Warren Zeiders is a current breakout star in country music. Starting in his childhood bedroom putting covers out on social media, Zeiders quickly garnered a reputation for his country rock sound and gravelly vocals. Now, four years later, he’s taking his ‘Relapse’ tour across Europe and the UK and is about to drop his new album, ‘Relapse, Lies and Betrayal’.

With major hits like, ‘Pretty Little Poison’, ‘Relapse’ and ‘Ride The Lightening’, Zeider’s global audience hits almost 8 million monthly listeners on Spotify alone. His new record will further cement his position as both a vocalist and lyricist as he shares his journey with heartbreak, personal growth and emotional healing. Penned alongside writers that have worked with Morgan Wallen, HARDY and Taylor Swift, this new record is set to make some noise.

Zeiders joins Building Our Own Nashville from his tour in Germany ahead of his show in Muffathalle, Munich, later this evening. We chat all about his first trip to Europe, his new album and what it’s like to grow as a new artist in the public eye.

How’s the tour going for you over there?

It’s been awesome. It’s been a little bit of a culture shock I’d say. You know, going out to some restaurants and finding people who can understand English a little better than others but what’s so wild to me is playing these shows and hearing everyone sing these songs back to me. That’s been the biggest thing. It’s so incredible to think about four years ago I was in my childhood bedroom messing around on a guitar posting things on social media and now I’m across the world. I’m over here and people are singing songs that I’m writing and putting out in sold out rooms. That’s just incredible.

Yeah that’s such a crazy journey and at a time when Europe and the UK are hungry for country music so it’s a great time to join so I bet you’re really feeling that energy in the rooms.

100%, it’s almost like I’m a marketing genius and planned it…

And then you’re coming over to the UK from the 7th Feb – have you been to the UK before?

Nope, never been to Europe, never been to the UK. I’m doing it all at once.

SO exciting! Is there anything you’re excited for – we will talk about music in a second – but is there anything you’re excited for or want to try when you’re here?

You know, I think every day for me has just been like OK number one, where am I at right now? Number two, where am I gonna work out at, like, how am I gonna do that and fit that in my schedule? But I think more than anything I’m really really excited for London because I think that’s the largest room that I’m playing. It’s the final show of the tour and it was the fastest to sell out, so I’m really excited for that one. Every show has been amazing, and every crowd is unique and different in their own way like how they, I would like to say, engage and react when it comes to show time. Some are more loose and feel like it’s OK to party with me and some of them are a little more reserved and waiting for the song to end and clap and stuff. I guess it’s more of a respectful thing over here like I’m used to the US being an absolute riot when I’m on stage. It’s all been a fun experience to see how everyone reacts differently.

Yeah I think that when I talk to artists they do pick up on the UK crowds and how we just listen more. I think it’s still quite novel for us to have you guys come over so we just want to soak it all up so I think we’re quite attentive.

Yeah that’s a good way to put it.

OK. Album. It’s coming out on 14th March – Relapse, Lies and Betrayal. Strong title! Some heavy hitters in production, writing and the instrumentalists. What was it like to work with these people that have probably worked with the people you look up to – what was it like to be in the room with them?

It’s been incredible. I worked with my boy, Ross Copperman, a producer who helped me produce a good amount of my previous record, ‘Pretty Little Poison’, him and I worked together again on a lot of this record and then I worked with a new producer, Mike Elizondo, who was referred to me from my team at Warner. Him and I got together and he has worked with some incredible people anywhere from Dr Dre to Eminem to Avenge Sevenfold to…I mean anyone you can name, he has worked with some incredible people in music as a whole.

Writing for me has been such a fun process on this record because I went back to a lot of the same people that helped me put together ‘Pretty Little Poison’. But then I went into a new direction – a new sound to me musically for this upcoming record with a song like ‘Relapse’, with a song like ‘Betrayal’, and some of these new songs that aren’t even heard yet. I got in a room and went on a couple of retreats with some new writers that really took a liking to me and it was a mutual thing and we definitely came out with some fun creative work.

