Today we’d like to introduce you to Cory Pavlinac.
Hi Cory, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.
I started making music in earnest in 2011 after moving home from Nashville, where I went to college. A really random thing happened where I met an older friend of my mom’s at the time. He happened to be involved in the LA punk scene in the ’80s, or so he told me, and he lent me this digital 12-track recorder. I started to make demos of songs for the first time and really start writing complete songs. I had met someone who introduced me to a lot of great music I hadn’t heard. Nick Drake’s “Pink Moon” and bands like Dr. Dog and Deerhoof stand out. I was obsessed with Bob Dylan in college and R.E.M. – especially their ’80s stuff – and The War on Drugs released “Slave Ambient” around that time. Also, Tame Impala’s “Innerspeaker” came out around then. I was just immersing myself in all this music and listening with more of a songwriting filter, I guess. Mainly, I was just goofing around making bedroom recordings but also trying to write things that felt inspiring and derived from my tastes in some way. It all felt very private, but I would share things with a friend, and I made a cassette tape of songs under the name ZOO. A year or so later, I met my now-wife, and we started making music with a friend of hers who wanted to form a band. We wrote songs together, but mostly they were her songs, and we would flesh them out as a band. That band was my first real experience playing in a band and playing shows. After that band ended, I started to play in another band and also play out as ZOO, here and there. I made an EP in 2015, which was my first time in a studio. After that, I started working on an album and recorded that over a five-year period, taking frequent breaks and recording at home and in the studio. It was all pretty disjointed, and I was playing a lot of shows and recording some with the other band I was in, but ZOO has always been my main thing and creative outlet. Currently, I’m finishing up an EP that I recorded at home mostly, with some pieces recorded in a friend’s studio. I’m hoping to put that out this summer.
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Self-doubt and perfectionism are things I’ve always had to overcome in order to keep moving forward. I didn’t grow up playing in bands or really going to shows and being a part of that culture. The first real band I was in, I was 24. I have friends who were touring in their early twenties and had a lot more experience in that world at a much younger age, it seems to me. Maybe I’m a late bloomer in that way. But whatever you want to call it, it’s my story, and I try to focus on being authentic to it instead of comparing myself to others. I’ve found that perfectionism can be a detriment to creativity for myself. Not knowing all the details before I jump into something causes a lot of anxiety and takes a lot of effort and perspective-shifting to overcome. I can remember feeling so terrified the first time I played my songs live. It was just me and a guitar and backing tracks as accompaniment. Not how I would have wanted to do it but I did it anyway, and it lead to the next show opportunity, which lead to meeting more musicians, which lead to putting a band together, and so on. It all gets a little easier the more you do it. I have a lot more confidence, but I still struggle with feeling like an imposter from time to time. Friends and family and, most importantly, just doing it and believing in myself and who I am, and who I want to be, keep me motivated.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
My name is Cory Pavlinac. I’m a musician and a songwriter and have been releasing music under the name ZOO since 2012. I’ve recorded a couple albums, an EP, and a few singles to date and am working on another EP, which I hope will be released this summer. I record most of my songs at home, wherever and whenever I can – in the laundry room, bedroom, surrounded by blankets and pillows so I don’t wake up my two young children in the next room. Recording is an important part of my process, and I just love doing it, so I try and make it work even when it takes some accommodations and creative workarounds. A lot of my favorite music was made by people recording themselves at home or in makeshift little studios. Of course, you can make great-sounding records that way. I just like having that control and freedom to explore in my own time, and I find I get more at the heart of what I want to say when I’m alone, experimenting.
Before we go, is there anything else you can share with us?
My family means everything to me. I have two daughters – Frances (5) and Edie (2). I want them to grow up seeing me going out there and doing what I love, even if it doesn’t make sense to other people or isn’t really practical. I get to witness their own unique way of seeing the world and how they commit to whatever they are into at the time, and it gives me a little more confidence to trust in myself and embrace what I like. My wife, Alex, is my number one motivation and inspiration to keep putting myself out there and following my dreams. She is incredibly artistic and an out-of-the-box thinker, and I am always bouncing ideas off her and totally trust her opinion. She’s the first person I show a song to, and most of the songs that make it onto an album are there because she said, “Hey, I liked that one” after I come up from playing guitar in the basement!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: amancalledzoo
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@zoo1967/featured
- Other: amancalledzoo.bandcamp.com
Image Credits
Alexandra Spyridon
Louis Novoy
