Zeiders chats with following his Stagecoach performance
Rising country star Warren Zeiders has a big career ahead. The “future Country Music Hall of Famer” just wrapped his 29-date spring 2023 Pretty Little Poison Tour which was his biggest headlining run to-date and saw more than 33k tickets sold and 27 sold out shows, many of which sold out up to six months in advance. He recently extended the run with 23 more dates for the fall with A Thousand Horses.
In March, Zeiders released his latest single “Pretty Little Poison” which is the title track to his Pretty Little Poison (Sampler) EP, released last week. With stellar songwriter and top-shelf collaborators, both are a taste of what to expect from his Warner Records debut later this year.
We had the pleasure of chatting with Zeiders following his debut Stagecoach performance on the T-Mobile Mane Stage on April 30th. Read our full interview below.
Matt:
Warren Zeiders, one of my favorite rising country stars. Before we get to Stagecoach — Birchmere, 2022.
Warren Zeiders:
Yep.
Matt:
I don’t know if [your publicist] showed you, but in my list, I rated you number one of our top ten shows. I saw 77 shows last year. That Birchmere show — pardon my French — I’ve never seen anything fucking like it. You had them on their feet, just a guitar, was that everywhere you went on that acoustic tour?
Warren:
I would like to say, not to toot my own horn, but yeah.
Matt:
I say that, to say this. You got up on Stagecoach today, your hundredth show ever. I would’ve thought you’d been doing it for ten years, the way you have a stage presence.
Warren:
I think I’m just, I’m very fortunate to have a sports background, and I think that I have a taste and a feel for loving what I do.
Matt:
That’s amazing.
Buddy:
And it was your first time playing Stagecoach?
Warren:
That’s correct.
Buddy:
How is that energy out there? Because we were right there, up front, and we enjoyed every bit of it.
Warren:
Honestly, it was super surreal to be out here. First time at Stagecoach, first time ever playing it, and just seeing the fans, you know, screaming my songs back to me. It’s like no other feeling, night after night.
Buddy:
And it was hot as hell. I think you mentioned that on stage. You had a full band, and you guys, you guys just rocked it, man, I’m excited.
Warren:
You and me both. I think that I treat what I do a lot, a little bit of country, and a little bit of rock and roll.
Matt:
It’s amazing. Because this is just your hundredth show. Was it kind of, I mean people start and then work their way up and now you’re at Stagecoach, but I think because of TikTok, you kind of started at this level where you were selling out rooms like the Birchmere. Was it hard to come in and start at that level, as a performer?
Warren:
No, actually, my first show ever. I remember taking the stage, and so many nerves, so many just like, unknowns, not knowing what to expect, what it’s like standing in front of that many people and playing a show. There’s no other feeling like it, and I think that once I got a taste for it, I knew that I was meant to do this, and I was new, and I was made for it, man. I love what I do.
Matt:
That’s awesome.
Buddy:
Yeah, and you’re with Warner Records, just released a couple different EP’s. What about the full length? Is that out already?
Warren:
So, I have my Pretty Little Poison sampler, that just dropped. It’s got four songs, “Pretty Little Poison,” “West Texas,” “Coming Down High,” and “Inside Your Head,” and there’s more music on the way.
Buddy:
Awesome, and the Pretty Little Poison Tour you’ve got, what, a summer, and then a fall leg?
Warren:
Yep. Pretty Little Poison, first half, just concluded, actually, with Stagecoach, and we get a little bit of a breather here. In May, I get to enjoy my birthday and have a little bit of some downtime.
Matt:
Happy birthday.
Warren:
Thank you. And then, through the summer, we’ve got a lot of festivals booked, and then the fall, starting out strong.
Matt:
Buddy, I think you’re going to be shocked at this answer, because I think he looks older than he is. How old are you turning?
Warren:
Turning 24.
Buddy:
Wow.
Matt:
Yeah. Yeah. Would not expect that.
Buddy:
That is awesome. What motivates you to just do this kind of country rock brand that you’ve got going?
Warren:
I think for me, I think it’s in my DNA, and I think, growing up on the music that I grew up on, from rock-and-roll from my dad, to country music to my mother, having that sports background, I got a little bit of an edge to me, and I think it’s very fitting to my branding, and fitting to who I am, and who comes alive when I take that stage.
Buddy:
Yeah.
Matt:
Love it. Love “Ride the Lightning.” I think you’re going to be singing that one for the rest of your life.
Warren:
I think so, yes.
Buddy:
Now, when I hear “Ride the Lightning,” I ultimately go back to Metallica.
Warren:
Yep.
Buddy:
So, initially, I thought, was that a Metallica song? Do they inspire you at all? I just have to ask because of the title.
Warren:
So, funny enough, I did not get the idea from Metallica. I did know that they have a song called “Ride the Lightning,” but anywhere from Metallica to Motley Crue, to AC/DC, to Quiet Riot, Skid Row, you name it. That was from my father, and then, you know, my mom loved John Denver, went to school in West Virginia, so Hank Williams, Jr., Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, you name it, man. I just had a love for music, growing up, but I definitely, you can tell when I’m up there playing, I got influences from somewhere.
Matt:
And you have such a great deep register that when we hear you talk, it’s like, that deep voice comes from that? From him?
Warren:
Yep.
Matt:
I mean, when did you discover you could sing like that?
Warren:
Honestly, I couldn’t give you a solid answer on that specific thing, but for me, I never took any vocal lessons, self-taught. I think for me, I’ve, over the years, I was always singing something and I think for me, I just, I developed a voice over my 23 years of being on this earth, so.
Matt:
That’s amazing.
Buddy:
And what came first? The voice, guitar, or kind of at the same time?
Warren:
I think voice, for sure. I picked up guitar in middle school, and it was more or less a hobby at that point. Sports were my life, and now I love what I get to do, and so, now this is my life.
Matt:
That’s awesome. And you’re from Hershey? Hershey Medical saved my life, so that’s sentimental value.
Warren:
Me as well.
Matt:
Whoa. Okay, got to hear this.
Warren:
The short version is, I was working at a lumber mill, I fell backwards on a, what you want to call it, a bush, so to speak, that I just cut up with a chainsaw. We were cleaning up shrubbery, you name it, fell backwards. I was an inch and a half away from being impaled, from being paralyzed, I was impaled in the back, fell backwards, stick went through, stick about that big, about that long, went through my back, and I was an inch and a half from being paralyzed.
Matt:
That’s amazing. I was born with some heart issues, and they had the best cardiac for pediatrics around. I was medivacked there from Lehigh Valley, and so that Hershey connection’s also very special to me as well. Follow this guy, he’s amazing. I said, probably three or four times last year, that he’s not just the future of country music, he’s a future Country Music Hall of Famer because the response to him, in indoor settings, and it was cool to see you here at Stagecoach, but you really got to see him out on the road to understand that this is the future of country music. Warren Zeiders, thank you so much.
Warren:
Thank y’all so much. I appreciate you guys.