What I’d like to say is this next record, you have some acoustic stuff which is a throwback to my ‘717 Tapes’, there is a rendition or updated version that feels close to the version of me that wrote ‘Pretty Little Poison’. Theres this new sonic sound that’s got ‘Relapse’ and ‘Lies’ and ‘Betrayal’ and a song called ‘Without You’ and a song called ‘Bad’ and all this kind of fun new direction. I’m not saying that’s where I’m going completely but it’s just been a fun creative process for me.

So I’ve got that it’s ‘an introspection on heartbreak, personal growth and emotional healing’ – which sounds like a journey we all need to go on – what’s the significance of the two parts. Is it a concept like one part is the healing and one part is the heartbreak?

I think there’s a little bit of that. I think that when I first put out the ‘Relapse Project’ I made it clear to people in interviews and conversations that it was called a project for a reason because it wasn’t finished. People were like, ‘oh Warren Zeiders has released a new album,’ and I was like, no, it’s not an album there’s more coming, there’s a part two, there’s a wrap it all up with a bow.

As I did on my previous record – we were touring the ‘Pretty Little Poison’ tour in the US and then we shipped ‘Pretty Little Poison’ to country radio – I think we did two ‘Pretty Little Poison’ tours, and the album was self-titled ‘Pretty Little Poison’. All of the marketing eyes were on that song as a whole because I knew how big and impactful that song was going to be, so that’s kind of the thought process as to why the next project was called ‘Relapse’ and that’s still the main focus with that being the next single for country radio so that it’s still ‘Relapse’. Then you have the other hard hitting words – lies and betrayal – because those are definitely impactful words as to what I’ve experienced over the last year or so with just learning some hard lessons. There’s highs and lows and there was good relationships and there was bad relationships.

I like to talk about ‘Relapse’ a lot because that was a person that wasn’t meant to be. Her and I always enjoyed each other’s company and that’s why we always fell back into one another more than once. But that song is honestly about me being 24 years old, being youthful and just being a young guy on the road and experiencing life and what it’s like being in my position balancing dating and my lifestyle. Then you have something like ‘Lies’ so not talking about healing but dealing with all the – ah aye aye aye…it gets me all riled up – but just dealing with all the BS I’ve dealt with before in the dating scene, I’ll tell you that much.

Well it’s hard enough not being Warren Zeiders so I imagine it’s twice as hard if not more for you!

Aha yeah. And also being 25 years old and being an old soul at heart. I’m not your typical 25 year old so that makes dating that much more enjoyable for me but I’ll tell you this much, it makes for a great record and writing process so we have great music for people! But the way you said it sums it all up just with the healing process and going through all that. Writing is my healing process. It’s taking my feelings and putting it down on paper and singing about it. It’s therapeutic and then singing those songs every night on stage – if I can share my experience and I can heal someone in a way by singing it on stage night after night then I’ve done my job.

That’s really vulnerable to put your whole heart out there – how do you get over that?

I don’t know if it’s a ‘getting over it’ I think that – here’s the best way that I can put this and answer the question – people, at a time of social media, want someone who is real and authentic. They want the behind the closed curtains, they want the real, authentic thing and it’s like, I am a person that is not holding back. When I’m on stage I’ll give you everything I have and I want this to be a not just, ‘I showed up to a concert’, I want it to be an experience of like, ‘wow he really connected with me and left a lasting impact on me’. I try to expose myself and open myself up every night that I’m on stage to connect with every single person in that room to the best of my ability and make it an interactive show and make it an interactive experience where people. I’m out there to win people over for a lifetime and I want them not just to buy into the music but I want them to feel connected to me so that they’re buying into me as a person.

So this is kind of a hard question I guess because there’s so much going on in this album but I really like to ask it so…you’re favourite to play off this album and the hardest to write.

Uh…I gotta tell you my favourite one to play has gotta probably be ‘Relapse’ because it’s just when that intro hits, everyone starts freaking out because they know the song and they know it’s about to come on and that song is just a fun party moment for me. Everyone lets loose and by the last chorus, everyone is jumping up and down and singing along with me and it just feels high energy and fun and engaging.

