SeagateCreative Interviews Mystic Party Hosts, Zane and Brea Grant

The brother/sister tag team of Zane and Brea Grant are not strangers to the world of weird. Having been in the entertainment business for some time, they’ve probably seen it all. Having worked together on other projects, the two came together to create Mystic Party – a weekly cryptopsychology podcast (available on iTunes) podcast where they help normal people deal with paranormal problems. Catchy, right?

We had a chance to chat with Zane and Brea about the show as well as some of the work that goes into creating a weekly broadcast.  Check it out!

SeagateCreative: Tell us the story behind Mystic Party – how did this project come about?

Brea: Zane just has crazy ideas and I say okay.

Zane: That’s true. I proposed an Art Bell parody that farmed minor characters from X-Files for story inspiration. Our unruly guests had their own ideas, so we started a paranormal psychiatric service show where we provide treatment to everyone from big foot fetishists to werewolf hypochondriacs to people who love being abducted by aliens.

SeagateCreative: You’re over twenty episodes in at this point, what are some of the weirdest stories you’ve covered during the show?

Brea: The show is kind of weird all around. I most enjoy our recurring themes of Bigfoot and The Loch Ness Monster. One of our most popular shows was with Jackson Stewart in which he allows his deceased friend to possess him to have sex with his living wife. But Jackson is in love with the wife. I think it’s the most popular because it’s called “Ghost Boner.”

Zane: We had a woman who bought a unicorn (read: mutant goat) and wanted to harvest its tears for an immortality potion. People love that one. As with most amateur psychoanalytic practice, the solution was a virgin.

Our callers are very weird. One woman claimed to be in an accident with a truck carrying a tank of sharks and then was attacked by the sharks because of a tiki curse. Another guy recommended eating at cursed fast food restaurants because they use better ingredients. Nice people.

SeagateCreative: What are some of the obstacles you have to overcome in putting together a weekly program like Mystic Party?

Brea: Logistics mostly. We’re busy, VERY important people so it’s tough to find a time in which we can solve people’s measly paranormal problems.

Zane: Our clients pay really well for our services, so it is mostly hard to figure out ways to waste the money. I lost the address of my seventh mansion. I’ve actually never been there.

SeagateCreative: Mystic Party isn’t the first project the two of you have done together. You’ve done comic projects like We Will Bury You and a book based on the Suicide Girls. What is the creative process like between the two of you and how does that dynamic work?

Brea: Usually Zane comes up with a weird idea and I agree to it. Kidding. Sort of. We split the work flow. Like on Mystic Party, I generally book guests, write the quiz, and upload the podcast every week. Zane does the “call-ins” and helps the guest devise the problem. Wait. I do one more thing than Zane does! Not fair!

Zane: She forgot to count the charisma I bring to the show. Charisma Carpenter. She visits a lot to help with people who need vampire aversion therapy.

Brea: I didn’t forget that. But I did forget that Zane does all the posting of weird stories on our Facebook page, which is a pretty big job.

SeagateCreative: What and who inspires you and on the flip side, what do you find challenges you the most creatively?

Brea: I’m mostly inspired by my fear of death. I wish I were kidding. I’m always inspired by people who take risks – which do what they want creatively, and then put it out there even if it’s weird or doesn’t have broad appeal. I think that’s cool. I think Zane and I both take a lot of inspiration from movies and television shows from our childhood that were kind of bizarre and helped us develop our bizarre sense of humor.

Zane: I’m inspired by my lack of fear of death. I watched too much Get a Life and Star Trek TNG as a child. We might be the byproduct of watching too much Upright Citizen’s Brigade and horror movies sequentially. Having too much money is a creative challenge. Yacht management takes a lot of time.

SeagateCreative: How and where do you record Mystic Party – tell is a bit about your studio setup?

Brea: We record at the SuperCreative Studio in Hollywood. It’s just in an office but the set up is pretty nice. I know nothing about equipment but we record on a Zoom (most of the time) and I just transfer the MP3 over to my computer. I edit the episodes in GarageBand.

Zane: The mics are Audio Technica condenser mics with a screen. They are nice.

SeagateCreative: How do you backup or archive your shows – through the cloud or a local, external device?

Brea: I’ve had a few back up disasters so I try to back up everything externally while keeping a file on my desktop computer as well. Maybe that’s redundant but it works for me.

Zane: Brea taught me that you need to backup data at two houses in case your house floods. That’s why they call them Seagates, to stop the sea from ruining your data. External hard drives are not as flashy as other equipment, but quite essential!

SeagateCreative: What’s one piece of advice you’d give to an up-and-coming creative pro looking to act, draw, write or start a radio program?

Brea: Just do it. It will probably be terrible but the next one will be a little better and the one after that will be even better. You can learn everything you need to know about this kind of stuff on the Internet so use the resources available to you. Do it for fun and not for money.

Zane: Don’t be a snob. Make stuff with your friends and build your skills. It takes years to be good at anything worth doing.  Like Lee Marvin might have said, ‘Have fun because one day you might be a very rich ghost.’

Be sure to catch upon with Zane and Brea Grant on these official channels.

Zane Grant – Official Site, Twitter
Brea Grant – Official Site, Twitter
Mystic Party  – Official Site, Facebook

2014-08-27T11:53:06+00:00

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