This blog is the first of series of blogs that I will be writing on regarding some of my favorite bands, bands that have affected and touched my life in a tremendous way. The first band I've decided to write on is; Zao. For those of you who do not not know who Zao is, Zao is a "metal core" that has been around since 1993, they are in my opinion, one of, perhaps the greatest metal core bands of all-time. They are a band that truly have touched my life along with so many of their faithful and loyal fans lives. The reason why I decided to go with Zao first for the bands that have impacted me is probably because a few members and ex-members have been on the podcasts I enjoy listening to;
Urban Achiever with Billy Power,
The Bad Christian Podcast, and
As The Story Grows. I'm the type that I'll listen to a podcast and whoever gets interviewed I usually want to listen to the band in which the person or people who got interviewed were in. So I've been listening to a lot of Zao lately, which I'm listening to right now as I write this. Even though Zao has a number of member changes and off and on hiatus' I have and always will be a huge fan and continue to support them. If you are a fan of Zao I hope you enjoy this blog. If you're not a fan of Zao or if you have never even heard of Zao, please read it anyway, to hear my love and passion for this amazing band.
The first time I heard Zao was on a compilation CD, by Tooth and Nail Records called; "Songs From the Penalty Box." This compilation CD had a variety of punk and hardcore bands on it, plus it was hockey theme; three things that I love, so of course I bought it, it was only $5. The 10th track of 21on the CD, was a song called
Exchange by Zao, I remember sitting in room listening to the album, which had some great tracks by bands like; Stavesacre, mxpx, Living Sacrifice, strong arm, 90 Pound Wuss. But this was my first time I had ever heard Zao, and I was blown away, by the vocals, the drums, a sound I had never really heard, let's just say I was very impressed. The next thing I wanted to do was go out and find their album.
It took a couple months but I finally I had the money and was able to find some where to buy my first Zao album, which was their first Solid State Records release; "Splinter Shards the Birth of Separation." Needless to say when I bought this album and put it in my CD player I was not disappointed. Two things about this album that really stood out were the vocals, this was the original vocalist of Zao, Shawn Jonas. I had never heard vocals like this before, his screaming was like something I had never heard before, and their were times he would hold a note for so long, you'd think he'd pass out, but I just loved the vocals. Another aspect of the music that stood was the drumming, by Jesse Smith who was with the band for 5 albums, Jesse Smith is an amazing drummer, who now has own band, Jesse and The Holy Ghost. After this album I became a Zao fan.
In 1998, every member left the band, except for drummer Jesse Smith, they all left for a variety of reasons. So Jesse went out and recruited a whole new group of talented guys. Basically, "Where Blood and Fire Bring Rest" was a whole new band, with Russ Cordell on guitar (who is still in the band) Brett Detar on guitar, and Daniel Weylandt on lead vocals (who also currently still in the band). When Blood and Fire came out I was a little hesitant about getting the album, being that it was a whole new lineup. I ordered Blood and Fire through mail order through Tooth and Nail Record/Solid State Records. Now keep in my mind this was before social media, there was no Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, or even myspace, so you can hear a preview of the album, there wasn't even iTunes so you get listen to a portion of the song. The day arrived when, "Where Blood and Fire Bring Rest" came in the mail, I ripped open the package, and I loved the cover. I put the CD into my CD player and pressed play... Holy crap, the first song; "
Lies of Serpents, a River of Tears" Well as soon as I heard the first song, I became a even bigger fan of Zao. Nothing against the original members, they were the Genesis of the band, but the new Zao, was just simply amazing. Another change in Zao was the lyrics, the old Zao was very in your face evangelical, while the new Zao had lyrics were a lot more about the struggles of life. Daniel Weylandt was not only the new singer but he was also the new lyricist of the band. This album had songs about dealing with suicide and death, the lyrics really touched myself along with their listeners and fans. I just want to say that ever since; "Blood and Fire" Daniel Weylandt is one of my favorite lyricist and in my opinion one of the greatest in music and defiantly the greatest in this genre of music. To me; "Where Blood and Fire Bring Rest", is one of the most ground breaking albums of all-time, it's one of my all-time favorite albums and it's an album that will never get old.
In March of 1999 I finally had the amazing opportunity to see Zao live, I was able to see them for 2 straight nights. During this time I was going to Bible College, I attended Bible College with the members of
Point of Recognition (what's up Aaron, Isaac, Jesse, and Michael if you read this). But Zao flew out to Southern California to play a couple shows with; Overcome, Training for Utopia, and Point of Recognition. The first night was in Riverside, CA, where I got my lip busted open (I still have the scar) in the pit during Overcome. Zao headlined the show, throughout the week we all super excited to see Zao, a few of us were talking about how the vocals were going to sound, because there was debate on if they did some kind of strange stuff to the vocals during the recording to have Daniel sound like that. Well as they were warming up, Daniel warmed up his vocals, and what it sounded like on the CD was what he sounded like live. I remember Isaac, Portland Paul and I looking at each and just being "Holy crap", that was awesome. Each night they put on a great set, and played some new stuff, from an album (Liberate Te Ex Inferis) that was going to be coming out later in the year. I have even found their full set from the second night where they played in San Bernardino on YouTube,
Zao live. Little side note and wrestling history, the venue Zao played in that night is the venue where Mankind (Mick Foley) made his WWF debut by attacking The Undertaker.
