Ammar Kalia: I heard that you used to be a professional table tennis player, how did you transition from that into music?
Zak Abel: I started playing table tennis on holiday in Croatia when I was nine, and I was really good compared to the other kids my age. When I got home I was rollerblading in the park and I saw this dude running sprints. I went up to him and I asked what he did for a living – I was always asking people what they did for a living – and he said he was a table tennis coach. I was with my mum and he invited us down to an exhibition, there I realised how shit I was at table tennis and that made me want to get better. I started training and gradually worked my way towards being number one in the country for my age group. I then moved to France at fifteen and played semi-professional for a French team there. At the same time, I was loving playing music and it got to the point where this overtook my how I felt about table tennis. Also, music seemed to be more popular with the ladies, so a natural transition followed [laughs].

Ammar: It must have been a tough decision to pursue music, having already moved to France for table tennis!
Zak: Yeah, I moved back to the UK and when I started doing my AS Levels I got glandular fever, it was really shit. But, while I was at home, I ended up just playing loads of guitar and the music started taking off. When I was seventeen I got offered a record deal and since I wanted to do music anyway I thought, “Why go to university?”

Ammar: Do you see your sporting career as influencing the way you approach making music? Like training towards an end-goal, rather than the creative process being something indefinable?
Zak: Yeah, it’s like Eye of the Tiger [laughs]. I’ve experienced both of those things – at different periods of the creative process different mindsets are required. I’ve tried to create music in loads of different headspaces and the one that works for me is when you’re in the room, don’t think about anything, just go with pure feeling. Then, afterwards you can look at changing lyrics or instrumentation. I am quite goal-driven as it helps with enjoying the ‘now’ more. If you know where you want to go with long-term planning then you can relax in each given moment.

“When I was seventeen I got offered a record deal and since I wanted to do music anyway I thought, “Why go to university?””

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