ZZ Ward Love And War Tour 2015!!!

If you haven’t seen ZZ Ward yet then you’re missing out, Because ZZ Ward is back with her powerhouse voice and high-wattage charisma ZZ Ward Love And War Tour 2015 is going down.

ZZ carved her name in the music industry with her 2012 debut album Til The Casket Drops evoking the “energy of Tina Turner’s, the chops Aretha Franklin’s, and her soul Etta James.” ZZ Ward is a unique blend of blues, rock, hip-hop, R&B, and neo-soul, which “should make her a star if there’s any justice in the world.”

ZZ Ward “has a wonderfully flexible voice, she can croon like a pop singer, growl like a blues woman, spit attitude like a rocker, and flow like a rapper.”

CelebNMusic247.com loves ZZ Ward. We interview ZZ at this year BottleRock 2015, but it not just us or the critics who are swooning. Over the past few years, ZZ has built a passionate fan base, selling over 150K albums and 500K tracks to date and establishing herself as an international touring draw. She has played over 350 live shows, including major festivals Coachella, Bonnaroo, Firefly, Sasquatch, BottleRock and Jay-Z’s Made In America, and embarked on three headlining tours, with a fourth, her Love and War Tour, kicking off in August.

ZZ Ward – “Last Love Song”:

ZZ’s time on the road has had a big influence on the sound of her new Love and War EP, which features four songs from her upcoming second album for Hollywood Records, This Means War (March 2016). The album features her signature blues-infused songwriting and soulful melodies and arrangements layered over hip-hop beats.

ZZ explains:

“I learned a lot from playing live.”

“I learned about what makes people move, what makes people react and what doesn’t, and what hits people emotionally. I took all of that experience and incorporated it into the album.”

Ward adds:

“I wrote the songs on Til The Casket Drops sitting in a bedroom in this terrible little apartment where I slept on an air mattress for two years.”

“I wrote them to express myself about things that were going on in my life. I never would have thought they would have impacted people the way they have. Cut to two years later, fans come to my shows with these lyrics tattooed permanently on their bodies.”

Knowing her words have resonated strongly with fans, ZZ wanted to be as authentic as possible in her lyrics, resulting in an album filled with songs about the range of emotions that love can elicit, she continues:

“Whenever I have overwhelming feelings, I put them in a song.”

“That’s what inspired the album. When I wrote Til The Casket Drops, I was trying to get into a relationship. On the new one, I was in a relationship. I was in a transitional head space, finding love for the first time and being very happy about it, but it’s not like everything was perfect and my life was suddenly great. I still found myself having doubts.”

The forthcoming album’s title, This Means War, came out of the idea that once you’re in a relationship, the battle has just begun adding:

“But it’s not necessarily a battle with the other person, it’s a battle within yourself.”

“I’m the same f-ed up person I was on Til The Casket Drops, I just have a different set of obstacles in front of me. I’m still angry. I still struggle, but now I’ve decided I want to fight for something that’s supposed to be good. I’m still trying to figure it out even though I’m in a slightly different situation.”

The first single, “LOVE 3X,” captures those ups and downs in one fizzy package says ZZ:

“It’s about finally finding love, but how we drive each other crazy.”

“It’s like, ‘Half the time you make me so happy, but half the time you make me freaking miserable. What the hell am I with you for? What is that thing that’s keeping us together?’ That’s where I am right now in my life. I still have to have a lot of fight in me to keep the love alive, to battle my fears and to stay empowered and independent, which I think gives my songwriting the emotional depth, edge, and sass my fans have come to expect from me. I think I felt more comfortable and more free in my music and myself on this album. I wanted to take a few more risks.”

Watch “LOVE 3X”:

[rpi]

ZZ pushes the envelope on the other three tracks that comprise her Love and War EP as well.  She reveals that the track “Marry Well” mirrors the struggle to balance her independent nature with being in a relationship:

“I’m a very empowered female and live somewhat of a non-conventional life.”

“How do I go from being this on-the-road artist to being a domesticated partner without losing myself?”

She notes:

“On this album I wanted to go deeper into the blues, deeper into hip-hip and delve further into those sounds. I grew up playing traditional blues licks and that’s what I wrote “Marry Well” over. I just started playing it one day and thought, ‘This just feels so good, this feels so bluesy, I love this.’”

On “Lonely,” ZZ ponders the feeling of loneliness when she found herself “closer to someone than I’d ever been before in my life.” A moment of clarity and realization that she “had finally found something in my life worth fighting for and someone that accepted me for who I was,” resulted in the song “Rescue” which ZZ calls her “most vulnerable moment to date.”

In addition to being lyrically compelling, Love and War is also sonically arresting. The songs were produced by Grammy Award-winning producer S1 (Kanye West, Beyoncé, Madonna, Eminem), who also serves as executive producer along with ZZ, who co-produced several songs and whose vision guided the entire process. “S made me feel comfortable exploring my artistry,” Ward says. “I think I achieve my best work when I actually feel at ease expressing myself. He never judged what I was writing about, he dug it. He loved the storylines. On the sonic side of things, he brought a certain depth to the sound.”

ZZ Ward – “Put the Gun Down”:

The Pennsylvania-born, Oregon-raised singer and multi-instrumentalist got her start at age 12 performing in her father’s blues band.

“One of the things my dad taught me growing up was to sing the story.”

“To really sing it from your heart and soul and mean what you’re singing about. That has stuck with me my whole life.”

At 16, already a fan of Muddy Waters, Big Mama Thornton, The Rolling Stones, and Led Zeppelin, Ward was introduced to hip-hop via her older brother’s CD collection and got hooked. She eventually worked her way into performing with local artists at hip-hop clubs in Eugene. At 23, she moved to Los Angeles and began booking her own shows on the singer-songwriter circuit. Within three months, songwriter-producer Evan “Kidd” Bogart sent her a message via MySpace, and she signed with his Boardwalk Entertainment Group, followed by Hollywood Records.

With the Love and War EP released and the full album, This Means War, due March 4, 2016, ZZ is most excited about being back on the road.

ZZ says:

“As an artist, I’ve grown so much since the release of Til The Casket Drops, musically, emotionally and stylistically.  I love powerful images, whether in the form of songs or in my personal style and that’s been fun to explore and experiment with.”

 “I put a lot of thought into every aspect of the live show, musically and visually, and I plan to blow people away!”

ZZ Ward Tour Dates 2015:

Oct 09 The Neptune Seattle, WA
Oct 11 The Fillmore San Francisco, CA
Oct 13 Ace of Spades Sacramento, CA
Oct 14 Vinyl Las Vegas, NV
Oct 16 El Rey Theatre Los Angeles, CA
Oct 17 The Marquee Tempe, AZ
Oct 18 House Of Blues San Diego, CA

If you haven’t seen ZZ Ward the we suggest to head out and see her, she is truly amazing!

What do you think?