Zao (American band)

Zao
300x200px Russ Cogdell (left) and Dan Weyandt from Zao live in Karlsruhe, Germany, September 10, 2004.
Background information
Origin	Parkersburg, West Virginia, US
Genres	Metalcore, hardcore punk (early), Christian metal (early), post-hardcore
Years active	1993–present
Labels	Ferret, Solid State, Steadfast, Tooth & Nail, Broken Circles
Associated acts	The Juliana Theory, Jade Meridian, Seasons in the Field, Gods, Pensive, Lonely Ghost Parade, Society's Finest
Website	Zao on Facebook
Members	Daniel Weyandt Scott Mellinger Martin Lunn Russ Cogdell Jeff Gretz
Past members	Eric Reeder Roy Goudy Mic Cox Jesse Smith Shawn Jonas Ron Gray Kevin Moran Brett Detar Rob Horner Shawn Koschik Stephen Peck

Zao /ˈzeɪ.oʊ/ is a metalcore band from Parkersburg, West Virginia. Founded in March 1993, Zao has hosted several musicians and endured numerous roster changes to the point where no original members remain. Former drummer Jesse Smith, singer Daniel Weyandt, and guitarists Scott Mellinger & Russ Cogdell are seen by most fans as the "core" of Zao.

Christianity has been a key influence in the band's work; because the founding members claimed to have a strong relationship with God, they were considered a devoted Christian band, which changed as time passed. Former drummer Jesse Smith slowly changed the band's vision. Because only half the band's members identified themselves as Christians, Zao no longer considered itself a Christian band but rather a group of open-minded artists. Lyrics in future productions may or may not include Christian messages, but Zao has stated they would have loved to return to the Christian Cornerstone Festival when it was still active. As of 2015, only one member of the band claims Christianity as their beliefs.

To date, Zao has completed ten full-length albums, four EPs, a two-disc DVD documentary and multiple concert tours, garnering a limited but global fanbase and earning critical praise in the process.

History

The first era (1993–1997)

The founding members of Zao, were vocalist Eric Reeder, guitarist Roy Goudy, bassist Mic Cox, and drummer Jesse Smith. The band's name comes from the Greek word (ζάω), which means "alive" or "to have life". Zao vocalist Eric Reeder has been credited with coming up with the band's name. Calling their sound "Christ-centered hardcore", they sought to reach an audience that they felt has been pushed away from the organized church. Most of their early songs, which appeared on their first two full-length albums, All Else Failed and The Splinter Shards the Birth of Separation (which saw the band re-recording much of the All Else Failed material), contained explicit references to God and centered on the theme of the peace of God. Reeder (who appeared on Zao's Author and Sustained demos, as well as a split with Outcast) left before Zao recorded All Else Failed and was replaced by Shawn Jonas, who went on to form Symphony in Peril. Jonas left the band after recording two albums and is now a youth pastor at New Life Church in West Virginia; original bassist Mic Cox left the band, and Kevin Moran took his place. Ron Gray also joined the band as a second guitarist after the recording of The Splinter Shards the Birth of Separation. All of the band members, except for drummer Jesse Smith, quit Zao following the 1997 Cornerstone festival and a couple of shows they played on the way back home.

The second era (1998–2002)

In 1998 Smith recruited Brett Detar, guitarist of Pennsylvania emocore band Pensive, to help him build a new incarnation of Zao. Detar suggested a pair of his friends, guitarist Russ Cogdell and enigmatic writer / poet (and future tattoo artist) Daniel Weyandt. Both Cogdell and Weyandt had played in Christian Hardcore band Seasons in the Field, who had released a split EP with Pensive. Smith would drive several hours to Greensburg, where all these new members lived, to co-write and rehearse what would become the first (and in many ways, defining) album from the new Zao, Where Blood and Fire Bring Rest. The group played fewer and fewer songs from the old version of the band as Blood and Fire took hold. They toured without a bassist and set stages ablaze with their raw emotion and Weyandt's personal storytelling, which detailed the hardships that informed their songs. With a rockabilly look and Smith's oddly engaging habit of setting up his drums facing away from the audience, their live reputation grew large in the underground. Not long after recording their half of a split EP with labelmates Training for Utopia in California, Detar left the group in 1999 to focus his energy on his rock side-project The Juliana Theory, who would sign to Sony and have a successful career before disbanding in 2006.

