Today we’d like to introduce you to Zaq Baker.
Thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, how did you get started?
I started playing piano at age five and began playing in rock bands (starting, naturally, with pop-punk) in ninth grade. I got very serious about songwriting in 2017 and haven’t stopped since then. I got where I am today through a sheer “never give up” mentality where I disregarded the low chances everyone reported of “making it” in the music industry. Other people will discourage you from chasing your dreams. You must ignore them. Every artist I admire got where they are by following their heart via work ethic and ambition, pushing aside rejection, and climbing over obstacles through love and the chance for their writing and effort to reach an audience.
Would it have been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
This career choice — music — does not offer a smooth road for anyone. That’s part of what makes the rewards meaningful when they come around. The primary struggle that leaps to mind for me is balance, maintaining the parts of my life outside my art and entertainment, and striking something healthy. This has always been a massive issue for me. You have to give up a lot to make this lifestyle possible, and the risks aren’t always successful (that’s what makes them risks). I often wake up at night with song ideas, video ideas, and creative ways to help my work reach an audience. My to-do lists are outrageously lengthy and often need to be better organized, and my shelf of partially finished work is always overflowing with papers. In this craft, all of my peers (and, beyond my world, all the way up to the acclaimed and famous) sacrificed jobs, opportunities, certain relationships, travel, and chances at stability to pursue success. It is a long-form compulsion. I used to say I’d given up entirely on self-care. I’m a little better now, but I’m not there. I’ll always be wrestling with that internal crossroads. Self-confidence has also been a central issue in my life. You can easily imagine how a diminished ego puts a roadblock into performance, into the spark you need to start and finish writing, and into all the different aspects of working closely in groups. I had to work through that problem and push through it. Especially in my mid-twenties, believing in myself was a major inhibitor to my growth and leadership. It’s no coincidence that I’ve written and released so many songs about that exact struggle.
Let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
As a songwriter, pianist, vocalist, and director/arranger, I have released a sizable catalog in the last six years:
Four full-length albums:
– If It’s Not Zaq Baker Live at the Green Room, I’m Not Going (2023)
– This Time It’s Personal (2022)
– Cardio (2020)
– Getting Younger (2018)
Five standalone singles:
– “Nervous (Anne’s Audition Song)” feat. Anne Brown (2023)
– “Molly’s Song (née “Dairy Queen”) (2021)
– “Ojos” (2022)
– “Never Getting Older” (2021)
– “Cavemen” (2021)
– “In Between Years” (2021)
And three EP’s:
– Solarbaby (2023)
– Maddie’s Delivery Service (2021)
– Housewarming (2017)
And numerous videos:
– Four music videos: Get the Message, Someone to Believe In, Spearmint, and I Wanna Be Your Night Owl
– Two live videos (rockumentary, 2023): Bummer Soul and 20 Elephants
– And two live sessions: Down for Whatever (feat. Lydia Pelletier) and She’s Nocturnal (grand piano and vocal performance, 2021).
This year, I completed my debut novel, An Unspectacular Crisis, the product of two years of obsessive labor. I have been querying An Unspectacular Crisis since October 2022 (pitching to literary agents and presses). My creative nonfiction has been published twice in literary journals (2022). I have been co-writing a musical, Hometown, since Thanksgiving 2022. I have contributed most of the music, lyrics, and an equal share of the script. I also play piano and keyboards and contribute co-leadership in numerous Twin Cities bands: Maria and the Coins, Corzine, Nina Luna, Toilet Rats, Rolling Thunder Revue (a Bob Dylan tribute), Christian Wheeler & his band, and more. I am a session musician who performs piano and keyboards frequently on other artists’ records and videos.
Ooh! Today is the release day for my newest video: “Bummer Soul,” the rockumentary film version of fan favorite “Bummer Soul,” originally released on pop-punk album Cardio in December 2020 and now featuring Hayley Lewis (Corzine), Conor Lee, Sheldon Way, and Andy Kallevig — all Twin Cities musicians. Videography by Aaron Levin; mix and master by Eric Martin; film location is Green Room in uptown Minneapolis. It’s bombastic. I think you’ll enjoy it.
Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the COVID-19 crisis?
Like many people, I had a lot of trouble “resetting” from the outset of the pandemic. Just before that period, I’d had a lot of demons lurking, often daring to crawl out into the open, in my relationship with myself well, really, my whole life. Those hit a pitch near the end of 2019. A long-building depression streak reared itself so obstinately, so comprehensively, that I canceled a solo tour booked initially in January 2020, formally withdrawing dates out of town and keeping only my La Crosse performance (which I do not regret the other bands were amazing and so kind and supportive!). I never canceled anything, so that decision was a big wake-up call. I also had to make an emergency care plan for myself during therapy. That’s a scary worksheet to fill out. Were it possible to go back in time, I would reorient my reward system and try to make my fuse a little longer in terms of the industry recognition I’d been craving, as well as on a much shorter scale, e.g., social media as an obsession/vice and things like television. The best thing that happened to me that year was the offer I happily took for a solo performance at a socially distanced neighborhood institution, performing outdoors for a well-to-do Minneapolis neighborhood, mostly baby boomers carefully spaced out in lawn chairs and on blankets. Allotted a double set, I interpolated some of the most intensive pieces of my catalog with some 70s and 80s favorites- Talking Heads, the Cars, and Billy Joel. Having a reason to practice my material again for the stage helped me keep going and got me up from the ball in my bed, where I spent months curled. I also made the album This Time It’s Personal during that time and the four standalone singles preceding it. Recording an album in the separate tracking room for grand piano, then vocals thatthat existed and were sealed anyway, was weird but completely safe. Comping and mixing with N95s was intense but wholly worth it. I was aptly titled. The best lesson: Keep trying.
Pricing:
- Albums streaming freely
- Videos streaming freely
Contact Info:
- Website: zaqbaker.com
- Instagram: @zaqbaker
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/zaqbaker
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@zaqbaker
Image Credits
Adam Nantz
