ZA

Mike gilmore & bill hattori

We met at a studio session in November, 2022. A couple of months later we reached out and both of us had interest in jamming. It was apparent from our first session that we had a band. 

Bill Hattori

Drums & percussion

I'm a self-taught drummer from my misspent youth of staring at other drummers at ear piercing decibel rock concerts. My 15 minutes of fame was playing on stage at the infamous CBGB's in New York City with my band Munich '72. More recently I played in a couple local bands around the Asheville, North Carolina area, expanding my genre of drumming. And during the pandemic, I collaborated with artists from London, Los Angeles, Seattle, Nashville, and locally, to record songs remotely. It was a most interesting time to learn how to record/mix audio remotely and to become somewhat of a videographer.

But if fate is a real thing, it all seemed to keep leading me back to a place where something had been missing. That need for In-Your-FaceKick-In-The-Teeth drums. And that’s when I met Mike Gilmore and we quickly morphed into ZA. And while it is early, I have great visions for ZA. Whether our recordings are streamed or whether our performances are attended, in the end, there's just this natural noisy groove playing in ZA. And that’s what it’s all about.