Dec 14

The Zeros

THE ZEROS
 
 
The Zeros  are an American punk rock band, formed in 1976 in Chula Vista, California.  The band were originally composed of Javier Escovedo on vocals/guitar and Robert Lopez (later known as El Vez) on guitar, who were both attending Chula Vista High School; Hector Penalosa, (bass), and Baba Chenelle, (drums), who attended Sweetwater High School.  Sometimes compared to the Ramones, the band was considered a pioneer of punk rock on the U.S. west coast.   (More from Wikipedia)
 
 
Bruce Joyner began hearing about the growing punk rock scene in Los Angeles – the Dils, X, the Blasters, the Weirdos and the Zeros are bands that he cites – and he quickly put together a band called the Unknowns.
 
(June 2011)
 
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As Ron Silva of the Crawdaddys left high school, he advertised for a rock band that he was thinking of forming; after being contacted by vocalist Jeff Scott (who had just left the seminal punk band the Dils) and drummer Josef Marc, he instead became the guitarist in their new band called the Hitmakers.  They quickly became part of the growing DIY music scene in San Diego.  A joint show in 1977 at the Adams Avenue Theatre by the Hitmakers, the Dils and the Zeros was the first big punk rock concert in the city.  Later Steve Potterf joined the Hitmakers as their second guitarist, and Joel Kmak became their new drummer. 

 

(January 2015/2)

 

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Marilyn Records was a European label that was founded by French musician Patrick Boissel in the mid-1980's.  After a number of French and Spanish releases, Marilyn began handling the sort of musicians and bands that gravitate to Bomp! Records.  Suzy Shaw of Bomp! Records met Boissel at a record convention, and Marilyn Records became their distributor in Europe.  One result was a great compilation album that I have of previous Bomp! Records releases called From L.A. with Love (1992) that features the Plimsouls, the Flamin' Groovies, Stiv Bators, Jeff Dahl, the Stooges, and the Zeros. 

 

(March 2015)

 

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Another bandmember in the Tell-Tale Hearts, Ray Brandes is also an author.  His book on the San Diego underground rock scene, Getting Nowhere Fast came out in December 2015.  I had previously borrowed heavily from his history of past UARB the Crawdaddys that I found online a few years ago.  The blurb in Amazon says:  “1976-1986 was a period of time in which urban tribes staked out and ferociously defended their territories; a time when San Diego began to establish for itself an identity as more than just a Navy town with a great zoo.  Getting Nowhere Fast, written by Ray Brandes of the Tell-Tale Hearts, looks at the origins of this period of ‘new’ music in San Diego, and provides an insider’s look at a handful of bands who never quite hit the big time, but who developed cult followings around the world.  The histories of the Zeros, the Penetrators, the Unknowns, the Crawdaddys, the Tell-Tale Hearts, and several more groups are presented here for the first time in print.”  Remarkably, three of the five bands on this list – the Unknowns, the Crawdaddys, and the Tell-Tale Hearts – are among the UARB’s. 
 
(September 2017)
 
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As punk rock began to gain ascendancy in an underground sort of way, Bomp! Records was there to release 45’s by some of the seminal bands and artists like the Germs, the Weirdos, the Zeros, the Romantics, Devo, Josie Cotton, and Venus and the Razorblades. 
 
(December 2017)
 
Last edited: March 22, 2021