Crushing Hard on Zumi Rosow

A rock n' roll dream queen.

Los Angeles based experimental musician, Zumi Rosow, channels equal parts leather daddy and warrior goddess in both her fashion sense and music taste. Dana Boulos asks Zumi how she transforms herself with her unique use of makeup and embellishments and about her latest music project, The Black Lips and Crush.

How did you come up with the name Crush for your band?

I’ve always been obsessed with adolescent love. Oh the sweet sad sound of young hearts crushing, and blushing! Crushes are kind of like adolescence. Fleeting and painful, lusty, innocent and dangerous. It’s a loaded word. It can be innocent, romantic, fragile, powerful, dangerous, and destructive. I love having crushes, I crush hard. When I discover music or a group that I’m enamored by it feels like a crush. So ideally we are hoping that our band will convey that same feeling to our audience. Not to mention the band itself was born out of an insane wild crush that the two members have on each other while they were creating the music. So between the band members crushing and the audience, were trying to turn on and ignite it’s incestuous sick cycle.

Tell us about your jewelry line. 

I make mostly one of a kind pieces, there are a few pieces I replicate but even those have some kind of variation. I don’t use a pattern so really no one piece is the same. I have a painterly way of working. It’s not a very efficient way to work, but I’m not interested in efficiency. I guess I tend to do things sort of upsides down and backwards, make Z’s instead of straight lines! When I come across an object that has an effect on me, that I feel connected to, be it jewelry, clothing, perhaps an old horse tack that I used to make jewels with, these things have power, they are magical. That’s the intention I have for my jewelry. They have their own life, and resonate differently. I personally am not interested in having something that everyone else has. Perhaps I am overly protective of my individuality, but sameness is of no interest to me.

When it comes to getting dressed, how do you describe your personal style? 

Like a leather daddy and Zarina and Sekhmet spooning.

Do you ever feel nervous on stage when performing? Any tips on how to get over it?

I don’t like it when I don’t feel a little nervous at least nerves are exciting, you can use them. And once I’m on stage, they sort of evaporate or get absorbed or something. Oh and there’s, “Whiskey, whiskey! I love you!” That’s from a song by Whiskey David…