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As the Zolas began on the band’s first tour in years at the start of this month, I was anxious to see them live in Vancouver on the weekend. I also had questions.
The Zolas have been in my life for a long time and I can’t really be objective about the band. My parents had a cabin on the Sunshine Coast, and I was there for the summer, barely in high school, when a neighbour that my parents started making friends with brought by a CD that was made by her son for my brothers and I to check out.
We put it on, thinking, ‘Hey, we’ll give it a shot—worse case it soundtracks a couple of Mario Kart 64 races and we never listen again.’ That album was Gossip Diet by Lotus Child, and from the opening keys of “Lids”, we were hooked.
Of course, Zachary Gray and Tom Dobrzanski started Lotus Child and then formed the Zolas, later adding Dwight Abell and Cody Hiles.
The quartet really hit it big with 2015’s Swooner, which was packed with Canadian radio station smashes like “Molotov Girls” and “Swooner”, but also has a phenomenal and deep bench with some underappreciated tunes that Dobrzanski in particular really lets loose on, like “This Changes Everything” and “Freida on the Mountain”.
Dobrzanski left the band in 2017 to focus on his family and his recording studio work. The Zolas released the more guitar-heavy Come Back to Life in 2022, which was featured on Sportsnet during the Canucks’ bubble playoff run. But after that, the band took a hiatus, with Gray living in Europe for a number of years.
Earlier this year, the band’s social media accounts started becoming active for the first time in awhile. It was true; a Zolas reunion was in the cards. The band released a 10-year anniversary version of Swooner, along with a new song, “Black Gatorade”, and plans for a small Canadian tour. Of course, my youngest brother and I made plans to head to the Saturday night show at the Pearl (the second Vancouver date and sixth overall).
But back to my questions. I had two.
One: How would the band sound after so much time off?
And two: Would Dobrzanski be back? The band is just different without him, and his signature is all over Swooner.
My brother also had a question: What would they open with?
I thought that last one had an obvious answer (it did), but it turns out that mine had obvious answers too.
The Zolas took to the stage, and even before Gray got there, Dobrzanski led him in with the pulsating intro to “Molotov Girls”, answering two questions at once. And as soon as it demanded, Gray hit the high notes with ease. Yep, all three taken care of. And the crowd was in the band’s pocket from the get go—the dancing was early and often, with most of the lyrics being sung by everyone in attendance.
The band ran through all of Swooner, with a couple of major highlights. The titular song of course played extremely well, getting some in the crowd off their feet and into the air.
“Invisible”, which Gray described as having a “Luigi energy” to it, and “Ger Dark” sounded great on stage as the band hit every note and the crowd followed along breathlessly.
As the band approached “CV Dazzle”, I had made a note to get a beer, as, in my opinion, it’s one of the record’s weaker songs. But it was a remixed, dancy, and fun version that worked extremely well. “Freida on the Mountain” was buoyed enormously by Dobrzanski’s presence and Gray was at his showmanship best, even as he was somehow wearing wearing a collared shirt and tie in a sweltering Pearl.
The band only broke the album’s chronology via an incredibly slick and fitting transition from “This Changes Everything” into 2012 hit “Ancient Mars”, which had the entire crowd shouting the chorus. Gray let the Pearl do its thing. “I think that’s the longest I’ve ever let that go,” he said.
The heartfelt “Why Do I Wait (When I Know You’ve Got a Lover)” finished off Swooner officially before Gray told a story about how Dobrzanski came on tour. The pair met in Europe and Dobrzanski asked if maybe the whole band should come out. “I kinda knew he wasn’t going to ask me,” Dobrzanski recalled.
Then Gray said, “This is for the day ones,” before launching into a raucous version of the Biltmore-referencing “You’re Too Cool”. A couple other oldies were hit, including “Strange Girl” and “Energy Czar” from Come Back to Life.
The band ended on “Escape Artist”, with Gray moving off the stage into the middle of the floor and imploring everyone to shine phone lights. After the extended singalong, he told the crowd that he’d be at the merch table to sign stuff. The line snaked all the way around the venue, but Gray was true to his word, signing until people started to come in for the next show, a 2000s club hits night. Maybe some Gossip Diet at that?