SARATOGA SPRINGS — Zach Deputy’s schizophrenic one-man show often leaves audiences bewildered, if not amazed and entertained.
“I’m not that good at a lot of other things,” said Deputy, “but when I do that it seems simple to me. So, I don’t know. It’s just a gift, as far as I can tell. Because, it hurts people’s brains, but for me that makes sense. But, if they start popping popcorn, I might mess that up. As far as doing loops, I feel I was made for it. As soon as I started making music when I was 13, before I even knew what looping was, I was looping.”

The Georgia based singer, songwriter and multi instrumentalist just released his new album “Wash It In The Water” in September. It includes catchy, upbeat tracks peppered with Caribbean influences and showcases a sense of humor through his versatile voice, ingeniously enhanced by his creative looping.
Deputy started the art of looping through a karaoke machine with a double-tape deck, “this was when tape decks were a thing.” But, instead of singing along to Sublime’s “Santeria,” Deputy would lay down a 30-minute track of beatboxing.
Stop. Eject. Switch out tapes.
Followed next with him laying down a few chords off his guitar.
Stop. Eject. Switch out tapes.
Then, he’d finish it off by playing along on his Casio keyboard.
“Before I knew it, I had an album,” he said. “Literally, before I started playing music in front of anybody, I had seven really horrible loop albums, before I even knew there was a loop machine.”
“I mean, I don’t know what to call my music. Even after all these years, I’m still trying to figure out what it is.”
Deputy said he was influenced by his grandmother’s music, listening to a lot of calypso, salsa, African, Cuban and samba. “My mom, even though she was Puerto Rican, she would listen to country music. And my dad, even though he was a country boy, he would listen to old Motown and soul music. So, all that music influenced me a lot.” Deputy also identifies himself as a child of the ‘90s, so he admits to listening to a healthy dose of Tupac, Biggie and Nirvana. The amalgamation of each respective school of music has had such an impact on Deputy, his sound has been described as “island-infused drum n’ bass gospel ninja soul.”
“I guess my former management coined the phrase. I think I said “gospel ninja soul” and they put in “island influenced drum and bass.” I don’t really get the drum and bass, but, I mean, we get weird. So, I guess I get it when we start going [beatbox]. So, I get it. It happens.”
Perhaps now it’s worth noting Deputy is a one-man band. So, when he says “we,” it’s he, himself and … well, you’ll get the picture in a second.
Deputy is one of four kids. “I’m what I call the ‘Super Middle,’” said Deputy. “When you’re the Supper Middle, you’re forgotten about. It’s not because your parents don’t love you, I totally get it. Because, the older one is doing everything first. The youngest is the whiniest and the one you have the nurture the most. And, the only girl, you have to protect like fine china. So, I learned

more from my older brothers than I learned from my parents. I think it kind of helped me figure I needed to have a craft. I needed to learn something to make me independent.”
Dependent only on technology, Deputy takes the stage and surrounds himself with a bevy of instruments. With a guitar slung over his shoulder, he sits behind a keyboard, delay pedals at his feet, three microphones at his face and a stereo sampler. He’s a cross between Dick Van Dyke’s street performer in “Mary Poppins” and Deadmau5. But, Deadmau5 isn’t known to speak on stage, let alone to imaginary people.
“I was always in bands that were very satirical,” said Deputy. “We always had a lot of banter in between songs, messing with each other, pumping each other up when we took solos … Being a solo guy, I kind of miss that aspect of the banter. So, I just kind of make it up, and have imaginary musicians.”
Leroy is on the bass. Cletus was on the keys, “but, I took the keys away, so Cletus is fired right now. [Laughs.] He was getting crazy, man. And, he’s so emotional, we had to get him out of there.” T.C., named after the helicopter pilot from ‘80s television Magnum P.I., is on the drums.
“A lady, not so long ago, came up to me at the end of a show and asked, ‘Who’s Leroy? I didn’t see him on stage the whole time, but I know he plays bass for you,’” shared Deputy. “So, I had to explain to her. ‘No. Leroy is an imaginary person. He doesn’t exist. I play all the instruments.’ [Laughs.] And, that kind of blew her mind.”
Deputy said the confusion is shared by musicians, too, who are amazed once they’ve learned all the music heard live was performed by him alone, right in front of them. It’s something of a spectacle show attendees will witness for themselves Friday, Dec. 2 at the Putnam Den in Saratoga Springs.
“I’m the opposite of a magician. A magician is creating an illusion to make you think something is real. I’m doing something that is so unbelievably real, people believe it’s an illusion. And, I’m constantly debating with people that I’m doing what I’m actually doing. I take it as a compliment, but it’s funny to do something and people not believe it.”