ZERO

Zero was founded on the musical partnership of Steve Kimock and Greg Anton in 1980. At the same time, a music room, primatively, but comfortably converted from a cattle shed, emerged from the depths of Marin County. There Anton played drums and piano, Kimock, guitar and bass, and the compositions were recorded on 16-track. "It's not worked out. It occurs," says Kimock.

Perhaps the free-flowing electric rockin' jazz/blues they were making owes something to the creative spirit of the barn itself. These greywood walls were freely festooned with emblazons from some of the richest dumps on the West Coast. Brindled cows consorted with a sculptural panorama of arcane farm ironmongery and found objects of American culture arranged in ever changing compositions of contrast and enigma. A sign pointed to "Nancy's Kitchen", where feasts of incredible delicacy insinuated grace notes into the creative mix. The wine cellar was in the chicken coop. Manager Dave Cort's office was in the saddle room. A crow alighted on a fence post. The eagle circled overhead. The rehearsal hall was set, invested with the aroma of anticipation, ready to rouse creative thunder into reverberation with extended gesture of its surroundings.

To this pastoral haven were soon attracted some of the Bay area's most distinctive musicians: John Cipollina (Quicksilver, Copperhead, Dinosaurs), John Kahn (Jerry Garcia Band), Banana (Youngbloods), Martin Fierro (Mother Earth, Jerry Garcia), Bobby Vega (Sly and the Family Stone), John Farey, Steve Wolf... and soon an original brand of instrumental fusion emerged in compositions like Golden Road and Girls Drums.

When producer Paul Broucek hooked them up with the wizard fusion engineer Brian Rizner in 1984, a new partnership was formed and soon Zero was building on the early tracks at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley. Now began the epoch of the search for the perfect pizza which proceeded through combinations too unimaginable to remember until the ideal result was achieved with Pizza Jalapeno Zero, and between inventions, Here Goes Nothin' was recorded. It contains some of the late John Cipollina's most textual guitar work, and for a vocal gracenote, Donna Godchaux's last recorded rock and roll song, Showboat, before she returned to her Gospel roots.

Here Goes Nothin' is the result of this evolutionary process. Recording was integral to Zero from the beginning; the basics were laid down before the band formed and started gigging. As they began performing live gigs in the Bay Area, Zero crystallized its musical direction. "The tendency is," says Kimock, "When you play instrumental music, it's got to be together and you gotta have big charts and all that. The 'disorganization' of Zero is what makes it happen. It's so untogether that everybody's forced to react and to try and save it." Banana says, "We're not afraid of chaos and we're not afraid of disasters and we're not afraid of cacophony. Most of the time we're in tune with each other on a mental or artistic basic."

The road has taken Zero to strange places - an international barbecued rib competition in Cleveland, an all-metal club in Boston, the Oregon Country Faire - contrasts which reflect their ability to play shows with any number of different bands: Ray Charles, Greg Allman, the Neville Brothers, Allen Toussaint, Stephen Stills. They have been joined on stage by Paul Kantner, Grace Slick, Jerry Garcia, Mickey Hart, Jesse Colin Young, Norton Buffalo, and Mimi Farina. Their music is accessible, a musical eclecticism which intellectually baffles yet ultimately enthrals listeners.

Here Goes Nothin' was Zero's first record, originally released in 1987. Since then the band has toured extensively and released a second recording (1989), Nothin' Goes Here. This re-release puts two great records by Zero in the catalog of Mobile Fidelity, whose Original Master Recordings have made the label synonymous with quality and the perfect vehicle for Zero.

San Francisco: Zero had just finished blazing through their final set of the night. The music floated, soaring, peaking, and exploding. The audience was electrified. Drummer Greg Anton came off stage, dripping sweat, breathing fire, amazed at the response: "These people are all looking at the stage trying to figure out where the music is coming from. So are we... It's coming from some point between us all." The Zero point, where it all rolls into one. Zero Consciousness. Uncharted space. Free form improvisation that mixes jazz, rock and rhythm and blues, creating great tender waves of power which lead us with integrity into those realms where the structure of chaos is warmed and defined. It's a mutual trust. And the audience allows itself to be taken where it may, revelling in the freedom.

Yet there is form to this energy. Melody, laughing and weeping from Steve Kimock's guitar; the whole range of fiery zest from the saxophone of Martin Fierro and Hadi Al-Sadoon's trumpet; lyrical space and counterpoint rhythm from Banana's keyboard; the dynamics and surprise of Greg Anton's drumming. These musicians trust they will find each other in the void and we trust them.

From San Francisco, founded on the enduring partnership of Anton and Kimock in the late 70's. Zero evolved from the Heart of Gold Band which was formed with the late Keith Godchaux, who was then stepping out on his own from the Grateful Dead. Later they went in a more purely instrumental direction, playing with several classic Bay Area bassists. With the addition of Banana, who was the lyrical liverwurst of the Youngbloods, Zero became a touring band in the 80's and put out their first record Here Goes Nothin' to critical acclaim.

The late legendary guitarist John Cipollina was a constant member of the band. He took the position of rhythm guitar, showing a dimension of his talent new to lovers of his music. Nothin' Goes Here contains one of the last performances by this great musician - on Gregg's Eggs, the one live track on this album recorded at a benefit for the Seva Foundation for the blind, in Harvard Square, Boston.

Zero recorded the rest of the album at Prairie Sun Studios in Cotati, California, with engineer/producer Brian Rizner, a wizard of sound with a history of creating fusion out of confusion, working with such bands as Miles Davis, Steely Dan, Santana, John McLaughlin and Weather Report. His partnership with Zero was perfect. The band went into the studio, set up live, and just played. Five uninterrupted days and nights. The air was thick, the wine flowed, gravity was non-existent. And Rizner could predict the Zero Point! When harmonic convergence was ready to appear from the arcane meanderings of the group's musical soul, he was always ready to capture those transient crystallizations in a medium primed and ready. "When is more important than what" said Steve Kimock, a point of Zero Consciousness understood by Rizner. And also by John Kahn, musical director and bass player with the Jerry Garcia Band, who brought his eminent instrumental and studio skills to these sessions, laying down fundamental touchstones for the odyssey. One night, another long-time Zero bass player, Bobby Vega, came to Prairie Sun when everyone was gone except Anton and Kimock. True Zero point happened - This is Your Brain and This is Your Brain on Drums; and Rizner got it. Such is the serendipity of readiness.

Nothin' Goes Here is a state-of-the-art 24 track recording. It is natural that Zero should have teamed up with Mobile Fidelity whose Original Master Recordings set the standard for quality of sound, worldwide. The feeling of the music is live, and the ambience continues unhindered through Mobile's manufacturing process, allowing the listener to become a sixth member of the band.

Where nothing goes, everything is revealed. The variety and strength of feeling the life has for itself is to be found and savored with the music of Zero.