Interview with Salt Lake weekly's ARTIST OF THE YEAR- Zac Ivie

B.Dolan , What is up?

 Glad to be able to ask you a few questions.

Ain't nuttin, man.  Same shit, same quarantine day.   Hanging out with my nephew in Minecraft world, 

exploring the Metaverse while trying to avoid the MAGA-virus death cult outside as much as possible. 

Q1. When did you decide to write the film VAULT? It is such an amazing movie and the score for the film was perfectly done. 

 Do you plan to do more movies?

I've been writing movies since around 2008, when I was contacted by a director and production company in RI who liked

my first album.  They originally hired me to low budget horror movies, but were impressed by how much depth I was able to

put into our first movie.  That one was called "Almost Mercy" and came out in 2015.  Movies are such a huge collaborative effort,

and everyone is continually trying to get better at their part. 

By 2016, I had a few more scripts under my belt and was presented with the opportunity to do a bigger budget movie, and

the producers were looking for a dramatization of a famous Providence robbery that I knew about and had some tangential family

connection to.  That's how I ended up working on Vault, and once it was in production I managed to convince the producers we could

score the movie.  Both jobs were incredible learning experiences, in the worlds of music and film. 

I've got a couple of scripts in the development at the moment.  I've also gotten hired to rework some other people's screenplays

and outlines, which is fun.  One of those scripts was slated to go into production this year, with a budget several times bigger than

Vault, but is currently on hold due to the pandemic.   It's called "Jungle Room" and is a sci-fi script I'm really proud of.  Definitely 

hoping this shit gets resolved as soon as possible, because a lot of the themes involved are even more resonant in this post-COVID world. 

 

Q2. With live shows being shut down currently what is the best way for fans to engage with you?

Live shows being cancelled, potentially until fall of 2021, means that indie musicians really need to get their shit together if they want to survive.

It also means fans are going to need to think a little more critically about how they support the bands they care about.  I still get Facebook comments

like "You're my favorite rapper!  When are you coming back to ______" and the answer, for the first time in my career, is honestly: "Maybe never?  Who 

the fuck knows man.  Right now I'm paying my mortgage month to month, just like you." 

Luckily, a few things we'd been developing as side projects have now jumped into the foreground.  My Patreon page (Patreon.com/BDolan), 

originally meant to be a low-key way to give hardcore fans exclusive content, has now greatly expanded.  It's given fans an opportunity to directly 

support my work, and it's literally sustaining us financially while we figure shit out.  Since I no longer have tour to prepare for, I'm also able to offer a

lot more types of communication and engagement to people.  Pretty much 7 days a week, I'm logged into a Discord server and available to chat with 

fans, livestreaming multiple times a week to talk with people... we can even stream movies together and play late night games of Texas Hold 'Em.  

It's been a godsend financially as I mentioned, but it's also kept me sane by helping me maintain some of those merch booth interactions with people

I'm used to seeing and kicking it with throughout the year.  Everyone's feeling lonely and disconnected at the moment, myself included, and these types of 

platforms offer us something way better than spamming each other with 5G Memes on Facefuck.com.  I mean Hellbook.com.  I mean f that website.

Q3. Are you working on new projects currently while quarantined whether its music related or anything else we should keep an eye out for?

I'll be releasing music all year, with Patreon supporters getting first crack, behind the scenes, and exclusive songs before anyone else.  Since people are

paying me direct now, I'm thinking of going straight to them with anything I put out this year.   Even before the virus, the current music industry was pretty

hostile to us indie cats.  Even ones with an established fanbase earned through decades of touring.  I'm honestly excited to have this new way of sharing things

as they develop.

The Vault score will be out in June, and I've got a whole lot of rap songs produced by some Big Heavies waiting to roll out.  They'll start seeing the light of day soon,

once we hit certain goals in terms of support and manufacture-ability.

Q4. I ask this question in every interview. Pizza or tacos? 

That's a tough one.  Maybe impossible.  However due to the diversity of killer tacos available, I'm choosing tacos.  There's only a few great pizzas but there's a wide world of great tacos.  Unless it's my Nona's pizza.  Her pizza I would trade for all the tacos.  Fuck that's a good question....

Thanks for the interview homie!  Take care out there!