Che Zifandel

She was musically inclined practically from the start. She experimented with rap at a young age, while learning through everyone from her parents to university professors of how richly diverse the musical landscape is. But recent personal experiences gave Denver's Che Zifandel an opportunity to channel those into taking up a guitar and writing songs that reflect those realities, both good and bad.

I asked Che about such topics as her growing up musically, as well as how the experiences she went through just a few years ago gave her that additional creative spark, plus why she's not about autotuning, and whether she'd want to act in a particular movie genre.
Steve: First, Che, your Facebook page mentions that one of the first things you did as a child was compose beats on your grandmother's keyboard. Was it an outgrowth of your early love for music, and did those beat compositions come prior to you taking piano lessons?

Che: Yes it was definitely out of my love for music which was there for as long as I can remember. I started playing around with the keyboard a little while before I started the piano lessons and I thought I was doing some pretty cool stuff at the time.

Steve: Also during your youth, you were performing rap while learning piano and violin. Looking back on it, were the rough crowds and the trouble that came with them an outgrowth of you being a rapper?

Che: There were definitely rough crowds and I think I was bit ahead of the time. People said I was a really good rapper but didn’t relate to what I was talking about. That caused me to rap about a lot of things I wasn’t really into at the time. And while I loved rap, I was trying to rebel against a lot of misogynistic lyrics that were out there by taking on the role of a female who pimped men (trying to reverse what Snoop was saying at the time). But more of the trouble I got into came from my own desire to be popular and not be what I perceived to be a nerd. I was a straight A student in accelerated classes who played violin. That didn’t mesh with the people I was hanging with, the music I was listening to, or with me rapping.

Steve: When you started listening to grunge and alternative music as you were going through high school, what did you find in those genres that distinguished them from rap?

Che: I think I found I related to it a lot because it seemed to address how I felt internally. I believed myself to be an outcast who was misunderstood by my peers and sometimes my family. They talk about that whole angst thing and I had a lot of it. I was actually very angry with so many things while, if you were on the outside looking in, it would appear that life was peachy for me.

Steve: You grew up with parents who were big on music. Were their musical tastes diverse enough to influence what you've done?

Che: Oh, most definitely! My dad was always listening to Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. He is a music connoisseur of sorts and has introduced me to so many soul, funk, and R&B acts that other people may not have heard of, same with my Mom. I heard so much great music around the house with her. And she introduced me to stuff from the B-52s to the Last Poets to NWA!

Steve: Did what you learn about everything from the blues and soul that are the roots of rock to the Beatles and the Stones while majoring in Music Industry Studies at University of Colorado-Denver also help in expanding your creativity?

Che: That’s another, most definitely! I didn’t really grow up with the Beatles, The Stones, and Bob Dylan. Even stuff like Curtis Mayfield, I only heard in passing. In college, we studied the background and the making of this music. It gave me a much greater respect for the blues (Big Mama Thornton, Muddy Waters, etc.) and for the Rolling Stones and Beatles. I also loved the idea of Phil Spector’s “wall of sound.”

Steve: When did you first learn how to play guitar, and do you think that adds to your uniqueness and individuality?

Che: I had bought the guitar years ago. But I picked it up in 2009 after the whole break-up fiasco. It was highly therapeutic. I do think it adds to my individuality because I think any instrument you play, you play it like you. I’m really not a great guitar player, but the songs I write on guitar have my sound.

Steve: In addition to being a musician, you've also tried your hand at acting. Because one of your non-musical interests is also horror movies, have you wanted to act in that genre?

Che: That’s funny. Yeah, that would actually be a dream come true to me. And, I want to play the villain, the killer. I think it would be so fun and so unexpected. That genre has influenced me a lot. I try to bring it to my music. I think I really succeeded with my cover of "I Put a Spell on You," that’s why it is my favorite to play live. Hopefully, one day I can make a video like Michael Jackson did with "Thriller." I watched that video incessantly as a chi - Guitar Girl Magazine (Steve Byrd)

She was musically inclined practically from the start. She experimented with rap at a young age, while learning through everyone from her parents to university professors of how richly diverse the musical landscape is. But recent personal experiences gave Denver's Che Zifandel an opportunity to channel those into taking up a guitar and writing songs that reflect those realities, both good and bad.

