nothing more punk than ignoring the local music scene haha"
Less People, More Burnouts
B.G: Let's go back to music. You live in a city that’s considered a Rock-N-Roll city. Pere Ubu and Dead Boys were born in Cleveland; Alan Freed's legendary show; The Cramps came from Ohio, not far from Cleveland. The “Rock & Roll Hall of Fame'' is located in Cleveland. Are you connected to any scene? going to gigs? Feeling the city's glorious musical history?
Z.K: Not really, it's all concentrated on the other side of town, run by trust fund kids, they rebel by living in seedy neighborhoods and i rebel by living in a basement in the suburbs. Nothing more punk than ignoring the local music scene haha. I go to another city, Akron alot. They have dive bars where the bouncers are drunk and crying about his marriage, someone steals your car when you're at the show, it's my kinda scene. There's a performer down in the Akron area called Miss Dreadful who might be one of the best artists in the state. Akron's better for me, less people. more burnouts.
B.G: In your lyrics, there’s a feeling that you`re dealing with all kinds of social issues. For example, in your excellent song from the new EP, “Ames”. What's the song about?
Z.K: Ames was the name of a department store that long since closed. In a way it's a sarcastic tongue in cheek about the collapse of my hometowns, closed stores, broken dreams, and the end of white picket suburbia. I'm a child of divorce who grew up in run down towns, while having post 9/11 propaganda shoved in my face, seeing all the wreckage of the steel mills, and being told how amazing life is, made me quite sarcastic. Ames went out of business like 20 years ago, has life not been the same since Ames because I got older? I don't know, the song is a joke with serious undertones.
B.G: And musically, you also serve as a self-producer?
Z.K: Nah, I have a guy who produced this album, Britton Roberts, he's been a massive influence and help to me. He was the co-producer on my first EP. before him I was recording demos in some guy's basement while his mom did laundry. It was awful. I’m Eternally thankful for his support.
B.G: And how about going live on stage? Are you there? In your Bandcamp Bonus version, your new EP has five songs - one of them is exceptional, quiet and acoustic, while the rest really make you wanna hear and see them performed live, with the piano and everything. Will it happen?
Z.K: I hope to get a band together and do a tour at some point.
B.G: What’s your opinion about the stuff kids dig today? Trap music and things like that. The Tik Tok generation. Where do you think all of this is leading to?
Z.K: I am not a fan, but I don't hold it against them. I think Rock is going to have a comeback. I see more and more samples of rock, more and more guitar, so I think it's got a shot at a comeback. Kids now have such a wide array of music at their fingertips that I only dreamed of as a kid. I never would have known about Charlie Megira without the internet, let alone watch your movie, "Tomorrow's Gone".
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