Michael Imperioli is an actor and the singer/songwriter/guitarist for the New York-based rock band ZOPA. ZOPA’s new record Diamond Vehicle is out now.
All of our songs are team efforts. I might have a chord progression or some ideas to start with, or Elijah’s bringing in a chord progression or some lyrics, but a ZOPA song doesn’t really get finished or fleshed out until we all work on it in practice sessions. Then it becomes its own thing. Sometimes the songs happen when we’re jamming — just spontaneous things in the studio where we’ll like a groove and record it and keep working on it, then maybe I’ll go home and write some lyrics, or Elijah will. So it’s always very collaborative.
“The Arrows of Outrageous Fortune” is the oldest of the songs on the record — even the covers, “Ocean” and “Heroin,” we started playing more recently. But we’ve performed “The Arrows…” live for many years, going back to maybe 2008. When I started writing it, I was inspired by the idea of these young star-crossed lovers, like Romeo and Juliet, who were loosely based on a couple I knew many, many, many years ago. (The title comes from Hamlet, from the “To be, or not to be…” monologue: “The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.” I thought it was appropriate, with the Shakespearean connection.)
It was inspired by this couple but, you know, it turns into something else when you make it into a story or a song. As we worked on it, it kept expanding. There were a lot of parts, and they didn’t really go together as one traditional three- or four-minute song. Then, I remember watching The Who play “A Quick One While He’s Away” on The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus TV special, and there was something about it that spoke to me — it having different pieces and parts like it was a couple songs put together, and that there was room for Keith Moon to show off some of his solo fireworks. Olmo always kind of reminded me a little bit of Keith Moon — though that’s not his favorite drummer. But there’s a kinship in the dynamism of his playing. Olmo, like Keith Moon, really watches the vocal melodies while he’s constructing his rhythms. So, that’s how I made the connection. Not to say that our song is anywhere near the level of The Who, but I was using it as a beacon of artistic light to follow.
Around the same time, I remember really getting into Lou Reed’s Street Hassle album, and particularly the song “Street Hassle.” Again, it’s one of those songs that’s almost like a little suite. So I was like, OK, this might be able to work…
I realized that the first part of “The Arrows…” should be a third-person narration of the story which reaches this tragic point at the end of the section. That’s where the bass and the drum solo come in to represent this passage of time, and this destructive, difficult thing that’s happening. Then the next part of the song is in the first-person, with the two characters interacting with each other. So, using The Who’s song and “Street Hassle” as a template, we came up with this. Finally, about three years ago, I added a final verse and chorus — I thought, it’s already long anyway, might as well make it a little longer.
By the time we were ready to record it, we had been playing it in a complete fashion for a while. All of the structure, the lyrics and the sounds were there. Except for the solos — the drum solo and the bass solo — which were always improvised when we played it live. What we tried to keep in mind as we recorded was the story, what the characters were going through, and I would elaborate a little on that in the studio. The final product turned out beyond what I was expecting. I think with John Agnello’s and Elijah’s work on recording the sounds and the production, it really is what we had hoped. Often, your inspiration for something, the spark that ignites it, is very different from the finished product. So when I listen to our song, I don’t really hear those other songs. I don’t think of the Who or Lou Reed. I just think, This is its own thing now.
As told to Annie Fell.