I cannot mention Zao albums without mentioning a split CD they did with Training for Utopia (Ryan Clark of Demon Hunter was the lead singer/guitarist of TFU). But there was one a song on this album by Zao (which you can only get on this album), that I was completely able to relate to;
Walk on By, Walk on Me (The Pianist Prophecy), this song was written by Jesse Smith. This song is basically about legalistic hypocrisy within the church. I've been raised in the church and when I got into the hardcore/punk/metal scene (even the Christian) stuff I was told it was evil and to stay away from it. I was instantly judged for my music, clothing style, and hair style, all while these people were far from perfect. I'm not saying I'm perfect at all, no one is. But some many people within the church have ruined the reputation of the church, and these lyrics really nail the way some (not all) of these people are like. Here are the lyrics... "
your tongue pierced my fragile heart, careless words are daggers thrown, unaware unapproachable unwilling silence from a sounding voice, you entwine praise with curses, your words burn like hell itself, silence from a sounding voice, all this by the tongue created, your words become hell itself, your words become hell itself, the tongue creates it tongue".
August of 1999, the album; "Liberate Te Ex In Feris, Save Yourself from Hell", was released. This album I ordered online, and waited for it to come in the mail again. Now this album I had already heard some of the songs when I had seen them live a few months before. It finally came and I had to go work my security shift with Aaron Irizarry, so I put it on the guard shack and once again Zao had made another amazing album. This album had some dark lyrics that I really liked. For example one of the best songs on the album is; "
Savannah". Savannah Michelle Wilsey was an adult film actress, who committed suicide after she had been in a car accident, broke her nose and saw her face and felt worthless, she then shot herself and died. I'd like to go into more detail about this album, but there are 5 more albums I'd like to talk about.
As I mentioned I'm going try not to go into as much detail in all the albums, as much as I would like to, this blog is getting long. In February of 2001, Zao released the album, "Self Titled". Once again they made a great album, with some amazing songs, the open track "
5 Year Winter", was the song they closed when I saw them play recently at Chain Fest. After this album came out, the band; "broke up". Throughout the history of Zao, us Zao fans have been told; "This is the end of Zao", "This will be the last Zao album", "This will be the last Zao tour." Being a Zao fan is like being part of a dysfunctional family (who isn't part of a dysfunctional family, no family is perfect). But us die hard Zao fans, support the band no matter what the circumstance who the members are. In fact I saw them play a couple times when, Corey Darst did lead vocals for them between 2000-01, nothing against Corey he is a very talented vocalist, but it just wasn't the same not seeing Daniel on stage. Now fast forward to July 2002, and Zao (who a lot of us thought had broken up), released the album, "Parade of Chaos." This album only had Scott Meilinger (who by the way is a die hard Pittsburgh Penguins fan), the last album with Jesse Smith (who not only played drums, but also played guitar on the album), and the return of Daniel Weylandt on vocals. When I first heard this album it sounded as if they rushed making the album, then after watching the documentary "
Lesser Lights of Heaven", I was right. Quick side note I highly recommend watching the documentary, I own and it comes with a concert (which I was at), at the Glass House in Pomona, CA. I still really enjoy the album; "Parade of Chaos". One key song I want to mention is; "
Free the Three". "Free the Three" is a song about the "
West Memphis Three", the West Memphis Three, were three teenage boys who were accused falsely of murdering 3 young boys, as part of a Satanic ritual. Sao would always play this song live at their shows, to let people know about; Damien, Jessie, and Jason. On August 19, 2011, the three boys were finally released from prison, the murders took place in 1993, but if wasn't for bands like Zao, along with other bands and celebrities, myself along with others would had never known about the, "West Memphis Three." And myself along with thousands of other people, do want justice for whoever killed the three young boys. Just like all their other albums, Zao has never been afraid to cover topics that most artists would never discuss, in fear of offending people, one of the many reasons I've always loved Zao.
In July 2014 Zao released the album, "The Funeral of God", this would be the first album they would release on Ferret Records, after nearly 8 years on Solid State Records. Lyrically this is one of my all time favorite albums. Because of the album title this album was very controversial, but the people who complained about this album, did not even bother reading the lyrics and the concept of the album. The concept of, "The Funeral of God", The concept of the album, is a narrating story in which God, fed up with path chosen by humanity, decides to disappear, leaving humanity to its fate. Subsequently, the world falls into a state of war and self-destruction. However, man soon reverts to a state in which he waits for God to return.(This came from Wikipedia, however I remember reading articles in magazines about this album and this is the concept.)
*Like I mentioned before I'm not going into as much details into the last two albums, I really should have made this blog a two parter, but there is so much to write about with Zao.
In June 2006 Zao released, "The Fear is What Keeps Us Here", then in May 2009 Zao released, "Awake". These albums had Daniel on vocals, Scott on guitar, Jeff Gretz a member on drums, and Martin Lunn a new member on bass. I will say both of these albums are simply amazing, musically and lyrically. I have never heard an album that I've been disappointed with, they continue to make great music. I'm looking forward to the band making great music.
As of September 2016, Zao is still playing live and making new music (also Russ has returned to the band), in July 2015, Zao released a a two 7 inch, you can also purchase the two tracks on iTunes (which is where I bought it). Zao also continues to play a few live shows a year, I recently saw them at Chain Fest (Santa Ana, CA) on September 17, 2016, they put on an amazing set, in my opinion the best set of the day (
here is a video I took of them playing, "The Rising End). Also at the music festival, I was able to meet; Martin we had a great talk about his appearance on the Urban Achiever podcast, I talked to Scott about hockey and met and had talked to Daniel about their shows back in '99. Also at the show Zao announced that they will be releasing a new album; "The Well Intentioned Virus", later this year in 2016, I'm very excited for their new album. I cannot believe it's been almost 20 years that I've been a Zao fan. Even though their have been countless changes (20 different members in all), I have continued to support them and been a Zao fan. Like I said in the beginning they are one of the best, in my opinion the best metal-core band of all time. As I was editing this blog Zao announced that their new album will be released on December 9, 2016.
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| Meeting at Daniel at Chain Fest |
