Zach Outman Turns Ghosting Into Gold on “Carpe DMs”
Punk Head: “Carpe DMs” is a clever twist on the classic ‘seize the day’ mantra. How did you land on that title, and what does it say about modern romance?
Zach Outman: Fun fact about the title, back in 2019 one of my best friends and I were going back and forth coming up with funny song titles as jokes, and when he said "Carpe DMs" it kind of stuck with me. A couple years later and there was a song written. A few more years and now it's released to the world. There's no denying the all encompassing presence that social media has in our digital age. It seems to condition us for both instant gratification and insatiable wants, but neither of those things are very conducive to dating and relationships that truly take time to mature and blossom into something beautiful. Personally, I'm a hopeful romantic and I believe that you can separate these things once you are aware of them and build something great as long as both parties are able to keep that perspective. Easier said than done.
Punk Head: Vulnerability and humor can sometimes pull in opposite directions. How did you navigate making “Carpe DMs” funny and relatable while still resonating emotionally?
Zach Outman: One hill that I will die on is that humor is one of the most powerful tools available to us as a species. Whether it's in a leadership perspective to break the ice, helping you get through a difficult time in life, or breaking down walls and eliciting emotion in a stranger via a song you can bet that humor will get the job done if properly applied. Writing has always been a passion of mine and the diary that my songs become through the lyrics only resonates because it is genuine and earnest. I don't write songs because I got paid to or I want to fit in a mold, I write them because it's the only way I can truly express myself and share what I'm feeling. I think that's the big secret to how a song can resonate with strangers around the world in general. As for the dichotomy of emotions, I've always been a bit of a contradiction from a certain point of view, but that's not how I like to look at it. We are all human and capable of being more than one thing. We aren't defined by any one action, emotion, skill, or trait. We write our own story and through our actions and behaviors, control our destiny. So to me a song that can embody multiple emotions throughout the story is just a genuine example of human expression.
Punk Head: Modern dating is chaotic and often funny. Was there a moment that made you laugh while writing this song?
Zach Outman: Honestly the title still makes me laugh to this day, but thinking back to when I first started writing it the first half of the first verse sorta made me cringe and laugh at the same time. It's a little harsh though not baseless, so I left it in and ran with it. The rest of the song fell into place pretty quickly after that.
Punk Head: Your musical palette here stretches into hip-hop rhythms while keeping a country/pop core. How do you experiment with genre without losing your authentic voice?
Zach Outman: The beauty of songwriting is that each song is unique in its own way. When I started recording music last year I wanted to release 4-5 songs by the end of 2026 and then combine them for an E.P. release where each song showed off a little different genre/style without too much variance from my overall sound and vibe. For me, as long as I stay true to myself when I'm writing and singing the overall sound stays authentic even when the individual song may cross genre lines. The cool thing about music is it's all about emotion and you can have quite a bit of variance from the same artist, but you can still tell that it's theirs at the core.
Punk Head: If you had to pick one DM in your own life that inspired a lyric, which one would it be?
Zach Outman: One that sticks out in my mind was when I set up a date with a girl and bought tickets to an event a week in advance, talked every day up until the night before, and that was the last I ever heard from her. Couldn't get ahold of her the next day and kinda left it at that. So it's time to ghost again :)