Scott Mellinger (ex-Creation Is Crucifixion) joined the band on lead guitar, and Rob Horner came in on bass, before the recording of another landmark metalcore album, Liberate Te Ex Inferis (Latin for "Save Yourself from Hell", a line from the movie Event Horizon). Cogdell left the band in 2000 to go to film school. Horner left at the same time, with Weyandt handling bass as well as vocals for a time.

Mellinger, Horner and Smith wrote and recorded all of the music for Zao's fifth album titled (Self-Titled), with Dan coming by for a few days to contribute his lyrics and vocals. The album is notable for Smith's dark pop interludes, the V-Drum sound and the song "Five Year Winter", which remains a signature Zao song.

Corey Darst replaced Weyandt for the majority of the touring in support of the album, with Horner returning, and second guitarist Matt Auxier joining up. Darst never appeared on a Zao album although this version of the group (Darst, Smith, Mellinger & Horner) did cut a three-song demo during a Seattle tour stop. The group talked about signing with either Sanctuary or Century Media Records, but Zao "broke up" on stage at a December 2001 show in Pittsburgh (later documented on their DVD). They were to embark on a tour with The Juliana Theory and Weyandt had joined Darst onstage as a special guest, but an incapacitated Jesse Smith couldn't make it through the show and long-brewing tensions boiled over.

Solid State / Tooth & Nail funded the next Zao projects: a brand new album that like (Self-Titled) featured just Smith, Mellinger & Weyandt, called Parade of Chaos, as well as a re-recording of the original Zao's All Else Failed played by the same trio. In the documentary The Lesser Lights of Heaven, the band disavowed the re-recording, admitting they did it because they were broke and needed to fulfill their record contract with Solid State, even though it turned out to be a solid release.

Weyandt, Mellinger, Smith and a returning Cogdell set-out on the "Burn It Down and Walk Away Tour", billed as Zao's "final" tour, with support from special guests Underoath, Unearth, Dead Poetic, and The Underwater. Although technically a tour in support of "Parade of Chaos" as well, no songs from the album were featured in the set-list.

After the 2002 tour, the group's members focused on other projects, most notably Cogdell & Mellinger's more rock-oriented Jade Meridian and Horner's two-year stint with the Wheeling, West Virginia sci-fi metal band The Minus Tide.

The third era (2003–2006)

Living Sacrifice drummer Lance Garvin filled in for Smith when the rest of the guys could not find him for a couple of 2003 festival dates. However, the Liberate era lineup reconvened in Greensburg around the promise of a new record label that offered to fund a new Zao album. The label ended up falling apart before a note of music was ever recorded, prompting Smith to reach out to Ferret Music who agreed to sign the band to a two-album deal. After cutting some new demos, Weyandt left the group. After Jesse Smith's permanent departure in 2004, he had succumbed to the "ups" and "downs that Zao was praised in many circles as ground-breaking innovators but often times riddled with criticism and controversy. This gave way to years of addiction, self-indulgence, and self-loathing for Smith. Soon after this he joined Society's Finest. In 2012 he had started a new music project called Jesse Smith & The Holy Ghost.

Society's Finest singer Joshua Ashworth was asked by Smith to join the group. This version of Zao did a few shows and recorded a couple of songs. However, by the end of 2003, Cogdell & Mellinger realized they did not want to make a Zao record without Dan on vocals. Smith & Horner quit Zao and joined up with former bassist Kevin Moran to focus on their new band, Gods. Ashworth stepped aside. With Dan back on board, the remaining three "core" members recruited the rhythm section from Jade Meridian (bass player Shawn Koschick, drummer Stephen Peck) to round-out the Zao lineup.

