Zachary Charles Hill (born December 28, 1979) is an American multi-instrumentalist and visual artist. He is best known as the drummer and co-producer of the groups Death Grips and the I.L.Y's, and as the drummer of math rock band Hella.

Early life

Zach Hill was born in Sacramento, California on December 28, 1979. He spent most of his adolescence at his father and uncle's press printing shop, where he was first exposed to classic rock music. Hill claims that he "started hearing voices in his head telling him to play the drums" when he was about 14 or 15 years old, and bought his first drum set with money he raised with a friend from a garage sale. He dropped out of high school at age 15 and moved to Nevada City, California, where he started the band Legs on Earth with Julian Imsdahl, Spencer Seim, and cousin Josh Hill. Hill later moved to San Francisco, California where he played drums in the band Crime in Choir before starting Hella in 2001.

Art

In addition to music, Hill is also a visual artist. He published a fully illustrated book, Destroying Yourself is Too Accessible, which included the Zach Hill and Holy Smokes album Masculine Drugs released in 2004 on TNI Books and Suicide Squeeze Records. The Sacramento, California, art space Fools Foundation ran an exhibition of Hill's art, titled "Poltergeist", from April 1 to April 29, 2006. Parts of the exhibit are visible in the photos accompanying Hill's article in the August 2006 issue of Modern Drummer and on the Fools Foundation website.

Film

Hill was said to be working on an original feature film in 2013, which was confirmed to feature late actress Karen Black in a leading role. However, she had died before the film could come into full fruition. A shortened excerpt of the footage was posted on the Death Grips YouTube account in October 2015 in a 15-minute video entitled "Bottomless Pit". It has been rumored that either Death Grips or Hill's side-project, the I.L.Y's, would be involved with the soundtrack of the film as well.

Discography

Solo releases

With Hella

Albums

Extended plays

DVDs

Split albums

With Flössin

With Holy Smokes

With Team Sleep

With Mick Barr

With Marnie Stern

With Bygones

With Wavves

With Omar Rodríguez-López

With Death Grips

Albums

Mixtapes

Extended plays

With Spoek Mathambo

With the I.L.Y's

With Undo K From Hot

Other bands and collaborations

Other appearances