I asked Che about such topics as her growing up musically, as well as how the experiences she went through just a few years ago gave her that additional creative spark, plus why she's not about autotuning, and whether she'd want to act in a particular movie genre.
Steve: First, Che, your Facebook page mentions that one of the first things you did as a child was compose beats on your grandmother's keyboard. Was it an outgrowth of your early love for music, and did those beat compositions come prior to you taking piano lessons?

Che: Yes it was definitely out of my love for music which was there for as long as I can remember. I started playing around with the keyboard a little while before I started the piano lessons and I thought I was doing some pretty cool stuff at the time.

Steve: Also during your youth, you were performing rap while learning piano and violin. Looking back on it, were the rough crowds and the trouble that came with them an outgrowth of you being a rapper?

Che: There were definitely rough crowds and I think I was bit ahead of the time. People said I was a really good rapper but didn’t relate to what I was talking about. That caused me to rap about a lot of things I wasn’t really into at the time. And while I loved rap, I was trying to rebel against a lot of misogynistic lyrics that were out there by taking on the role of a female who pimped men (trying to reverse what Snoop was saying at the time). But more of the trouble I got into came from my own desire to be popular and not be what I perceived to be a nerd. I was a straight A student in accelerated classes who played violin. That didn’t mesh with the people I was hanging with, the music I was listening to, or with me rapping.

Steve: When you started listening to grunge and alternative music as you were going through high school, what did you find in those genres that distinguished them from rap?

Che: I think I found I related to it a lot because it seemed to address how I felt internally. I believed myself to be an outcast who was misunderstood by my peers and sometimes my family. They talk about that whole angst thing and I had a lot of it. I was actually very angry with so many things while, if you were on the outside looking in, it would appear that life was peachy for me.

Steve: You grew up with parents who were big on music. Were their musical tastes diverse enough to influence what you've done?

Che: Oh, most definitely! My dad was always listening to Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. He is a music connoisseur of sorts and has introduced me to so many soul, funk, and R&B acts that other people may not have heard of, same with my Mom. I heard so much great music around the house with her. And she introduced me to stuff from the B-52s to the Last Poets to NWA!

Steve: Did what you learn about everything from the blues and soul that are the roots of rock to the Beatles and the Stones while majoring in Music Industry Studies at University of Colorado-Denver also help in expanding your creativity?

Che: That’s another, most definitely! I didn’t really grow up with the Beatles, The Stones, and Bob Dylan. Even stuff like Curtis Mayfield, I only heard in passing. In college, we studied the background and the making of this music. It gave me a much greater respect for the blues (Big Mama Thornton, Muddy Waters, etc.) and for the Rolling Stones and Beatles. I also loved the idea of Phil Spector’s “wall of sound.”

Steve: When did you first learn how to play guitar, and do you think that adds to your uniqueness and individuality?

Che: I had bought the guitar years ago. But I picked it up in 2009 after the whole break-up fiasco. It was highly therapeutic. I do think it adds to my individuality because I think any instrument you play, you play it like you. I’m really not a great guitar player, but the songs I write on guitar have my sound.

Steve: In addition to being a musician, you've also tried your hand at acting. Because one of your non-musical interests is also horror movies, have you wanted to act in that genre?

Che: That’s funny. Yeah, that would actually be a dream come true to me. And, I want to play the villain, the killer. I think it would be so fun and so unexpected. That genre has influenced me a lot. I try to bring it to my music. I think I really succeeded with my cover of "I Put a Spell on You," that’s why it is my favorite to play live. Hopefully, one day I can make a video like Michael Jackson did with "Thriller." I watched that video incessantly as a chi - Guitar Girl Magazine (Steve Byrd)

