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Based on what your fans expect, do you feel like you have a lot to live up to with Post Nuclear?

Zon: There are some people that really are kind of obsessed with the first album and it just seems impossible to please that kind of purist. I'm more aiming to please myself than the fans with the music. It would be very boring for me to try to make something just to please someone and the only way I can write music is if I myself get excited about it and that's the only way it works for me. The only way to progress is to constantly challenge myself and I will keep doing that, I just can't have something remain the same and stale.

How much pre-meditation went into the writing process of the album? What other notable changes took place with this album?

Zon: I was writing songs as a reaction to my atmosphere in college at the time and my observation of everything around me and how it somehow runs past me while I keep standing still. That was the kind of idea that I explored on the album and all the songs really centered on that and were really personal in that respect. I just had a lot of shit built up from trying to deal with things that I couldn't handle as well as other people and so all of that went into the album. I remember I even recorded some of the vocals before I completely finished the song just to get that energy out. The synths were really the last thing on the album and the main focus was vocals. It was definitely more frustrating and challenging than the first album since the first album was just me experimenting but in the end it worked out all right.

Did a relative emphasis on lyrical content drive the cleaner vocal production on Post Nuclear?

Zon: The lyrics on the album are extremely personal and they all fit into a theme so there's definitely an emphasis on expressing feelings and emotions rather than having everything inhuman and distorted. This is something that tells a story from start to end so the best way to listen to it is all the way through with headphones on. I wanted to keep some of the war imagery in there but it only serves as a metaphor for internal conflict and is not literal like it is on the first album. While the first album dealt with the apocalypse literally, this one goes behind the images and themes and just uses it to express feelings and mood for the album. It's basically like picking up the pieces after the first album and seeing how they fit to reflect me at a certain stage in life.

What selling point, more than any other, do you believe led Dismantled into the bidding war between Dependent Records and Metropolis Records for the rights to Dismantled?

Zon: That's bullshit. There was no bidding war; it was just hype to promote the album. I think the main selling point for the labels has always been club hits and I got a lot of pressure to do that on the new album although I went quite the opposite direction. I would rather have Dismantled be a band that gets play on the radio than in the clubs and of course that's going to affect my relationship with the labels since their main promotional tool is clubs.

So how did Dependent and Metropolis find you? What were the steps leading up to Dismantled getting signed?

Zon: I got recommended to Stefan of Dependent by someone who worked as a graphic designer for him and he decided to put Purity on the Septic II compilation. Afterwards, I sent a demo to Metropolis and told them about the Septic II thing and they seemed interested in the material. They eventually worked out a deal and I was signed to Metropolis and licensed through Dependent.

Post Nuclear moves in a more personal direction following your self-titled debut. While the first album was heavily influenced by Front Line Assembly, how important is it for you to have this release stand on its own?

Zon: It's important for me to have this album stand as a memo or reminder to myself about my state of mind and my flaws. It's really the only way to express all of my feelings and frustrations about that so it's truly something that I had feelings for and put raw emotion into. There was one song "Cornered" that was a very powerful song for me to record and I ended up crying when I did the first vocal take for it, which was really strange for me because that's never happened before. So I just think it's an important album in the sense that it doesn't fit people's expectations and really challenges and confuses people who want to put Dismantled into a box.

Do you feel that your adoration for Front Line Assembly has in any way affected the scene's perception of what Dismantled is?

Zon: Of course, it's a label that I will always have but if that's what people want to make of it, fine. I still hold great respect for Front Line Assembly and their music really helped me establish my sound in a way. But I'm definitely going in my own direction and I hope that confuses the scene as much as possible.

You've begun work under the Dfektiv moniker recently. How are your goals different with this band in comparison to Dismantled?

Zon: It's basically very raw and random and chaotic. I want to eliminate structure as much as possible and just have something that flows out without following any form. I do the vocals spontaneously as well and there are no set lyrics for any of it, just whatever I feel like at the time.

Besides the obvious duties in Dismantled, you also took it upon yourself to master the disc, create the artwork and maintain the Web site all by your lonesome. Is it a strain to juggle all these responsibilities?

Zon: Not at all. I find other things much more of a strain than doing Dismantled. Dismantled just comes to me very naturally and I enjoy doing it so even if there is stress, I don't quite consider it stressful at all.

What else do your hobbies include? (Do you maintain any other Web sites, do art for anyone?)

