The Austin based duo, Zero Percent APR recently released their sophomore album, ‘Gilgamesh II’.

The duo of Juli Keller and Cody Dosier recorded the album at home on a Tascam 688 Midistudio, using the same DIY approach that produced the band’s debut, ‘Halbum’. Album takes listeners on a playful and peculiar adventure through time–all the way back to the Middle Ages.

“We allowed ourselves the freedom to fail miserably at song-writing which was absolutely liberating”

Would you like to talk a bit about your background?

What we want to say is that we met at Comic-Con 2015. Coincidentally, we were both smuggling in piss-filled water balloons to throw at the nerds. As fate would have it, we found ourselves soaked in each other’s piss and noticed a hint of asparagus in each other’s fluids. We quickly hit it off about our mutual tolerance for asparagus as a relatively sufficient vegetable, having both consumed it at La Quinta’s continental breakfast that morning. So needless to say, the rest was history. But what we actually have to say is…this: we are best fucking friends and if anyone has a problem with that…they can go fuck themselves because we love being besties and we are also roomies and yeah, heck! Maybe a couple songs come out of it? So fucking what? Best friends making music…is that even allowed anymore? Like really guys, what’s the big whoop? …People ask us all the time, why the heck we’re so mad and aggressive and ask us sh** like: “why would we object to friendship?” or “why are you guys so defensive? …did something happen in your past?” And we just say “no, why?” So we’re equally as confused about our background…we’re just a couple of goofballs!

What led to formation of Zero Percent APR and what’s the story behind the project’s name?

We make music together in a project called Being Dead, which is obviously a great band name. But after establishing the band, we came up with another killer band name (Zero Percent APR) and we knew we had to start another band. We decided that this band would be our alter-ego / farm-operation. Meaning: we were writing lots of music and sitting on a lot of bullshit songs so we decided to record it our-dang-selves and harvest the best nuggets as demos for the “main bitch” project… Everything else could fall into the tender hands of APR. We allowed ourselves the freedom to fail miserably at song-writing which was absolutely liberating.

How would you describe your sound? ‘Halbum’ is a very diverse release… How long did you work on the material?

‘Halbum’ was actually released five days before Halloween last year…We wrote and recorded it in haste: it was early October when we decided we’d try to get an album written and recorded by Halloween as our first APR release. It’s a smattering of songs from voice-memos and spur-of-the-moment ideas while goofing around. To expedite the process, we plugged in some spooky lyrics and BOOM – ‘Halbum’ was born in roughly 3 weeks.

By nature of the tape, it is quite lo-fi indeed. It’s a bit all over the place in terms of genre and it’s hard for us to describe…some country, some house, some folks, some indie…but the bottom line is…good ole fashioned rock n’ roll!

One of my favourite tracks from the release is ‘Break It Down Like an Apparition’ and especially ‘The End Is Coming’. Would you like to share some insight behind those tunes?

‘Break It Down Like an Apparition’ was born out of experimentation in a newly-acquired investment in Logic Pro. It’s about taking a walk down a Halloween lane and allowing the fright to enter the crux of your churning crucible. ‘The End is Coming’ is about your last Halloween on earth… It’s a waltz draped in dappled moonlight in the waiting room of hell.

The whole release has an Autumn vibe to it… it’s pretty surreal if you ask me.

We were absolutely blitzed on pumpkin spice lattes and brown-leather knee-high boots….I guess you could say it translated. We were truly drenched in the Halloween spirit at the dawn of its genesis.

How would you compare it to ‘Gilgamesh II’?

Tonally, the albums are similar but thematically, they follow very different narratives. ‘Gilgamesh II’ is heavily predicated on fear and the parallel struggles of peasantry in medieval times and 2021. ‘Halbum’ rarely delves into truly scary scenarios and ‘Gilgamesh II’ is riddled with blood-curdling affairs. It is honestly the scarier album, if you can believe that. Let’s just say that you have kids: you’re going on a nice autumn drive to the pumpkin patch? This is a great time for ‘Halbum’. But if you want to listen to ‘Gilgamesh II’, it’s best to put the little ones to sleep. Nightmares, nightmares, nightmares!

“Exploration is the game and we’re gunning for first place”

How do you usually approach music making?

No idea can be cast down before a good, solid varsity try. This project in particular is a bit more theme-driven which allows us to fabricate our own fairytales. Exploration is the game and we’re gunning for first place. We like to make ourselves laugh so that often comes into play as well!

How are you coping with the pandemic? It’s been two years and I really miss gigs and socializing with likeminded people.

Zero Percent APR is really the coping mechanism for us. Covid halted progress on Being Dead’s debut album, ‘When Horses Would Run’. So we started recording songs on our Tascam at home!

Did you often play live?

We perform quite often but have only taken the stage as Zero Percent APR once… We invite and welcome any and all hecklers and we live for drama so … give it to us, folks. We don’t have any plans to play live in the near future.

How’s the scene in Austin lately?

Well…it’s littered with hypocrites n’ bozos wearing suede pumas and fedoras rattling on about “real music.” So yeah, we fit right in. It’s an incredibly supportive community! And we are delighted to get to share the stage with an array of fantastically-interesting freaky babies!

Tell me about Sebastian Neri’s Spared Flesh Records. How did you get in touch?

Sebastian reached out to us on Bandcamp about his ideas on starting a label and the rest fell into place. He’s got big ideas and the street-smarts to get there…he’s really a blessing to us and has done such a stellar job with these releases!!!! What a guy!!

What are some future plans?

We’ve got two albums in the works. Maybe a music video or two….. Look out!!!!!

Let’s end this interview with some of your favourite albums. Have you found something new lately you would like to recommend to our readers?

‘Act of Tenderness’ by Cindy Lee
‘Now’ by Kim Jung Mi
‘II’ by Meat Puppets
‘The Unicorn’ by Peter Grudzien
…and literally any Deerhoof album!!

Thank you. Last word is yours.

Flowers are ephemeral, bodies are tombs, & friendship is the ship that we sail until the rainbow swallows us whole. Don’t be afraid to party your whole life. Parties can be how you are. Thank you for reading. Juli + Cody

Klemen Breznikar

Headline photo: Kati Mellor

Zero Percent APR Instagram / Bandcamp / Spotify
Being Dead Facebook / Instagram / Bandcamp
Spared Flesh Records Official Website / Instagram / Bandcamp