In 2004 Zao released The Funeral of God—a concept album that imagined a world where God had chosen to abandon mankind. Ferret heavily advertised the album, the group made their first music video (for "The Rising End"), and went on several tours of the US, resulting in the biggest selling Zao album to date. Though they had played a few shows there before, Zao did their first ever extensive European headlining tour with this lineup.

Shawn told the band he would be leaving just before the "Praise the War Machine" US headlining tour, 'though he did complete the tour. The sold-out show at Glasshouse in Pomona, CA was filmed for the band's in-the-works DVD.

Longtime friend and tour manager Marty Lunn took over the bass position before Zao co-headlined the "City of Champions" tour with The Juliana Theory. The following year, Stephen Peck told the band he was quitting two weeks before they were set to leave for the UK to tour with Bleeding Through. Scrambling to find a replacement, the group hired local drummer Jeff Gretz, the first outwardly and outspokenly non-Christian member in the history of the band. The UK tour was followed by the "Strhess Tour" across the US in the summer of 2005 with Bleeding Through, Darkest Hour and Misery Signals. The Los Angeles and San Diego shows were recorded for the upcoming DVD.

In 2005, the band released their DVD, The Lesser Lights of Heaven, mapping their history up till that point, having members from different bands, including: Don and Ryan Clark (Demon Hunter, Training for Utopia), Bruce Fitzhugh (Living Sacrifice), Chris McLane (Stretch Arm Strong), Jimmy Ryan (Haste the Day, Trenches), and CJ Anderson (Sinai Beach).

In January 2006, Weyandt, Mellinger, Lunn & Gretz traveled to Chicago to record their new album with one of their collective heroes, Steve Albini. He had recorded some of their favorite albums by Nirvana and Neurosis, to name a few. The making of The Fear Is What Keeps Us Here was documented for a limited edition DVD.

Directly after recording, Zao hit the road with In Flames, Trivium and DevilDriver. After that, they co-headlined their second "Ferret Music Tour"; they were forced to head home early after Dan severely injured his hand. The Fear... was released in June while Zao was on tour with Demon Hunter. The band filmed a video for "My Love, My Love (We've Come Back from the Dead)", a self-described "zombie love story", during that tour.

The fall of 2006 saw Zao touring with Throwdown, Evergreen Terrace and Maylene and the Sons of Disaster. During the tour, Mellinger and Weyandt both agreed that Zao should embark on a long break after the tour. Eager to continue touring, Gretz left Zao not long after and became the drummer for From Autumn to Ashes.

The fourth era (2007–2009)

On January 23, 2007 Zao announced in a lengthy statement that Russ Cogdell had rejoined the band after recovering from his knee surgery. Zao stated also that they would not fill the drum position officially, but rather, ex-Juliana Theory drummer Josh Walters would fill-in if/when the band next appeared live. The band said they had completed their two-album deal with Ferret Music but did not say who would be releasing their next album. There is no news on whether they intend to re-sign to Ferret or seek a new label. Not long after the statement was released, the band said that Walters would in fact not be performing with them. A local friend named Dean Minerva was said to be their new fill-in drummer although he never ended up recording or performing with the band.

In mid-2008, Zao played their first show since 2006 with Demon Hunter at Mr. Smalls in Pittsburgh, PA. The lineup for the show was Weyandt, Mellinger, Lunn and Gretz. Following this, they began recording their new album, Awake?, with Scott Mellinger, Daniel Castleman and As I Lay Dying singer Tim Lambesis co-producing. The band finished vocal recording in November 2008 with engineer Dave Hidek at Treelady Studios, located in Pittsburgh, PA. The band released the album on May 5, 2009, on Ferret Records.

Russ Cogdell played pre-Fear material at two shows in October in California. Zao also announced they have demoed 11 songs for a new album.

