Hard rock dynamic duo Capital North, recently released their debut EP, Sea To Sky. The 6-track EP discusses relatable topics from personal struggles like health, love, and loss to the human condition.
Consisting of Jonathan Farrar (Guitar/Vocals) and Anthony Zichella (Vocals), the band were formed in the summer of 2016 after the disbanding of their former pop-punk/post-hardcore band, Lights In The Sky. The two came together to form a band that would best showcase who they are as musicians and thus, Capital North was born. After the split of LITS, Farrar packed his bag and traveled the world for a year on a mission of soul searching while Zichella graduated from culinary school and moved to Portland to pursue his passion as a chef, but both found their way back to one thing; music. Before long, the two began planning the direction of what would be Capital North from separate continents. While traveling in Iceland, Farrar visited a unique and beautiful town called Akureyri, better known as the ‘Capital of the North.’ Leaving a lasting impression on him, he realised it accurately described the duo’s current state of emotions as they strive to get back to what is important with ‘capital’ being an integral place or feeling while ‘north’ describes the direction in which to get there.
As a band, Capital North has created a sound that is a drastic change from their former project and focuses on connecting with listeners through relatable lyrical themes and honest melodies. Recorded at The Pie Studios in Pasadena, the band’s debut EP, Sea To Sky, was engineered by Nels Jensen (Sigur Rós, Jamie Foxx) with tracking by Devyn June, and mixed/mastered by Bertrand and Eric Poncet (of Chunk! No, Captain Chunk!) at Alias Studio.
Check out Glass Houses from the band’s debut EP, below!
We managed to catch up with Anthony just before the release of the duo’s EP as he talks about the band’s latest EP and more!
So how has the release of Glass Houses gone down with fans so far?
I think so far it has been awesome! I really love the video and the music and it’s nice to see that everyone else is rallying behind it as well! I think that once we release the album officially, and we play our release show, we will have a much better idea of how the music and album are going over! Recording the video was such an adventure in itself and the fact that it’s finally out really feels like a huge accomplishment. It’s going to be really interesting to see how people react to the song in a live setting along with all the other things we have in store for our live set. I think once you’re in the crowd and the mood has been set, it’s going to be something really really special.
Can you tell us something about the video no one else knows?
Due to some technical difficulties the day of filming we actually had to change the entire second half of the video. We came home from recording the scene by the train tracks hours late because a train stopped on the tracks and we were trapped, due to this one of the main actors decided to pull out of recording. personally, I like the way the video turned out much better as a result of that, it’s safe to say that the video you guys see today is NOT what it was intended to be. In retrospect, it’s pretty hilarious, but it was kind of tragic at the time. We all huddled around the kitchen table and brainstormed what ended up being the video you guys see today.
How pumped are you for your upcoming release Sea To Sky?
SO pumped… It has been the longest wait of my life. I know that the anticipation and all of time leading up to this moment will probably make it feel underwhelming because I have hyped it up SO much in my head. Nonetheless, I can’t wait until we finally release it. The process that lead up to this point has been extensive, to say the least. This has probably been the most monumental learning process in my all of my years in the industry, and although at times it was something truly stressful and frustrating, I wouldn’t change it for anything.
What is your favorite track from the EP?
Household Wars is probably the thing I’ve done musically in my life that I’m the proudest of and so by default, it has to be that song. I love all of the music of course because it’s so personal, but HW has so much meaning to my life and the way I was raised that it hits really hard for me. It’s such an intense piece of music that it’s not even a question for me.
Jonathan’s favorite is Broken Vessel. I hate to speak for him on why, but he is my best friend so i’ll speak for him. I’m pretty sure it is because he relates to it so closely, I’ve heard him speak about the song and I can tell that it holds deep meaning for him. The song was inspired by the movie Chappie, the themes of that movie directly relate to his life and transformation with his health struggles, etc. I think the philosophical themes in the movie really got him thinking about rebirth, transcendence, and rising above our ailing physical body, and he just ran with it.
What’s the alternative scene like in Pasadena?
We have alternative scene?! LOL! Honestly, the scene in Pasadena hasn’t really existed since the early 2000’s. A lot of people probably don’t realize this especially with the later lineups in the band but Confide came from here as well as a few other local heavy hitters. As far as the modern-day music scene in Pasadena goes, there is only 1 venue really and it’s fairly quiet these days, unfortunately. That being said we have Van Halen so we automatically go down in music history for that one LOL. I wish I could say there is some kind of underground scene trying to rebuild things, but the fact of the matter is that there is not and hasn’t been for a long time. We are by no means rich but this area is quite well off and has been here for so long that as the property gets more and more expensive small DIY business’s like venues seem to be going the way of the buffalo.
If you could work with any band on a new song, who would it be and why?
I think I would want to work with someone massive so that I could learn as much as possible about success and what the most professional practices are. When you work with a band like Underoath or Circa or on that level, you think “yeah, they are successful” but I feel like what they have going on VS what say U2 or Blink or any other worldwide platinum artist has going on is leaps and bounds different. That being said I would rather hang out with Underoath or Circa to be completely honest. I think any collaboration should ultimately be a learning experience and the outcome should be a meeting of minds to create something new and wonderful. Too often we see these “Super Groups” whose music just sounds like two bands smashed their songs together, and to me that’s not really original or impactful. I feel like if we are going to collaborate or work with bands on songs I would want it to be something more like The Sound Of Animals Fighting. So many amazing minds came together to create something truly unique in that project.
What do you get up to when not recording and making music?
We both love hanging out with our dogs, road trips, traveling, camping, going to shows, cooking (you’ll often find us barbecuing on tour instead of eating fast food), getting lost, exploring dangerous places, hanging with loved ones, and having new unique experiences. I (Tony) love working on cars and have been known to do oil changes in the middle of the parking lot at Walmart on the van at 2 AM as well as surfing. Jonathan loves to work out, do yoga, go hiking and basically anything he can do outdoors.
What was the first gig you attended?
Elton John and it was epic! Jonathan’s was AFI and he met them backstage, which honestly seemed to change and possibly craft his musical journey! Plus, he got his hair done like Jade after that show…