Zopa: 2025

This  FUV Live session is also available as a podcast, "FUV Live Sessions." We're elevating WFUV's long history of live sessions and interviews via a podcast that you can find on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Amazon Podcasts. New episodes drop every Monday.

Zopa stands for the "zone of possible agreement" and patience — and it's also a ferociously rocking New York- based band featuring three super chill dudes: drummer Olmo Tighe, bassist Elijah Amitin, and guitarist and frontman, the actor Michael Imperioli.

Imperioli checks any of his characters' angst at the Studio A door for this FUV Live session, which features the band's originals, and a melding of two Lou Reed alt-rock classics, "Ocean/Heroin." The trio's latest album, which came out in the winter, is the seven-track Diamond Vehicle, their second release.

As an actor, Imperioli has surely had his days with iconic artist-influencers, from cinema masters Spike Lee to Martin Scorsese, and long-form serial roles including HBO/Max's "The Sopranos" and  "The White Lotus." It's Zopa that puts him on the same footing with music pals Tighe and Amitin for this band project which has been casually honed in area clubs and well-spaced album releases, all in keeping with the luxury of having time for it all.

Michael's shooting schedules may be as demanding as any start-up band's tour and record release regimen, but Zopa finds the actor at ease with music in as a creative sideline where the only role played is musical and band harmony.

The Zopa guys are buddies and have an abundance of it; the band's drive belies their casual relationship vibe. Chatting with the self-effacing and thoughtful Imperioli about his truly awesome film and TV work feels that way too; it's hard to believe that he's run with such a pack without getting all caught up in it.

Zopa finds this balance naturally, but not at the expense of rocking, which they do in kind. To hear Michael sing Reed's "Ocean/Heroin," made me think of his Sopranos character Christopher Moltisanti — an extension of role playing where the genial actor helps himself to the character's dark matter. Also, discover originals "A Still Life" and "Love and Other Forms of Violence."

[Recorded: 6/16/25; Engineered by Jim O'Hara with Erin Merriman and Sage Rochetti. Produced by Meghan Suma. Videographers: Nikki Phillips, Olivia Iannaccone, Therese Burgo and Adithi Vimalanathan.]