The hardest one to write on this record let me think about that…I want to say from an actual writing stand point, when it came to writing it, it wasn’t hard because it’s so real but the emotions and what is behind the song – there’s two that come to mind; ‘You For A Reason’ on this record and my song, ‘Love And Let It Go’ that I’ve teased on socials. That song is just…that song. I remember getting the demo back and just honestly weeping, just crying just because of how much that song means to me. I actually played it for the person, you know, it was like a mutual kind of thing with where we’re both at in our life and stuff and it’s just a really wholesome song to me.

If you think back to when you first started releasing music to this body of work, is there anything that you can say ‘I’ve learnt this and I’m taking it forward’ or ‘I’ve learnt this and I’m leaving it behind’?

Umm..that’s an interesting question. I think that I’m always learning and I think that for me, when it comes to this record, what I like, I’m biased right…my music is my baby. It’s all from my heart and my imaging and what I represent and want to put out and all that kind of stuff. The shift from the ‘Poison’ record to this record, what I like about this is that you can see the artist development and artist growth.

On this record, I really wanted to feed you guys in a way of like, here is what’s been going on in the last year or so and here’s almost three different sonic pockets of music that I’ve been dabbling in and producing in in the last year and a half to give a fan that maybe likes one side of me and then the other side of me like ok this is cool but it isn’t really my cup of tea. I would like to say that on this upcoming record there’s something for everybody. That’s the best way I can put it. So yeah, I’m always learning and I’m always growing and the best way I can put it is what people sometimes tend to forget is, to put it shortly, I wasn’t a guy that was writing or playing music for 5 6 7 years in local bars and then got his break. It was hey, I’m posting covers on social media, you guys like what I’m doing now I’m gonna take a crack at the bat of writing, now I’m gonna have massive success on social media, now I’m gonna sign a record deal, now they’re gonna throw me out and start touring, so like, what I like to explain is what fans are witnessing is, they’re watching my artist development and watch me as a person grow up in real time in front of their eyes.

Wow. That’s intense.

Yeah – baptised by fire.

OK final two questions – who are you inspired by and who would be your dream collaboration?

Oh man…whenever I explain inspiration and stuff I say that my moma was the classic country fan you know she was Garth Brooks, George Strait, Shania Twain and Jonny Cash and then my dad was the more Mötley Crüe, Guns n Roses, Quiet Riot like he was that rock n roll for me so that’s where those two sonic things infuse for me when it comes to my music for a song like ‘Ride The Lightening’.

Yeah I feel like you can really feel that amalgamation in your music.

Yeah and even in ‘Ride The Lighting’ too, it’s like, also I’m a Christian, I was raised in a church, so I was raised on Christian music so ‘Pray the Good Lord Lifts Me Higher’ or singing ‘When He Calls Me Home’ so that in the lead up to the post chorus of that song, you can definitely hear that specifically all three of those influences directly infused in that song. But as for inspiration current day, I am a huge Morgan Wallen fan. I love what Morgan has done sonically, I like how in his previous record too you could definitely say there was numerous sonic sounds to him on that record. I’m also a huge fan of his ‘Dangerous’ album I think that album is absolutely incredible. He’s definitely a huge inspiration of mine when it comes to the making of music and to piggy back off of that what’s been fun for me has been getting into a room with some of the writers that he’s been around and kind of, I guess I would say, them knowing that I’m a huge fan of his but them being like hey, let’s take what we do really well but let’s make it your own and make it your version of that. Because when it comes to making music, we’ve got to draw inspiration from somewhere and that’s the fun process when it comes to producing and when it comes to the song writing process is drawing from all these different influences and then putting a record together like ‘Relapse, Lies and Betrayal’ so Morgan’s definitely on that list of mine in the current space of country music.

And so would he be like on your hit list for collabs?

Oh, for sure. I think him and I would make an incredible song together.

‘Can A Heart Take’ is the latest single to be released off the new album and is available now. Listen here.

WARREN ZEIDERS UPCOMING UK TOUR DATES:
Feb. 7 – Ulster Hall – Belfast, UK
Feb. 9 – O2 Academy Glasgow – Glasgow, UK
Feb. 11 – Albert Hall – Manchester, UK
Feb. 12 – O2 Academy Bristol – Bristol, UK
Feb. 14 – O2 Institute Birmingham – Birmingham, UK
Feb. 15 – O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire – London, UK