A Brief Chat w/ Don Zientara of Inner Ear Studios
Tell me about growing up in Rochester, NY. What was your childhood like? When did you first begin to fall in love with music? Was this something that was relevant around your household growing up?
I grew up in a working class Polish community (think: Kodak). Around 10 I was prodded into taking musical instrument lessons. The Polish national instrument is the accordion, but this was the era of Elvis, so I got my parents to go for me taking guitar instruction. Neither of my parents were musical, but we had records and a big Magnavox stereo. I stopped taking lessons after about 2 years, then took it up again when a friend (who played guitar) showed me how to make it relevant to present day music.
What would you and your friends do for fun growing up? Who were some of your earliest influences in your more formative years? When and where did you see your very first concert and when did you realize you wanted to spend your life pursuing and making music?
The usual teenage stuff. Riding a bike, exploring the woods nearby. Elvis, Jimmy Dean and Perry Como. Then later the English bands and Merseybeat stuff. Then Beatles, The Byrds and The Zombies. Around 1965 I saw The Yardbirds and was blown away! I did not know I would be involved in music at that time, other than being in bad bands.
Prior to becoming a legendary producer, you performed in your very own band called Under Heaven. Can you tell me about this outfit and how it originally came to be? How did you initially meet your bandmates Howard, Mark and Rich and where did the name for the group come about?
Before Underheaven, I was in a band called Ravenstone and dozens of other bands before that. Underheaven came to be when the guitarist for the Nurses died and Howard asked if I wanted to form a band. We did with Rich and Mark came in a bit later, because I was playing acoustic guitar and we felt it needed an electric. The name is taken from a Byrds song “Turn, Turn, Turn”. We all enjoyed The Byrds.
A time in music and cultural history that will forever remain sincere and incredibly influential to this day and you were smack dab in the middle of it all. Tell me about meeting the great Ian MacKaye and working for his label Dischord Records throughout the 80s. What were those days like and what are some of your most fondest memories of that time and place in your career?
You’re too kind! I never worked for Dischord, but we worked closely for decades. It was all me being at the right place at the right time. The Punk “network” found me and liked the way I worked, so bands came to my place to record. Hectic! I was working at the National Gallery of Art during the day and recording at night and on weekends. Also, I had a wife and 2 daughters.
I’d like to jump ahead to your solo career and the release of 2003’s “Sixteen Ssongs” on Dischord/Northern Liberties. Can you tell me about writing and recording songs such as “Open Doors”, “Wetherproof”, “Don’t You Feel Only” and “Funny Man”?
Those were songs that I had written earlier in my life, and was never satisfied with my singing them. Then I found a Wollensak tube recorder with a carbon microphone at a Goodwill store. I tried recording them in mono with that and I was more happy with that process. They are recorded live with no overdubs (of course). Most deal with my interest in Dada.
What have you been up to in more recent years? Are you currently working on any new projects that you’d like to share with us? Is there anything else you would like to further share with the readers?
I’ve done 4 more albums past Sixteen Ssongs, the last one a collaboration with the drummer from Raventone (1974–76). He lives on the Outer Banks of North Carolina and we met at a memorial for one of the members of Ravenstone. So I go down there to surf with him during the day and play in the dive bars at night. Did I mention we found a common bond in surfing? I consider myself retired at 75, but somehow I’m recording just as much and playing live more. The commercial studio I was in for 32 years is being torn down, so now I record at my home. And I love it!
