Meet Zack Mester

 

We recently connected with Zack Mester and have shared our conversation below.

Zack, so great to have you with us and we want to jump right into a really important question. In recent years, it’s become so clear that we’re living through a time where so many folks are lacking self-confidence and self-esteem. So, we’d love to hear about your journey and how you developed your self-confidence and self-esteem.

Mine came from honing my craft by being mindfully aware of my weaknesses while patiently working on them so that they aren’t a problem anymore. Of course, there’s always more to work on so I try to have gratitude for what I can do well too. There’s a lot of monster players out there which can lead to insecurity, but if you develop your own voice and individuality, you effectively eliminate the competition because you are always doing you. For example, sometimes I have insecurity or imposter syndrome playing jazz because it can be less obvious what to play. If I take it back to the basics and focus on relaxing and letting the music unfold, then it becomes fun and everyone sounds good.

There’s a lot of material out there for practicing but ultimately you have to incorporate it into your own flow. It’s cliche by now, but it is true that you should always trust your ears/instincts and do what feels right. I’ve also noticed that learning the basics on other instruments too, such as guitar, heightens my awareness on the drum set. It’s hard to master multiple instruments but there’s an 80/20 principle involved where learning the core fundamentals will help bring you a bigger-picture awareness of the whole.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

I mainly try to take bands to the next level by jamming and helping produce their overall sound. I play all styles of music so I try to fuse my creative individuality with the music to make it something special.

My main projects right now are Silver Car Crash and Inflatable Spacestation. Silver Car Crash is either considered indie rock or post punk but we incorporate elements of hardcore and grunge as well. We currently have two albums out now and are working on new material for a third.

Inflatable Spacestation is a jam band through and through. Now, as a power trio, we like to fuse elements of Cream, Rush, and Jimi Hendrix. However, the godfathers of jam, The Grateful Dead, will always prevail so we play a lot of their material and take influence from bands like Phish as well. Lately, I feel like we’ve been hitting a new stride of sound and creativity and we are planning to record again soon to put out a second album.

I also play a lot of country music with my friends, such as Justin Bennett, Dave Shepherd and Colin Southfield. We’ve already put out some great singles with Colin Southfield & the Mushroom Country band and we hope to release our new EP soon. I look forward to recording more country music in the future because I love serving the song.

I also play in a stoner rock band, called Cactustache, and we will be putting out a self-produced EP called One Way Mission soon. I’ll be recording and drumming on a gospel-jazz project in the near future as well.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

Discipline is the key factor which I picked up in martial arts at a very young age. I learned how to focus and train my ability to combine both physical and mental challenges and keep showing up for results over time.

I would say hand-eye coordination is the second quality which I also learned from martial arts and sports, such as basketball, as well. I was never tall enough to be that good at basketball, but when I joined school band, it turned into an obsession. Drumming is a lot like a sport in the sense that the stick bounces off the drum head similarly to how a ball bounces off the ground.

The third key quality is probably open-minded awareness and having the ability to form an opinion about what you like without becoming overly attached to it. It’s important to keep your ego in check especially as you get better. That’s another valuable lesson martial arts taught me: there will always be someone better than you.

What has been your biggest area of growth or improvement in the past 12 months?

I’ve really cut back on alcohol and I believe it has spurred my productivity and heightened my organizational skills. I used to have drinks almost every weekend but then I began gradually cutting it out to practice drumming instead. Eventually, I noticed how badly it affected my sleep even while drinking in moderation. It made me jaded in the mornings and it was too difficult to keep up with the energy of my toddler. I attempted a 1-month sober challenge, completed it successfully, and it felt really great. I wouldn’t say I’m completely sober though (I’ll have a drink on vacation or once a month or so with friends), but I feel much more balanced and mentally stable than I have in the past. I’ve been able to produce way more music all while working full-time and my energy levels during performances are heightened as well.

Contact Info:

Image Credits

Josh Mester
DowncastSpark

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