REZN: Ten Years of Detuned Riffs, Liminal Spaces, and Magic: The Gathering (Zoom Interview) 07/09/2026
Few bands have carved out as distinct a corner of the heavy/progressive world as REZN. A decade into their run, the band is gearing up to release a new record built around themes of in-betweenness that hazy, timeless feeling of not quite being anywhere. I sat down with members Rob and Spencer to talk through how it all started, the influences that shaped their sound, the thinking behind the new album's sequencing, and yes, their card-game habits.
How REZN Came Together
Jenny: Let's start from the top: whose idea was REZN, and how did the band come to be?
Rob: Really, it began with me and Phil, our bassist. We go way back, playing together since middle and high school. Once we started getting serious about it, we messed around with some pretty unhinged stuff, like a two-person punk project where he'd play guitar and I'd play drums, then we'd swap halfway through a set. Total chaos. Somewhere in there, we started cranking the volume, detuning, slowing everything down, and that's basically how the first REZN song happened, by accident. We just named it "Rezn." Later on, I relocated to Chicago, and Phil followed about a year after. That's when we decided to commit to the band for real, picking up right where we'd left off sonically: heavy, slow, low-tuned. It's wild that it's been ten years now. I was working at a venue here when I met our drummer Patrick. Spencer was around that same venue too, messing with synths and modular gear, textures, sound design. Eventually it all clicked into place.
And you're all Chicago guys, right? Or is there that one member from somewhere totally different?
Rob: We call ourselves a Chicago band because I've been here almost twelve years and the band's been around ten, but honestly we're not. Most of us are East Coast transplants. Phil and I grew up in Virginia, Spencer's from Connecticut. Patrick's the only actual local; he's from just outside the city.
I'm from the outer suburbs myself, near Arlington Heights and Mount Prospect. I usually just tell people I'm "thirty minutes from the city, on a good day."
Rob: That counts! Patrick's from Oak Park.
Not bad, I've got friends out that way.
Where the Sound Comes From
What shaped your taste early on? You were already experimenting back in middle and high school; was there a specific moment that pointed you in this direction?
Rob: Good question; with the record dropping, I've been getting asked this a lot and trying to sharpen my answer. I can't pretend Black Sabbath and Ozzy weren't foundational for me.
Yeah, the Sabbath influence comes through clearly.
Rob: It's basically the bedrock of this whole style; I've put in thousands of hours with that catalog. But for something a little less obvious, Phil put me onto ISIS when we were kids. It freaked me out at the time, but going back to it now, it's like, yeah, this is exactly the lane we ended up in. That's a band we're happy to be compared to. Van Halen's another one, though it's less audible sonically. At the end of the day, a lot of our DNA traces back to Sabbath and Pink Floyd, and that gives us a toolbox to build our own thing from. We're not trying to redo what's already been done; we want our own take, expanding it a little with every album.
I actually pick up on some Black Orchid Empire too, and definitely early Porcupine Tree, and I've followed Steven Wilson's work for a while now; the guy's a genius.
Spencer: Massive Porcupine Tree fan here too.
I hear a bit of early Rush as well; I grew up on Rush, it doesn't get more foundational for prog than that. Sabbath's always the heavyweight, but early Porcupine Tree and early Rush are unmistakably in there.
Rob: Nailed it.
Good to know I did my homework.
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Building the New Record's Atmosphere
On the new album, I read through the bio to prep for this; what were you chasing sonically? To me it feels like a loop in time, that weird stretch during the holidays where you lose track of what day it even is.
Spencer: That's exactly it; we kept calling it "the two weeks" internally. We wanted that in-between feeling: the space between sleep and waking, between alive and dead. Funny enough, we watched The Backrooms the night before this; that's another good example of a space that feels oddly familiar and completely alien at once. The holiday-brain-fog comparison is dead on.
Rob: Yeah, that liminal concept ran through the whole writing process. We pulled in pieces from a bunch of different genres to build something like a collage. Zero in on one instrument and it takes you somewhere specific; focus on the bassline instead and you land somewhere else entirely. It forms one picture, but which details you focus on can throw off your sense of where you actually are. That was deliberate;e we just didn't want it to feel scattered, like it's flying off in ten directions. We wanted to hand you an image that stays just out of reach, ch the harder you try to hold onto it. Keeping some mystery in there means the listener gets to build their own meaning instead of us spelling it out. It's meant to be something you interact with, not just receive.
"Cloudfall" is the lead single, and hearing it in the album's actual sequence, it plays like the moment everything snaps awake. Was that planned, or did it just naturally become the emotional peak?
Spencer: Honestly more of a happy accident. Once the record was fully assembled, it just made sense, and it still shows us new things every time we go back to it. It really does feel like arriving somewhere, crossing over some kind of threshold.
