Gina Zo joins the interview from the front of her car, finding spare time during a busy day filming a music video for one of her singles. A beaming smile races across her face showing her enthusiasm to discuss her passions and her band Velvet Rouge.
In the past Gina has described her music as ‘gypsy soul rock and roll’ and wanted to clarify what she meant by this. “I say gypsy soul rock and roll but I don’t love to use the word gypsy anymore because I want to respect what that word really means.” She begins. “For me it always meant this freeness of love and life and wanting to give music to people that made them feel very free, open and alive. When we started to release music as velvet rouge it really was that.” She pauses in thought before continuing to compare her music to some of her biggest inspirations, “As for inspirations, they’ve always been Stevie Nicks, Norah Jones and Florence + The Machine.
Gina dives into the themes and topics that flood her music, “I’m always singing about love of course. I’m 26 and can’t help but be excited about relationships but I think for me right now I’m singing so much about what people in their 20s are going through. Just trying to figure out who the fuck you are.”
Gina has always been an advocate for women’s and LGBTQ+ rights due to the struggles she’s faced in the music industry. “Being a woman it’s so difficult to be taken seriously” she states losing her smile. “It’s not always looked up upon to be someone who stands up for what they want. Especially being bisexual there’s a lot of sexualisation in being queer.” Gina continues to clarify what she means, “I love it in the terms of if you want that for yourself, if it’s your choice and you decide when you want to be sexual, but I look at Billie Eilish who was basically outed on camera. I think the industry likes to play with woman in a way that’s so disrespectful.” She finishes her response on the strong point “I will continue to speak out and continue to be an advocate.”
At age 17, Gina secured a spot on Blake Shelton’s team on NBC’s The Voice. Being on The Voice my first favourite part was meeting Gwen Stefani and working with her. I was on Blake Shelton’s team but she was my mentor. She’s simply amazing, cool, gorgeous, fun and gives great advice.” Gina is bursting with excitement now and doesn’t stop there discussing her time on The Voice. “I finally learned that I could sing. Like I told you I knew growing up that I loved singing but there’s something about going on a show where you learn that you are actually capable. They really gave me that confidence.”
Now, Gina is part of the band ‘Velvet Rouge’. She illustrates how the band met, “Oh my gosh I love the band!” she shouts filled with joy. “My drummer was basically a cousin of an original player from my band when I auditioned for The Voice. He’s just a great guy and I love him because he has so much insight about touring.” She then unfolds the unexpected story of how she found her guitarist. “I posted on Craigslist on the music page that I needed a guitarist and he answered. He’s fantastic and way too good to be looking on Craigslist.”
The band’s name was important to Gina who wanted to use it to send a strong message. “For me it was my need for telling people the industry secrets about woman and being lGBTQ+. It’s all about peaking behind the velvet curtain, coming out and telling everyone what the deal is and making it known you’re not messing around.” In simple terms she concludes “I’m red with anger and want everyone to know what’s going on behind that curtain.”
On her dream show Gina tells us “Its funny cus I keep hitting some dreams which is fun. My dream is to do an arena tour, I want to do that so badly. My first achievable dream in the near future is just opening for someone I really admire.” A moment of exhilaration races through her face, “Like OMG if I was on tour with Florence + The Machine I would never recover, never recover, never recover.” Gina states she’d also like to play festivals Lollapalooza and Coachella and “they feel soon.”
Nearing the end of the interview, Gina has heart-warming advice to share with those looking to get into making music. “It’s so silly to say be yourself but I mean in the sense of stop trying to be the next Taylor Swift, find what makes you cool and amazing and different. What version of you will you be proud of because that’s what you need to put out.”
Big plans are already coming for Gina who promises new music, music videos and festival appearances this summer. “May 15th will be a big day! A lot of big news will be coming out” she announces.
For more on Velvet Rouge: https://velvetrougeband.com/
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