The fifth era (2010–present)

The band took to the web updating the world on the status of the band, as it stands, ZAO is Daniel Weyandt, Scott Mellinger, Russ Cogdell, Marty Lunn and Jeff Gretz.

Currently they lost the URL to their own site due to the fiasco of their previous label (Ferret/Warner Music) and are rebuilding a new site because they want it to be the main source for anything that has to do with Zao or any of its members, they also pointed out that they feel that all the social sites should be considered extra saying, "Hence, why we aren't too concerned about having all sorts of trinkets and bobbles on this thing anymore."

Among other things in the recent update, the band said they were extremely surprised on how well their last album, Awake?, did in the market considering it had no tour support by them and that it was thrown onto Ferret's label in the 11th hour. Zao said the best thing to come out of it is that they learned a lot of the last release and it showed them that fans still enjoy their music and this inspired and motivated them to continue making music. According to social media reports, on July 11, 2014, Zao went in to the studio, after a five-year unofficial hiatus and working on side projects like Lonely Ghost Parade and Young Fox, is currently, tracking and recording their 11th album. Guitar tracking began in January 2015. Xenophobe, the band's first EP since 1998, was released on July 10, 2015.

The band's 11th album, which is titled The Well Intentioned Virus, is currently being mixed and is due to be released in 2016.

Band members

Current members

Name	Instrument	Years	Other groups
Daniel Weydant	lead vocals, bass	1998–present (vocals), 2003 (bass)	Seasons in the Field, Lonely//Ghost//Parade, Sower
Russ Cogdell	rhythm guitar	1998-2000, 2002, 2004-2008, 2010–present	Seasons in the Field, Sower, Los Capitanos, Jade Meridian
Scott Mellinger	guitar, clean vocals	1999–present	Creation is Crucifixion, Lonely//Ghost//Parade, Jade Meridian
Marty Lunn	bass	2005–present	Pensive, The Operation, Jade Meridian, Young Fox
Jeff Gretz	drums	2005–2007, 2008–present	From Autumn to Ashes, Emanuel and the Fear, Leverage Models, Epigene, Conelrad, Austrian Death Machine, Private Income, IKILLYA, Crank Radio

Past members

Name	Instrument	Years	Other groups
Eric Reeder	lead vocals	1993-1995
Shawn Jonas	lead vocals	1995-1998	Symphony in Peril
Roy Goudy	lead guitar	1993-1998	Times After Dusk, Minor Crisis
Mic Cox	bass	1993–1998
Jesse Smith	drums	1993-2004	Demon Hunter, Society's Finest, My Own Halo, Gods, Jesse Smith & the Holy Ghost, Left Out
Ron Gray	rhythm guitar	1997-1998
Kevin Moran	bass	1997-1998	Gods
Brett Detar	lead guitar	1998-1999	The Juliana Theory, Pensive
Rob Horner	bass	1999-2004	Gods, The Minus Tide
Shawn Koschik	bass	2004-2005	Jade Meridian, Nodar
Stephen Peck	drums	2004-2005	Jade Meridian, Lonely//Ghost//Parade, Seasons in the Field

Live

Name	Instrument	Years	Other Groups
Corey Darst	lead vocals	2000-2001	The Pretty Weapons
Matt Auxier	rhythm guitar	2000-2001	Eyes Upon Separation, The Pretty Weapons, Teeth of the Hydra, EYE
Lance Garvin	drums	2003	Living Sacrifice, Soul Embraced, Throwdown, Kill System
Joshua Kabe Ashworth	lead vocals	2003-2004	Society's Finest

Timeline

Discography

Studio albums

Year	Title	Label
1995	All Else Failed	Steadfast
1996	The Splinter Shards the Birth of Separation	Solid State
1998	Where Blood and Fire Bring Rest
1999	Liberate Te Ex Inferis
2001	Self-Titled
2002	Parade of Chaos
2003	All Else Failed
2004	The Funeral of God	Ferret
2006	The Fear Is What Keeps Us Here
2009	Awake?
2016	The Well Intentioned Virus	Independent