Rob: The closing track has that same "end of the journey" quality. Listen without checking the track-list, and you just instinctively know that this is where the record ends. Like crossing the River Styx, big credit to Mark at Sargent House for that; actually, we had a totally different sequence originally, and he suggested this order at the eleventh hour. When you're that close to the material, you get attached to certain placements, so having outside ears was huge. Mark's the MVP there.
Listening through, it felt like "Rites of Passage" and "Transient" set the table so "Cloudfall" could take off. Intentional structure, or did it just land that way?
Rob: Bit of both. Those first two tracks sit comfortably in familiar REZN territory, almost subconsciously so. Then track three takes a hard left; it's got almost a pop sensibility if you know our catalog. That eases you into where the record's actually headed. With "Rites of Passage" and "Transient," we leaned into a more mechanical, chuggy, rhythmic feel we hadn't really touched before something pounding and pulsing. "Cloudfall" is basically that same energy sped up; instead of just hammering, it's got constant motion. The whole goal for this record was getting to the point faster. Trimming the songs down let us cover more ground across the track-list and rethink our "mode of transportation," so to speak. It pushed us toward shortcuts and paths we normally wouldn't take, which we love, and reinventing the approach a bit with every release. So yeah, those two tracks definitely paved the way for the other one to sprint.
Closing Out the Record
On the final track, it felt rooted in the tension between a dream state and finally touching solid ground. Was that a deliberate choice, giving listeners somewhere to land so the album didn't feel unfinished?
Spencer: We were writing everything in parallel, chipping away at different ideas day to day, so they all grew up together. Every time we came back to that last track, we thought of it as the big, slow, grand closer. There's really no other slow song on this record, which is the first time we've done that. It became a kind of anchor point. That tempo shift gives the whole listen a different dimension front to back. It was part intentional, part happy accident, since its final spot in the sequence wasn't something we planned from the start.
Rob: Every time we revisited that song during writing, we'd just look at each other like, "yep, it's done, don't touch it." It always just worked. "Transient," meanwhile, barely made the cut. It's one of my favorites now, but it went through at least ten revisions before it looked nothing like the original idea.
Spencer: We stuck with it because we knew there was something worth saving in there, and pushing through led us somewhere new. Sometimes your brain finds the right path exactly when you stop overthinking it. You can't force that part of the creative process; it just happens under the surface, which is what makes it feel genuine. Almost like magic.
(Cloudfall - Official Music Video)
Favorite Children and Life on the Road
Since it's just the two of you here, I won't make you speak for the whole band, but do either of you have a favorite track on this record?
Spencer: Rob's got that look on his face. Phil's answer, by the way, would be something like "I can't pick a favorite child."
Every parent's got one, though.
Rob: Oh, I could tell you which one I'm ready to disown! But no, genuinely can't answer that. None of these songs represent the whole record well enough on their own, but they're all a blast to play live. It's actually a nice problem to have. Our buddy Carl texted me the other day like, "How did you even land on one single? Every song on this thing is a single." Total backhanded compliment, in the best way.
I appreciated that you only put out three singles instead of giving away most of the album beforehand like a lot of artists do now. Three now, then the rest all at once, perfect.
Spencer: Yeah, even the singles themselves shifted a few times in the process, since each one highlights a different angle of the record's core idea.
Rob: To actually answer your question, we've been playing "Primal Threat" live on this tour, and it goes off. It's got this structure where the crowd reacts in waves because the song makes a hard 180 halfway through. It builds, hypes everyone up, drops out, and watching people ride that is like watching a rollercoaster in real time. It's amazing seeing the physical reaction, because with headphones you'd never catch that. The interlude track still gives me goosebumps every time we get there live.
Writing Space and Pre-Show Habits
What does your creative process look like environment-wise? Some people need total silence; for me it's like a library, with the track/record looping endlessly.
Rob: We've got a solid practice space we've built up over the years: a quiet warehouse spot shared with some woodworkers and a couple other bands, but spread out enough that nobody bleeds into each other's sound. Lights down low, gear set up, in-ear monitors blocking out everything external, it really locks you into that headspace. In Chicago you just can't do this from an apartment, so having a dedicated space is a huge privilege. Most of the writing happens there, though I'll sketch ideas at home first. Spencer's got a great home setup too, but treating the creative process with a bit of seriousness and ritual actually changes what comes out of it.
Spencer: It's also important not to fall into blaming your surroundings for creative blocks. Eventually, if you want something badly enough, it'll come out of you regardless. If a song isn't working, it's probably not because your room's the wrong color. I know people who say they can't create anything without the "right" setup, and I'm just like, do you have somewhere to sleep? That's plenty to start with. The bedroom's a fine place to begin.
Any pre-show ritual? Lucky socks, a specific drink, anything like that?
Spencer: We find a small defenseless animal and- I'm kidding, obviously. It's more of an on-stage sacrifice we just don't advertise to the venue. But seriously though, we huddle up and do a fist bump before we go on. That's the whole ritual.
