Zeds Dead on sampling and AI: “AI has no history”

Canadian duo Zeds Dead spoke to MusicTech about nearly 20 years of sampling and about artificial intelligence. The interview took place just before the first Los Angeles show of their Journey of a Lifetime tour, which closes with two sold-out nights at Grand Park before the pair take an extended break from the road.

Zachary Rapp-Rovan (Hooks) and Dylan Mamid (DC) say their interest lies in the history behind recordings. “AI has no history,” Rapp-Rovan said, calling it an average of things that sound alike. He uses tools such as stem separation and voice changing, but sees a risk in music being made in seconds by someone who has put in no effort. Mamid said he has tried the tools and that the results creep him out; he described generative AI as “hyper-sampling”.

According to MusicTech, on the albums “Return to the Spectrum of Intergalactic Happiness” (2025) and “Return to the Return” (2026) the duo sampled Duke Ellington and Norma Jean Wright, as well as the films Scarface and Blue Velvet. Their first major single began as a bootleg of Blue Foundation’s “Eyes on Fire”. On stage, samples are paired with the original footage: for “Sweet Memories”, Ann Peebles is shown singing her 1973 song “I Can’t Stand the Rain”.

The duo’s name is a nod to Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction. Zeds Dead formed in Toronto in 2009, the same year they launched their Bassmentality party night there. The current tour sold hundreds of thousands of tickets, with stops at Factory Town in Miami and Forest Hills Stadium in New York.