Zao () is an American metalcore band founded in Parkersburg, West Virginia, and later relocated to Greensburg, Pennsylvania. 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, vocalist Dan Weyandt, and guitarists Scott Mellinger and Russ Cogdell are seen by some fans as the "core" of Zao, with the current line up being the longest running in the band's history.
For a time, the band featured Christian themes in their music and was regarded as a Christian band, however this theme was eventually met with debate among the members and the band currently no longer considers themselves a "Christian band" with only bassist Martin Lunn identifying as a Christian.
To date, Zao has released 11 full-length albums, 9 EPs or splits, a two-disc DVD documentary and embarked on numerous concert tours, garnering a limited but global fan base 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 , 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 vocalist Dan 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. When it came time to embark on tour for the band's new lineup, Moran, who had continued with the band up until this point, departed, which led to the band touring without a bassist. The band 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.
Following Detar's departure, Smith expressed interest in putting the band on a brief hiatus, which led to Weyandt and Cogdell forming a new project called Eight Stars for Elijah in the vein of Sunny Day Real Estate. Scott Mellinger (formerly of Creation Is Crucifixion) played guitars in the band, alongside Weyandt, while Cogdell played drums, alongside friend Tim on bass. However, at the same time the bassist moved to Florida, Smith returned with the proposition of bringing Zao back to record a new album. Weyandt and Cogdell pushed for Mellinger to join the band, to which Smith agreed. Mellinger joined the band on lead guitar and Rob Horner, a longtime friend of Smith's, came in on bass. With this lineup at hand, the band would enter the studio to record another seminal metalcore album, Liberate Te Ex Inferis (Latin for "Save Yourself from Hell", a line from the movie Event Horizon), which came out through Solid State Records. According to Weyandt, the lyrical themes were very dark on the record, which led to him lying to certain people about what the songs were actually written about. After the album was recorded, Cogdell left the band in 2000 to go to film school, while Weyandt also quit the band to work as a tattoo artist. The band would then embark on tour with Today is the Day and Nile following their departure, which led to Mellinger, Horner, and Smith hiring Corey Darst on vocals for the tour.
Once the band returned from tour, they traveled to the studio to record Zao's fifth album titled Self-Titled, with Weyandt coming by for a few days to contribute his lyrics and vocals. By this point, Weyandt returned to the band with Darst being replaced. 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. When the band traveled to the studio at Barry Poynter, the band had only written two songs by the time they arrived. "Five Year Winter" had been written on the car ride down to the studio, which was in Little Rock, Arkansas. Only Mellinger and Smith wrote and recorded the material. In hindsight, Mellinger expressed that he wishes he could re-record the album with live drums and change other small things. The initial title for the album was Alive Is Dead, but due to The Juliana Theory's Emotion is Dead being released, they did not want to give the impression they were copying them. 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 and 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 could not make it through the show and long-brewing tensions boiled over.
Smith, however, once again, contacted Solid State Records and Tooth & Nail Records funded the next Zao projects: a brand new album that featured just Smith, Mellinger, and 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. Parade of Chaos was considered to be a "half-hearted" release, due to the members' being burned out on the band and that it was planned to fulfill their contract. Smith and Mellinger were the only members at the time and had attempted to figure out who they wanted on vocals, with Darst and Ryan Downey of Burn It Down (later their manager with Superhero Management) being considered. Downey convinced Smith that Weyandt needed to be a part of the album. Weyandt recorded both Parade of Chaos and All Else Failed within three days. Following the album's 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 and 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)
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, due to some issues with addiction at the time. 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. 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, by the end of 2003, Cogdell and Mellinger realized they did not want to make a Zao record without Dan on vocals. Smith and Horner quit Zao and joined up with former bassist Kevin Moran to focus on their new band, Gods. Ashworth stepped aside. With Weyandt 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. At this time the band started to write their 7th album. HM Magazine. 2004. Retrieved on October 30, 2016 For a time, the band could not find a bassist or a drummer, with talks of Cogdell playing drums if they could not find someone.
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, but 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, tour manager, and former Pensive member 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. Weyandt worked close by to Gretz's place of employment and evidently left Gretz a note that the band needed a drummer. 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), as well as Ferrett Music's staff and Roy Culver of Solid State Records.