An Interview with Tewahedo, July 2025

 How did you come up with the name? What does it mean to you/the band?

The band name comes from the Ethiopian language of geez, one of the oldest languages on the planet. The name itself means to be unified or two becoming one, and that’s what being in a band is, its multiple people coming together to make one united sound.  

How would you describe your sound?

We describe our sound as “freedom music” as each song blends and fuses genres and defies the conventional limitations of one genre, we take some influence from artist/bands like Stevie wonder, Jimi Hendrix, Nirvana, Fugazi, Fela Kuti, Bob Marley, the list goes on - we just play what makes us feel good.

How was the band formed? How/when did the members decide to start a band?

The band has gone through a few lineup changes and at one point didn’t even have a name. To make a long story short, I had a gig and needed a band so I asked them if they would play and learn the songs, everyone just hit it off and we kept practicing.

How did you develop your sound as a group? Was it more individual contributions or more cohesive and together?

So I (David Zilmer) write all the songs and progressions, jam it with the band and they come up with there parts, we are all individually inspired by different genres and have different playing styles, so when we get together it’s crazy to watch a song evolve into something completely different.

A lot of your work centers around promoting unity and uplifting community! How/why is this aspect important to you? How does it inform your music and creative processes? 

The bands are nothing without the fans or communities that support them, if they weren’t involved in the process, you would be playing by yourself in your room singing to no one. We have songs that bring to light issues that everyone faces, we want to be an “everyday people” band, our influences have shown us that organizing and giving back to the community is more satisfying then any award or status can bring.

How do you deal with creative block as a band? How do you continue to come up with new sounds/ideas as a group?

Don’t stop, being stagnant is what kills creativity, you should be able to find it in every aspect of life, no two sunrises are the same, so if you're listening to your heart, even a block can be a detour to something greater, we just live life and the rest follows.

Describe the average band practice! What does your creative process look like? How do these songs go from ideas to music?

Start with a jam, sometimes it’s something we are working on or something completely new just to get everyone’s blood flowing and build that mental telepathy, then run our new material or work on new material, if we have a show, we run a set list and time it, hang out talk about goals and what happened that week in the news or in our lives.

What is the hardest part about being in a band? What gets you through those times?

The hardest part isn’t really anything to do with being in a band, even touring/traveling together is fun if you know your band mates personalities, the hardest part is that there is no set road or blueprint for success, you're just kind of blazing a path until you're where you want to be, the only way to get there is to do it and sometimes you're doing it blind with your hands tied behind your back.

You've all been creating music for quite some time! What have been some highlights throughout your musical careers?

The highlights have been running tours, throwing shows, getting to know other bands and their communities, but nothing beats people saying your songs helped them or seeing someone walk away with a shirt or some stickers, I feel like we are connected in a way after that, living forever in each others memories.

Which song of yours was the most fun to write & make? why/what was the process?

We have a song called "rat king" that is one of our heavier songs, so we all get to let loose and run around, there’s a part at the end where we all just scream and we ask the audience to scream with us, when everyone does it, you can almost feel like a weight being lifted off everyone and see the smiles beaming from their faces, but all the songs were fun, all the shows are fun, if it’s not fun, we wouldn’t do it, a lot of work goes into this so it has to be.

What helps bond you as a band?

Skating, the beach, talking about our lives, sharing music, you guys have to be friends. If not, the work is gonna outweigh the reward a lot of the times, so you gotta do it for the love.

Do you have any advice for someone looking to support their community/start taking action to help those around them? (whether it's getting into/finding charity shows, forming something creative, other actions/tips, etc.)

My advice would be to work on becoming your best self, whatever that means to you, you can’t help others if you can’t help yourself, pick a skill or a cause and get in where you fit in, if there’s nothing of the sort, create it and people will come and support.