There are times when any preconceptions formed as a consequence of cover art are shown up to be worthless. The cover to Art of an Unknown Celebrity was less than promising, with artist Che Zifandel sitting in the bath looking decidedly like a zombie. Thankfully, the Colorado native doesn't look like that in real life. And the dodgy cover hides an EP of some quality.
If you were trying to pin down Zifandel's music, you would find it a hard job. Reggae guitars mingle with rock riffs. A soulful voice belts out songs which you would be hard put to describe as soul. A one time rapper now weilds a guitar as complement to a rich voice. Lyrically, there is an essence in her music of personal experience, personal dreams and fears, and some just plain good songwriting.
The opening track "BITCH (Half a Brain)", is one of those songs which, while it may have been intended as a liberating and empowering feminist anthem appeals on so many levels. The idea of a woman using that term about herself as a weapon to highlight the stupidity of her lover is a clever twist. An animated video was made for this and got over 30,000 hits within a few days of its release. Now that is one way to get some attention! "Animalistic Side" takes that theme a little further concentrating on female sensuality and lust.
And the attention would be deserved. The five tracks on the EP convey a mix of styles and emotions, all executed with some aplomb and benefitting from some decent production which is often unusual in an artist starting out with recorded work. A song like "Ride On" could well have been ruined had the production quality been not up to scratch but it succeeds here, and allows full freedom to Zifandel's voice, alternately sultry, soaring and gritty, within the space of a few seconds.
Follow that with a more up-tempo rocker in "Black Widow" and you realise that versatility is the name of Che Zifandel's game. Wrapping it all up is a cover of Screamin' Jay Hawkins' 1956 hit "I Put a Spell on You". With what sounds like a fuzz-bass, Zifandel's version has a humid, sultry feel about it which takes the innate lazy feel to the song and wraps it in a passionate cloak.
Art of an Unknown Celebrity is an EP which clearly marks Che Zifandel out as a talented singer songwriter with some interesting things to say and a clever way of delivering them. Drawing on a variety of influences and singing from the heart, Zifandel ensures there is something here for everyone to find interesting and exciting. - Music Emissions (Charles Martel)

There are times when any preconceptions formed as a consequence of cover art are shown up to be worthless. The cover to Art of an Unknown Celebrity was less than promising, with artist Che Zifandel sitting in the bath looking decidedly like a zombie. Thankfully, the Colorado native doesn't look like that in real life. And the dodgy cover hides an EP of some quality.
If you were trying to pin down Zifandel's music, you would find it a hard job. Reggae guitars mingle with rock riffs. A soulful voice belts out songs which you would be hard put to describe as soul. A one time rapper now weilds a guitar as complement to a rich voice. Lyrically, there is an essence in her music of personal experience, personal dreams and fears, and some just plain good songwriting.
The opening track "BITCH (Half a Brain)", is one of those songs which, while it may have been intended as a liberating and empowering feminist anthem appeals on so many levels. The idea of a woman using that term about herself as a weapon to highlight the stupidity of her lover is a clever twist. An animated video was made for this and got over 30,000 hits within a few days of its release. Now that is one way to get some attention! "Animalistic Side" takes that theme a little further concentrating on female sensuality and lust.
And the attention would be deserved. The five tracks on the EP convey a mix of styles and emotions, all executed with some aplomb and benefitting from some decent production which is often unusual in an artist starting out with recorded work. A song like "Ride On" could well have been ruined had the production quality been not up to scratch but it succeeds here, and allows full freedom to Zifandel's voice, alternately sultry, soaring and gritty, within the space of a few seconds.
Follow that with a more up-tempo rocker in "Black Widow" and you realise that versatility is the name of Che Zifandel's game. Wrapping it all up is a cover of Screamin' Jay Hawkins' 1956 hit "I Put a Spell on You". With what sounds like a fuzz-bass, Zifandel's version has a humid, sultry feel about it which takes the innate lazy feel to the song and wraps it in a passionate cloak.
Art of an Unknown Celebrity is an EP which clearly marks Che Zifandel out as a talented singer songwriter with some interesting things to say and a clever way of delivering them. Drawing on a variety of influences and singing from the heart, Zifandel ensures there is something here for everyone to find interesting and exciting. - Music Emissions (Charles Martel)