Meet Zachary Murdock of Channel the Sun in Venice

Today we’d like to introduce you to Zachary Murdock.

Zachary, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I was born in London because my father was there making a movie. We quickly returned to Santa Monica and shortly thereafter my parents divorced. At age seven my mother and I moved to New York City and I was swept into a whirlwind of big city life and Waldorf education, attending Rudolf Steiner up until 8th Grade. The combined influences of Hip-Hop, New York and the creative liberation of Waldorf education, created a strange duality of fierce hustle and gentle self-expression. Although I craved spirituality and meaning, writing poetry and songs since age 11, I also knew that most of my friends did not care about existential musings and so I strove and continue to strive to weave together poetic depth with pop culture fire.

At age 22, I founded a pop/hip-hop group called Smokey Robotic with three incredible artists and we released six albums, 43 music videos and achieved nationwide recognition. Our mission was simple, to make party people think and thinking people party, inviting the entire world to collaborate with us. We didn’t have fans we had friends and my vision has always been to connect people through living art, not using creative gifts as ways to be elite or special but instead as tools to converse with the visible and invisible worlds. When Smokey’s flame died down due to personal quests and creative differences, I quit drinking and moved to LA. That was five years ago. Fast forward to now…

I launched my solo music career as Zachary Murdock and released my album SCØUT which is currently ricocheting around the universe like a soul rocket. My main producer Red Buttonz and I have a 33 song (top secret) album that we will be releasing soon as well as a new EP, tons of projects we produced with other artists and we are just getting started. I am married to the love of my life, we just had our first child three weeks ago and my music and art are flourishing in ways I could have never dreamed of.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The road has by no means been smooth. From stints in the mental hospital to heartbreaking career disappointments, I have been creating steadily for 20 plus years at a high level and still have yet to crack the code of financial fluidity. And I’m not complaining but the path has been rugged, to say the least, and has required so much faith and resilience that I never knew I had. And it is that very ruggedness that has carved me into the man I am today, the father I am becoming and the musician I was always meant to be. I can’t wait until you all hear the music we have coming…

Channel the Sun – what should we know? 
Founded by Jake Vantiger and myself two years ago, Channel the Sun is our response to the current state of the creative industries which we feel are in the process of going through major shifts. Channel the Sun is here to be a beacon for truth, a platform for all and a way to give voice to the voiceless. Rooted in music, soul music to be exact, our company creates constantly, from our record label, print magazine, podcast, film department, live events and more. Founded in raw passion, we operate from four simple truths: KINDNESS, RESPECT, CREATIVITY, COLLABORATION. We feel that humans have barely scratched the surface of our potential and that we are all infinitely more powerful than we realize. Through honest collaboration and expression, we empower ourselves and others and have witnessed a chain reaction of magic healing which has brought us into sessions with our heroes and is the reason we are conducting this interview with you guys now. So honored to be included in your publication.

There is way too much to include here but if you’re inspired I suggest following us on Instagram @channelthesun and visiting our website channelthesun.com

Shout out to Molly, Jake, Taylor, Stack, Tania, Kevin and Red for being such incredible warriors, wouldn’t be here without each of you…

What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
The proudest moment of my career thus far is to be able to look around at the incredible family and team I am a part of, each a superstar in their own right, all together because we believe in each other. You would be hard pressed to find an organization that creates as consistently and freely as us and we function purely on passion, love and faith. That’s impressive to me.

Contact Info:

• Website: channelthesun.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/channelthesun/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/channelthesun/?ref=settings

Image Credit:
Photos by Taylor Cox and Molly Mitchell-Hardt. Art by Jason Keith Phillips

Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.