DJ Z Trip launched his "All Pro" tour at Harlows on Monday, even in the midst of Harlow's annual make-over.  Signs posted around the joint asked patrons to excuse the dust, but nobody seemed to care and when Harlows opens Friday, club goers will see a totally new inside complete with VIP booths and a larger dance area. Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

Z Trip, born Zach, is known as the originator of the mashup, now made famous by the likes of DJ AM and company.  Take one part rock 'n' roll, mix with generous amounts of hip hop beats and mash up 'till chunky.  He's one of the most sought after DJs in the industry as his latest release, "All-Pro" reveals and includes the likes of local boys, Deftones and a dozen other big names.  Aceyalone jumped on stage mid-show and gave Sactown a taste of what Z Trip and Aceyalone can do together.

Sacvibe.com caught up with Z Trip after the show and this is what he said:

SACVIBE (SV): So this is the first leg of the tour, right?

Z TRIP (ZT): Yeah, man.

SV:  So how did this come together?  Seems like it was really fast and all of a sudden your on a national tour.

ZT:  The album, the tour,everything kinda happened fast.

(fella walks into interview)

SV: Pete McNiel!

Pete McNiel (PM): Yo, yo, yo!

ZT:  Sorry man, I gotta...

SV:  Pete McNeal, who's this guy over here?

ZT:  He's the drummer for Breakestra, plays drums for CAKE, plays drums for Ricki Lee Jones, c'mon, what's your resume?

SV:  You played for CAKE, so you're from around Sac maybe?

PM:  Well, not but I commuted up here to play from Los Angeles.

SV:  John...

PM:  John (McCrea - vocalist for CAKE) and Vince (DiFiore - trumpet, keyboard, percussion for CAKE).  Vince actually came tonight, he was here.

SV:  Awesome. Who you playing with now?

PM:  I'm playing with Z Trip.  I played with Ricki Lee Jones the whole last year and Lonnie Jordan from War.  I played with War this month. 

SV to ZT:  So how'd this happen, who put this together?

ZT: 2K Sports is the company that actually put out the video game. It's their field...

SV:  So can lose money, but they're making money?

ZT:  Sort of.  That's the best part. But since I did the music for the soundtrack, it's only natural that I go out on tour to support the soundtrack.

SV:  Who else is on the soundtrack?  I saw on bus Deftones...

ZT: Deftones, Rakim, Aceyalone..

SV:  Where you one of the guys putting it all together somehow?

ZT:  Yeah, yeah..  I pretty much did that.

SV:  So all the bands are remixed by you?

ZT: Yeah.

SV:  Ok.  And I'm sure they hooked you up with some of the games stations on the bus?

ZT: You know what?  They just put on.  The game's been out for a week or so and I haven't seen it yet.

SV:  Are you a gamer?

ZT:  Yeah, but I've been so busy with the tour, I haven't had a chance.

SV:  Obviously you've been in the studio and you just got it done.

ZT:  Yeah, it's been break neck speed, this whole process.

SV:  Are you on label now?

ZT: No, I'm actually in dependant.

SV:  So who does your distribution?

ZT:  For this record, I just did a one-off with Decon Records. 

SV: Now this year, you skipped Bonnaroo - what happened?  You're a big, big name over there..  (Bonaroo is one of the largest summer music festivals in the U.S. with upwards of 70,000 attendees).

ZT:  I was too busy working on the album man.

SV:  But you would've if you weren't?

ZT: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SV:  Does your birthday really coincide with Bonnaroo?

ZT:  My birthday was yesterday man.

SV: It was yesterday? Shit!   Last year, I saw the video where you asked everybody to light up their lighters...

ZT:  Yeah, yeah.  That was just off some birthday shit.  Not really my birthday.

SV: That was pretty sweet.

ZT:  Thanks.

SV:  So is the purpose of this to get sales, is this marketing?

ZT:  Yeah, and just to hit the road again in support of something I feel good about.  That's was sort of it for me.   I support albums that I make, why not?

SV:  You live where, in Norcal?

ZT:  L.A. 

SV:  You have a lot of hommies in the Bay Area?

ZT:  Yeah, yeah.  I'm probably gonna end up transferring up here somewhere.

SV:  You loosely affiliated with OM (Records)?

ZT:  I've done stuff with them.  I'm loosely affiliated with all those in dependant labels.

SV:  You've got 21 shows to do?

ZT:  Yeah, this was the first one.  Working the bugs out.  There were moments.

SV:  This place is not even open now, they just opened for you.

ZT:  I don't hit the road that much, I just got married.  You heard her voice tonight whether you know it or not.

SV:  Your first totally underground white label style which bit like every major rock act, and there were issues with licensing, but it seems like you kinda did it again, obviously you got licensing, how'd you do it?

ZT:  People weren't ready for it.  There was no business model.  There really still is no model for it.  But more and more DJs were doing it and getting involved with it making it a standard.  So it made it a bit easier for me to work with certain artists like Deftones or Rush or whoever.  They start to get it. People start to go 'okay, it's valid.'  People are consuming it one way or another so we should either roll with it or get rolled over.  It makes sense.  It sells records.

SV:  Did you pick Deftones or somebody pick Deftones.

ZT:  Yeah, yeah.  I picked Deftones.  I just did a remix with them on a separate thing.  I'm friends with those guys so it's kinda like being able to reach out to the bands I like and put them in the mix.  The equivalent of the record I just made is songs that are in my crate anyway.  It's sort of a mix that I would just whip together.  It came together so fast, that it just had to be like that.

SV:  What's the nexus between you and say Linkin Park when the did their original Projekt Revolution?

ZT:  Those guys were fans of "Uneasy Listening," the thing I did with DJ P and they asked me if I wanted to come out on the road and tour.

SV:  That simple. Well, you still have some fans waiting for you and it's late. Thank you for your time.

ZT: 

Uneasy Listening Pt. 1

DJ Z Trip's Download Trove