Andrew says Nicholas's prior experience with artists like Sting, Ash, INXS and Bryan Adams, added a vital component to the emerging Zed sound. Rhythm and vocal tracks were recorded at Revolver Studios in Auckland, with final overdubs and mixing at Mangrove Studios north of Sydney, Australia. The album was going in one direction initially, but it got twisted and re-shaped to where it is now.'Īssisting with the twisting and re-shaping on Silencer was producer David Nicholas. Andy has different influences and he adds a real colour in his playing.

'It's what Andy's brought to us,' he says, 'the connection between the four of us was powerful and immediate. 'I was there chasing a Brazilian girlfriend who'd gone home, but I left all that and the biggest festival on the planet to come back and rehearse for a tour.' Although Andrew's addition was primarily for live work, once recording sessions for debut album Silencer began, Nathan says an all-new Zed began to take shape. 'I was in Brazil when I got the call,' he says. 'It was two years prior to Andy joining,' he says, 'and there was a nagging in the back of my mind that something wasn't quite right - maybe a personality was absent, or there was a layer missing in the sound, I wasn't sure what it was, but I know we've found it in Andy.'Īnd certainly the circumstances of Andrew's hiring were pure Rock n Roll. Soon after their inception, Nathan says he felt there was someone missing from the band. For a start Zed are no longer a three-piece, now joined by second guitarist Andrew Lynch. Sometime back in '96 though, daydreams and air-guitar weren't enough, and like thousands of young bands before them, the three began getting together in each others bedrooms for band practice.įive years on and a few things have changed. Originally formed while they were still students at Christchurch's Cashmere High, Zed is the dream child of Nathan King, Ben Campbell and Adrian Palmer, all of whom found they shared a passion for guitar pop - fuelled by their parents old Beatles records, a bit of Crowded House, and radio stars Supergrass and Radiohead. In short, it's 100% pure Rock n Roll, no imitations accepted. Wherever you are and whatever you're doing, when Zed's Renegade Fighter comes on the radio, you'd better keep your guard up - because this song packs a punch! From the first chords of its overdriven guitars, to its clever harmonies, to the final echo of its hook-heavy chorus, the debut track from Zed is equal parts menace and vulnerability, charm and arrogance.

Zed music genre