Zon: I don't really have any hobbies. I feel like I've degenerated in the past few years. I have a blog and I like to hang out with my friends and maybe go out to a hip-hop dance party? And if it were summer, I would be swimming and playing tennis. I find design boring unless I'm sparked by something so I don't make anything for anyone. I'm really jaded by the whole online Internet experience these days so I'm really not interested in being a part of it apart from interacting with some friends I know. Although that doesn't mean I don't spend most of my time online.

Your debut release is a perfect example of a musician making the most of his limited resources. I believe you were using a boombox to process some of your vocals? Have you made any changes in your recording space?

Zon: My recording space is exactly the same as before, the only difference now is that I have a pretty good condenser mic and studio monitors. Other than that, there wasn't much change in terms of new gear or a big rearrangement. I know people like to buy as much stuff as possible but I enjoy being a minimalist instead and just use whatever works rather than whatever fancies me. I'm not into buying lots of hardware and not into materializing; I just want to compose music and not have to worry about anything else.

From the onset of Dismantled, the band had a lot of support from the online community, namely Mindphaser.com. Where would you be now if you never encountered that initial support?

Zon: There was a lot of support for the first album on Mindphaser but that's gone away now with the new album. It seems that a lot of people there don't like me anymore for whatever reason and I don't really post on forums anymore anyway. It seems everywhere you go people try to associate you with the band instead of as just a person so I've learned to stay away from that. However, I think the initial support for the debut really helped me personally because it led me to pursue the project further than I initially planned.

You moved from Russia at age nine to Arizona, lived there for five years, and then moved to Oregon. Can you talk about the transition you were forced to make?

Zon: It was a big transition to me in terms of culture. I remember just arriving at a supermarket in Arizona fresh off the plane just because the people who were responsible for bringing us over wanted to show us around. I was just walking around there in all these warm winter clothes and it was the strangest thing. But when you're that young, you adapt quickly and so did I. I learned the language quickly and now I don't even think about it because I grew up here and finished elementary, middle school and high school here. So I totally don't feel like a foreigner.

What were your parents planning to do here?

Zon: It was a job arrangement or something, I can't remember.

If you had the choice to relocate, where would you feel most comfortable?

Zon: I'd say maybe San Diego, Calif., just because I love the climate there. I'm not a big fan of the rain and cold of the Northwest. But if anywhere closer, it would have to be Vancouver, BC just because it's my most favorite city ever. I have great memories from there; we hung out with Chris Peterson and Davey Havok from AFI there, saw FLA there for the first time in my life and every time I've been there I just felt a really good, futuristic vibe.

You have an online journal at garyzon.com that has spanned the last two years with consistent detail. Did you ever keep a journal before this, online or otherwise?

Zon: I just decided to do a journal because it was a good way to express myself and my friends were all doing it too at the time. I've had a few scribbles here and there before the journal but nothing really solid until I started writing it all online. Nowadays I have a private journal where I can just vent about anything and that really helps me a lot I think. I wouldn't dare write anything like that on a public journal though.

You?re certainly one of the most successful young artists in the community. Are there some things you look back on which you have wanted to do differently?

Zon: It's hard for me to think that way. Of course there are some things I wish I had done differently, like had the proper knowledge to do the cover for the first album normally so it looked the same on both Dependent and Metropolis releases. But that's just details. Overall, I don't really think there's anything I would do differently with Dismantled.

How hard was it to find live contributors that were as dedicated as you are?

Zon: It was surprisingly easy. The bass player was already a friend of mine for a while and he's a really dedicated, reliable guy, much more so that I am, so it was easy to work with him. The keyboardist is also someone who really practices his parts. He has to play all of the complicated string parts, like in "Survivor." And we haven't had major problems with that either. So I'd say it's been working out good for now. We did replace the drummer at one point but there's no bad blood over that and it was for the best anyway. So I'd say it worked out all right so far.

Dismantled has yet to establish a live presence throughout most of the United States, especially outside of the West Coast. Will Post Nuclear take you on a U.S. tour in the near future?

Zon: It really depends on the reaction we get. We did some West Coast shows so far and it's been a mixed bag. People seem really confused about our sound because we don't sound quite like the album live with our live drums and bass. But at the same time I don't want to sound like the album live, I want it more like a rock band. So we'll see what happens.