KMIH Mercer Island, here's Seattle artist, San Fisco. How many roads must a man walk down, before you can call him a man? How many seas must the white dove sail, before she sleeps in the sand? Yes, and how many times must the cannonballs fly, before they're for the band?
The answer, my friend, is going in. San Fisco, an artist who recently released an album called Sleeping Problems. While her songs don't directly mention sleeping, the name comes from countless sleepless nights by creating these truly incredible songs. Her nine-track album features a cover of Bob Dylan's Blown in the Wind, and songs written by Zan herself, along with Alex Shaw, who co-wrote a couple songs and produced this album.
I'm Ellie, and I'm being joined by Zan Fiscom, who you might have heard on The Voice last year. You can hear her on our radio, and you can hear her perform live on the same stage as Dave Matthews and Moore at the Smash Benefit concert this Saturday at the Moore Theater. Welcome, Zan. Hello, thanks for having me.
Yeah, thank you so much for coming on. So this upcoming Smash Benefit on Saturday is helping a lot of musicians get the important health benefits and services, and so I'm wondering, how did you first discover Smash, and what made you wanted to get involved with this benefit? Well, I got connected with them, actually, through some of the people who lead the organization, and I had no idea what they did. But obviously, health care for musicians is a huge issue, and they put a big emphasis on mental health for musicians.
And so when I heard that that wasn't being provided, and obviously I had a relationship with these people, I was like, yeah, I got involved. Yeah, and they're just a great organization, a great group of people, so I'm really looking forward to the show this Saturday. That's awesome. So there's about 18 people who are on the set list, and I'm wondering what we can expect from your set when you perform.
I don't know if I should say what I'm doing. You can expect something that you've heard from me before, maybe something I've done on The Voice before. Yeah, it's going to be cool. That's awesome.
And is there anyone at the Smash concert you're most excited to see or meet? You know, I haven't gotten to see Dave Matthews play live before, and I've wanted to for years, so I'm definitely excited for that. Yeah, I've heard these quite the performer on stage. So I'm wondering if, so I was reading what your press release, and you stated that this new album, Sleeping Problems, is kind of a soundtrack to your early 20s.
And so I feel like whenever you hear that, you have to ask the question, who would you want to have play you in a movie? Who would you want to have play me? Oh gosh, maybe Emma Stone? I don't know.
I love Emma Stone. So you were on The Voice for season 18, and it was obviously interrupted by COVID. You were doing live performances in person, but then you had to transition into creating your own sets and your own outfits and just performing at home. And so I'm wondering what coaching from your coach, John Legend, was like, what the difference between being in person versus being isolated was like.
Right. Yeah, no, it was surprisingly actually really cool to be at home, because it was like, I'm like FaceTiming him in my living room. I'm like, hey, come on in, like, come chill at my house, John. So that was actually kind of a cool element that was added, and the longer that you're on the show, the more time that you spend with your coach.
So that would actually make the most time I spent with him, was the time that I was at home, and we got to talk about a lot of life. And, you know, so it was a unique experience, and I think being in person could have been cooler, but, you know, you still don't get that aspect of, like I said, having them chill with you in your living room. Yeah. So, yeah.
That's awesome. So on your album, you said that your favorite song is Darling, I've Loved You because of, like, the process of writing it. And so I'm wondering if there are any other songs that you immediately, like, knew how you wanted it to sound, or if there's any songs that were kind of the opposite where, like, it took you a little bit to figure out how you wanted it to sound. Well, Stuffing It About You was, like, the first demo I ever made.
And that one was really cool, because I, like, you know, just basically started scoring in Alex's studio, actually, and created this track and literally just, like, made up the verses all the stuff just on the spot. And it really, like, made way for how I approached the rest of the album. Yeah, and I think You Are The Light was one of the other songs where I had, like, a really strong vision for it from, like, the beginning. Yeah.
I think, yeah, Come From The Light is one of my favorite songs from this album. I think it's You Are The Light. It's so beautiful, and I love listening to it. Thank you.
Yeah, and so another song that really stuck out to me was Come Home, because it's such a different sound compared to all the other songs. Right. And it's so emotional and so, like, vulnerable. And so I'm wondering what made you want to include, like, this, like, slower song in your album.
No, I like the diversity, and, like, I like that it touches you off guard, too. Kind of where it is in the album. But it also was one of the songs that I wrote while I was processing, like, a lot of hard things. So it just was almost the most authentic thing to include it, because it was such an important song to me, like, one of the most important.
Yeah. Yeah. That's awesome. And we talked a little bit about Alec earlier, and I'm actually speaking to him tomorrow.
Yeah. Yeah, and so I'm wondering if there's a question you think I should ask him, or if there's any fun fact that you think I should bring up and see if he reacts to it. Oh, gosh. Well, I don't know.
Okay, he's a Beatles lover. He's sang, like, Beatles music ever since he was, like, three years old. Yeah, all the songs memorized. So I think something about that could be fun.
Yeah, for sure. And then my last question for you is, what song from your album would you use to describe your week? My week? I have to remember what my week was.
I guess let's just go with Come Home, I think, with it, like, approaching, like, Thanksgiving. Like, I've got some people that I love and care about out of town or, like, gone, and it's going to be, like, a different year for me. So I think that's sort of been on my mind, like, missing some people that I really love and care about. That's awesome.
So thank you so much for coming on. Yeah. Thanks for your great question. Yeah, make sure to go see Smash Benefits on November 28th in September at the Moore Theatre, and this is Come Home by Xanthyscom.
Oh, I knew it was.