Rob: Patrick and I were actually just talking about wanting more structure around this. Touring gets so chaotic that sometimes you just sprint onstage on pure adrenaline. That fist bump is small, but it syncs everyone up. We've forgotten it before and gone on without it, and you can genuinely feel the disconnect in how the set plays out.
When we were in Austria, Patrick and I ducked out to the van just to change, and ended up just sitting in silence for a minute. Having even five minutes to mentally step away from the day's logistics before a show is genuinely valuable basic mental health maintenance, really, and something I want to build into the next tour. It also helps sidestep the trap of drinking out of boredom just because the green room's stocked with a hundred beers.
What They'd Change About the Industry
If you could fix one thing about the music industry, what would it be?
Spencer: Probably a common answer, but bringing back a real sense of monetary value for music. Anyone can grab a vinyl or CD, but streaming culture has made music feel disposable and low-stakes. People have lost touch with what music is actually worth. Picture a coffee shop or a church with zero music playing; that'd feel wrong. We take it for granted. Streaming does real damage in a few different ways, and I wish people valued it the way they used to.
Rob: Streaming strips out the personal connection. A song sitting at a hundred million streams starts to feel like gum everyone's already chewed. Owning the physical copy feels like a meal made just for you. Another thing I'd love to try is earlier show times.
I would love earlier shows, honestly.
Rob: Right? It gets tricky with people's work schedules if doors are at 5 PM, but going on at midnight is brutal too. I feel for the crowd. And at 21, you're down to stay out all night no matter what. At 27+, you've got work in the morning, or you're hauling gear all day and just can't deal with the fallout of a late night. Giving bands the option of a 4 PM slot could actually pull in a whole audience that otherwise skips the show entirely.
How many bands are on this U.S. run? I'm hoping to catch the Chicago date.
Rob: Usually two or three acts max. We've got one full-tour support band, so we have Loom for the first five East Coast dates, then Lockstep out of Nashville for the rest of that leg. Beyond that, we leave room for exactly one local opener picked by the promoter. It gives an up-and-coming local act a shot, the crowd doesn't mind the extra set, and it keeps the night a reasonable length. Three bands is the sweet spot.
How do you land on direct support? Is that a group decision, or do you leave it to the promoters entirely?
Rob: The direct support slot right before us is a band we hand-pick and bring for the whole run. The local opener is the one that rotates city to city, and we let local promoters handle that since they know their scene on the ground. We tried booking local openers ourselves in the past, and it turned into an endless string of messages. Sometimes you'd reach out to a band you love online, and they'd say, "Oh, we don't actually play live; we just record in the basement." Promoters just have better intel on who's actually good live, whether that's Chicago or some rising rock act out of Santa Fe.
The Chicago lineup looks great, by the way, with Cloakroom and Dim opening.
Rob: It's going to be a great night; we're really excited for that one.
Closing Thoughts and Tabletop Nerdery
To wrap up, what do you want people to walk away with after listening to this record?
Spencer: Just curiosity, honestly, that's all I want. I don't want to tell people "pay attention to this part" or "here's what we meant by that." I was actually watching a David Lynch masterclass right before this interview, and his whole approach is basically: it doesn't matter what I think — what do you think? That applies especially to this record. Ask your own questions, and know you're probably the only one who can really answer them.
Rob: You could listen once or ten times and pull equal value out of it just from the details you notice each time. But honestly, my only real ask is: come see us live. We build these records to be heard at home or on a walk, but REZN is fundamentally a live band. The studio version is us trying to cram a massive live sound into a small bottle as a fun challenge, but we're built for the stage. People are always pleasantly surprised seeing how the sounds actually get made in person. Buy the record, come to a show that's what keeps the whole scene alive, and we're genuinely grateful for anyone who shows up for that. Also, it's our best record yet, so really, you kind of have to.
Last thing before I let you go, I heard you're into Lord of the Rings, Magic: The Gathering, and maybe some D&D. Which one's the favorite, and what's your character or class of choice?
Rob: For D&D, I've only run through one real campaign, so I don't have a defined style yet. Magic's the one we're deep into right now, though. I play Green, but the deck I'm building at the moment is Red/Black built around sacrificing and flinging artifacts to deal damage equal to their mana value.
That tracks completely with your whole vibe.
Rob: It's a little aggressive, but it makes for great table politics; I get to tell people "go ahead, kill me, I dare you."
Spencer: Honestly, I lose constantly. It's kind of embarrassing. But my actual color identity, probably because I lose so much, is Blue. I just want to sit back and counter everyone else's plans.
Anything else you want to add?
Rob: Just come out to a show on this tour; it's going to be a great time.
Huge thanks to Rob and Spencer for taking the time to chat; it genuinely felt like catching up with old friends. The new record is a front-to-back masterpiece, and I can't wait to hear it live in September.
This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity. If you'd rather hear the conversation as it happened, you can listen to the full audio:
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