DIIV’s Zachary Cole Smith on Festivals, Next Album + Sky Ferreira Collaboration – Exclusive Video

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Diffuser.fm recently got a hold of DIIV’s Zachary Cole Smith and picked his brain on a number of topics, ranging from summer festivals to touring to a collaboration with Sky Ferreira. Check out the two-and-a-half minute clip above to watch it all unfold.

“Festivals are fun because it’s just a completely different environment,” says the Brooklyn-based musician, who sat for the interview in a bright yellow hat with an alien on it. “When you play at a club show, it’s like, people come and they’re coming into your world … But in a festival, it’s opposite. It’s like, we are bands coming into your world.”

“I think being a young kid and going to music festivals as much as I could helped me as a musician doing that,” he adds. “You have to have respect for the intensity of the festival experience.”

Smith goes on to talk about DIIV’s in-the-works sophomore record, the follow-up to 2012’s ‘Oshin’ (click here to read Diffuser.fm’s review of the disc).

“You can take way more liberties, because people are gonna be way more patient and wanna hear what you come up with,” Smith says. “It’s not like your first record, where people give you five seconds and they’re just like, ‘Okay, next!’”

He also shares his thoughts on the pros and cons of touring, explaining that while he likes playing shows and seeing new places, he hates being away from home for so long.

“It’s like traveling normally, but you have a reason to be in that place,” says Smith. "Kids want to show you around, and it’s like you’re somebody’s guest every time. It’s kind of cool. It’s better than just showing up in a city … You have a reason to be there; you’re wanted.”

“The worst part is just being away from home for long periods of time because it’s just really disruptive," he adds. "It’s hard to work.”

Toward the end of the convo, he hints at working on a new tune with rising singer-songwriter Sky Ferreira — who, according to Pitchfork, has become “a very visible companion” to Smith in the last year.

“Me and Sky did a song together,” Smith says. “I don’t know if it’ll ever come out, and it doesn’t even have a name, but it’s good. It’s one of my favorite songs I’ve written. I had to write it and record it in like, two days, and I think it’s really cool.”