EPs/Splits

• 1995: The Tie That Binds (split EP with Outcast)
• 1996: Treadwater (split EP with Through and Through)
• 1998: Training for Utopia / Zao (split EP with Training for Utopia)
• 2015: Xenophobe (EP)

Vinyl

• 1995: The Tie That Binds
• 1996: Treadwater
• 1997: The Splinter Shards the Birth of Separation
• 1998: Where Blood and Fire Bring Rest

Zao have started to release their back catalogue on vinyl through Broken Circles

• 2010: Where Blood and Fire Bring Rest
• 2011: Liberate Te Ex Inferis
• 2011: (Self-Titled)
• 2012: Parade of Chaos

Demos

• 1994: Author
• 1995: Sustained

Other songs

• "Black Coffee": A cover of a Black Flag song on Black on Black: A Tribute to Black Flag and also on the Japanese release of The Fear Is What Keeps Us Here
• "The Romance of the Southern Spirit": On the Japanese release of The Funeral of God
• "Sancho/Crimson Kroll"
• "Within a Dream"
• "21st Century Thriller": Recorded with Joshua Ashworth vocals for 2003 demo, later re-recorded with different lyrics for The Funeral of God as "The Rising End (The First Prophecy)"
• "She's Not Leaving, She's Not Breathing": Recorded with Joshua Ashworth vocals for 2003 demo, later re-recorded with different lyrics for The Funeral of God as "Praise the War Machine"

Other releases

• 2004: Legendary
• 2005: The Lesser Lights of Heaven DVD

Compilations Zao is featured on

• A Testament to Broken Walls - "Sancho" (previously unreleased, features (Self-Titled) lineup, later re-recorded with Corey Darst as "The Icarus Complex")
• Black on Black: A Tribute to Black Flag - "Black Coffee" (previously unreleased)
• Music on the Brain Vol. 2 (Smartpunk) - "The Rising End (The First Prophecy)"
• Point Break Vol. 1 - "Angel Without Wings"
• Progression Through Aggression Vol. 2 - "The Last Revelation (The Last Prophecy)"
• Songs From The Penalty Box - "Exchange"
• Songs From The Penalty Box Vol. 2 - "A Fall Farewell"
• This is Solid State Vol. 1 - "To Think of You Is to Treasure an Absent Memory"
• This is Solid State Vol. 2 - "Trashcanhands (Keyboard Coward)"
• This is Solid State Vol. 3 - "The Icarus Complex"
• This is Solid State Vol. 4 - "Resistance"
• Tooth & Nail 10th Anniversary Box Set
  • (disc 1) "Ravage Ritual"
  • (disc 2) "Savannah"
  • (disc 4) "5 Year Winter"
  • (disc 5) "Parade of Chaos"
• Tooth & Nail 4th Anniversary Box Set
  • (disc 4) "Repressed"
• Van's Warped Tour '05 - "The Rising End (The First Prophecy)"
• What on Earth?! Compilation
• Cheapskates- Harder Side - "Circle II The Lustful: If These Scars Could Speak"
• New Shit Vol. 10 - "The Rising End (The First Prophecy)"
• Razor: Music From The Cutting Edge (Vol. 7) - "The Rising End (The First Prophecy)"
• Under the Gun DVD - "The Rising End (The First Prophecy)"
• The Best of Taste of Chaos Vol. 2 - "Physician Heal Thyself"

Videos

• "The Rising End (The First Prophecy)" from The Funeral of God (2004)
• "My Love, My Love (We've Come Back From the Dead)" from The Fear Is What Keeps Us Here (2006)

See also

• List of songs recorded by Zao

External links

• Zao's 100% Band run Facebook Profile
• Zao's Label - Ferret Records
• Zao at Discogs
• Jesse Smith's current band