Ahead of the release of debut EP Rebuilding Heaven, we asked Zach of Zachary Ross and The Divine to give us a track by track breakdown of the record!
1- Angels Don’t Kill
First off I stole this song title from Children Of Bodom. They were one of my favorite bands as a teenager and I wanted to make a nod to them as we lost legendary vocalist/guitarist Alexi Laiho a couple of years back. This song is about realizing you are going to have to go it alone, again. Wondering how it will work out this time (if it does) and sort of stomping around salty at the people who may or may not have put you in that position. This song is also about saying “hey it turns out I wasn’t so bad was I?” As in maybe, you don’t know what you got til it’s gone. Maybe that “it” was me.
2. Push Start (Everyone knows)
Push Start is about loving and supporting someone for a long time as you watch them suffer through dead-end relationship after dead-end relationship. You witness them pine after someone, get disappointed, and get depressed over and over again without fail. All the while you are kind of like “hey, you know I am here, and I obviously care…just saying.” You are watching this person you adore care about and want every single person but you. Eventually, you have to just look at the trainwreck and say “alright dear, have fun with…with whatever this is that you’re doing with your life. I tried.”
3. Weapon
This song is really simple and we have all been there. It’s about repenting and apologizing. It’s telling someone that this thing that we have means more to me than any ~thing~ I have ever had. Any relationship, any opportunity, anything. This song is saying “please let me back in.” Whether it’s back “in” a romantic relationship, or a band, or a friend group. Take your pick.
4. A Light Over Massachusetts
Tim Landers passed away in February of 2019. He was the songwriter behind Transit, Cold Collective, and Off & On. He was one of the best friends I will ever have. It will be hard for me to find someone who understands me like Tim did. I miss my friend.
5. Panic Button
To me, this song has a double meaning.
“You’re holding up everything” is a line I repeat and each time I mean it differently. There was someone supporting me. I felt like without them I would have collapsed but emotionally speaking they held me up and prevented that from happening. The song also deals with impatience. I was at a very frustrating point in my career and I honestly was also at times singing about how I felt there were people preventing me from shining as bright as I could even though their hearts were in the right place. The reason I felt held back, right or wrong at the time, I blamed on other people.
Holding up EVERYTHING. I was frustrated and in love. It’s complicated.