Get To Know: Zach Templar

Zach Templar started his musical career on a laptop. Now the 18 year-old English songwriter is selling out shows on his first North American tour. This young and exciting performer is playing at well known American venues like the Echoplex in Los Angeles, Chicago’s Beat Kitchen and Toronto, Canada’s Hard Luck Bar. “Zach,” as his adoring fans call him, is able to boast that his show at Brooklyn, New York’s iconic Baby’s All Right is currently low on tickets. He’s played to thousands at Reading Festival. His song “missin something” has nearly 100 million Spotify streams. The track goes viral on TikTok constantly. His new song “Changes” is doing well, too.

So what does having as many hit songs as years spent living on Earth do for a young songwriter like Zach? It means fans are lined up around the corner of the block, waiting outside on a rainy November night to see you perform. It means fans are traveling from other states to hear your songs. Some fans brought skateboards with Zach’s face on them, hoping that he’d give an autograph (he did). Someone asked Zach’s friends, “Do you think he’ll sing happy birthday to my sister?” People are obsessed with Zach.

While all of these fans are downstairs eagerly anticipating the night, a restless Zach is pacing around the backstage area at Beat Kitchen in Chicago, where in an hour, this humble, deep-voiced young and talented songwriter will face an eager crowd. He calms himself down by talking about his experiences so far in the US, plus new music he’s working to release in the near future.

Get To Know: Zach Templar

BTS: There’s a line of excited people waiting to see you wrapped around the venue right now. They’re here to see you and hear your music. Did you mean for your music career to turn into this?

Zach Templar: “I’m just making music. And I love making music. I think people just follow the music. You put so much work and thought and love into something, I think people just will eventually be attracted to it. I think that’s what happened. I had no intention of any demographic to listen. I am just glad that whoever likes the music, likes the music.”

BTS: Your fans know from TikTok that your first songs were made on your guitar and a laptop. Did you have an upbringing in music?

Zach Templar: “I definitely was helped a lot in school. I was always doing theater, piano and singing. You know, shooting any shot I could. I had to just get out there and perform in front of people. I wanted to write my own songs and express my creativity. I met a few teachers who were really great. They told me I could do my own stuff. So I spent a few years producing, learning how to make music. I released some tracks. Made everything terribly in Soundcloud. We’ve all been there. Ha!”

BTS: You’re quite young and have already played Reading Festival. That’s crazy! Talk about that experience.

Zach Templar: “Tell me about it!” I thought, you know, a couple hundred people would show up. Most gigs I play in this industry, there’s 700 people. I was like,’ okay, it’s going to be fine, a couple rows of people will be here at a major festival and that’ll be great.’ great. Then I ran out and there’s like 4,000 people in the crowd. It was just incredible. At that moment, I tossed all of my techniques out the window.”

BTS: You’ve released many singles and are working up to bigger releases like maybe an EP or album someday. How do you plan a live concert with the short catalog of songs you have right now?

Zach Templar: “I’ve been trying to make these live shows more like an experience. In the middle of our set, we have a projector put on a screen, and it’s shots from our documentary, which we just released. The concerts are a performance. It’s a show. I want to entertain people.”

BTS: Your fans know all about your laptop. It’s a great back story. Have you started to develop new ways of producing and recording music?

Zach Templar: “I’ve been going to studios and working with engineers. I think it is cool, when you’re in a room with someone else. You just bounce off each other. You can have conversations. The other person will suggest ‘oh, that line sounds better like this,’ or ‘that word should be this word.’ It has me thinking ideas I hadn’t been thinking about. Just keep an eye on all this. I’m going to keep working really hard to get an EP out. That’s going to be great–and then soon I think a full album will be ready.”

BTS: We’ll stay tuned.

Zach Templar’s North American tour continues with three more shows. Tickets can be purchased here.

Remaining Zach Templar Headlining Tour Dates:

November 19, 2024 – Brooklyn, NY – Baby’s All Right

November 20, 2024 – Philadelphia, PA – PhilaMOCA

November 22, 2024 – Atlanta, GA – The Masquerade – Altar

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Ben Pagani

Music Projects Manager at Beyond The Stage Magazine

Ben is a music journalist living and working in Chicago. They joined Beyond The Stage as an intern and have stayed on the staff for several years. Now serving on the editorial board, Ben is proud to be BTS' Music Projects Manager, coordinating coverage between international record labels and our staff. Ben has interviewed, photographed and written about bands from across the world. Ben has lived all over the United States working in television and media. They are an Emmy Award-winning writer. Ben can be found spinning records as 'DJ Wearing Sunglasses' in clubs and basements across the US.