|
THE EARLY DAYS –
Rock, Meet Electronica
After playing many shows
in California starting in 1999 as a punk funk outfit, releasing two
CDs on San Francisco's Mission Underground Records, and getting
their music featured on the MTV show Undressed, in 2000
ZONK founders Nic McFiendish and Uncle
Bergie meet Bay Area turntablist DJ Red5 and start taking the group
in a new direction. In 2001 McFiendish meets (and later marries)
producer/musician/sound designer Dave L, who since 1995 has been
putting out independent electronic music releases on his own label
and producing music and sound design for video games and independent
films, notably numerous titles for George Lucas' video game company
LucasArts, Electronic Arts and the film Groove (Sony Pictures,
2000).
2002-2004 – The Ball
is Rocking and Rolling
Fueled by love and the
desire to combine electronic music with the energy of a live rock
band, in 2002 Dave L begins performing, producing and writing with
ZONK. By 2004 they release an EP
entitled Our Five Worst Songs on the Harmony Machine label. With
this release, ZONK wins a national
music download contest put on by Music For America, tours the east
coast opening for De La Soul in Boston, opens for Concrete Blonde in
Northern and Southern California, licenses a track to Konami for the
internationally popular video game Dance Dance Revolution, and they
are featured on Better Propaganda and NPR's Open Mic.
2005 – Bigger Shows
and Multiple Births
After a year of touring,
in early 2005 ZONK begins preparing a
new release. In March they open for Lady Kier of Deee-Lite in San
Francisco and are chosen to warm the stage for The B-52's in
California and Oregon. The new album, Half Human, is released June
21 on the Harmony Machine label, and Ms. McFiendish and Dave L
expect a full human baby in October— making 2005 the year of more
than one birth for ZONK.
HIGHLIGHTS
Diverse acts like the
B-52's, Concrete Blonde, De La Soul, the Pharcyde, and Lady Kier (of
Deee-Lite) choose ZONK as their support
Video game maker,
Konami, features music from both ZONK and their producer, Dave L, in
the internationally popular Dance Dance Revolution Ultra Mix 2 and
Ultra Mix 3(Xbox)
ZONK wins
MusicForAmerica.org’s 2004 national download contest
Releases: Half Human
(2005), Our Five Worst Songs (2004), Tongue in Cheeks (2002), To
Play is to Win (2001)
The 2002 John Lennon
Songwriting Contest awards an honorable mention for ZONK’s song “hard.full.often.”
MTV chooses two ZONK
tracks for the 1999 show Undressed
ZONK music is played
throughout the land between San Francisco’s Alice Radio 97.3FM, KMRJ,
American college radio, Mexican radio, and Internet radio
Organizations including
NPR, Better Propaganda, TheOwlMag, Musician’s Atlas and numerous
blogs highlight the band
Distribution and
publishing deals include Red Eye, INGrooves and BeatSync |
