Authority Zero's Blog

By: Alex Young
Photo by Baden Roth

www.myspace.com/authorityzero

Authority Zero spent the last two years in limbo, despite more than a decade of dedication, producing three full-length albums, touring with Bad Religion and NOFX, and being involved with on Warped Tour.  Numerous line-up changes and cancelled shows have plagued the band, and might have been enough to make them call it quits.  Nevertheless, Authority Zero has returned in full force this year, with their most focused and furious album yet, ironically overflowing with optimism.

When Fletcher Dragge of Pennywise announced he was starting his own record label throughSuburban Noize in 2010, he also made it clear that the first band on the label was going to be Authority Zero. Once guitarist Zach Vogel stepped in, the band’s line up was complete and they hit the studio with a vengeance this summer, carving out their latest bloodthirsty release appropriately entitled “Stories of Survival”.

Lithium Magazine got the chance to catch up with lead singer Jason Devore and speak about the band’s determination to push forward in order to create their latest album.

Alex: How do you feel “Stories of Survival” is more of a siren song for the underground and goes back to the spirit of when the band was starting out?

Jason: That’s totally it man, that’s what we wanted to do but without thinking about it. I’ve said this before but we’ve been through so much in the last two and a half years with original members leaving the band and arguments, fights, and just things happening within our group. To go from when we were kids, we were such good friends, to go through so many years together and then things like that happen its kind of unreal. It automatically triggered that youthful spirit in us to write that way naturally to be honest with you, just putting out what happened to us. There was no way we’re not continue on with it, there’s no way we’re not going to continue striving to go back to where we were originally. Just be honest and put the fucking raw emotion out there as much as possible.

Alex: How much do you think adding new blood in the band changed the dynamics not just of the sound, but the spirit of what you guys are doing now?

Jason: It did a lot man. For some time there, Bill (Marcks was the band’s original guitarist) was married and had a couple kids and stuff like that. He just wasn’t really into it anymore and obviously every time you play a show that feeds on everybody. If he’s like, “Why the fuck am I here?” we’re like, “Why the fuck are we here?” When Zach (Vogel, the band’s current guitarist) came in he’d never been on tour before, he’s played music his whole fucking life, but he’s never actually been on the road in a band touring the United States. We’re going to Japan, it’s his first time, and even going to Canada, it’s his first time in Canada. So he’s more thrilled and the energy just feeds off him, even the day to day, like when you’re on stage for an hour every night, but there’s the other twenty-three hours. The real breaker is how it’s going to be the next night and if you guys are getting along. After all that you drive the twelve hours to get to that city for that hour and a half on stage and if shit’s going down all day you’re just dreading what it’s going to be like once you get up there. He (Zach) brings a new life to the band, a fresh energy to do it, to play, to travel and just play rock and roll. He’ll be broke for days but he just wants to fucking jam.

Alex: What’s it like to work with Fletcher (Dragge, guitarist of Pennywise) around the studio and also out here in the trenches on tour?

Jason: It’s great man. The Pennywise guys all around have been really supportive of us as a group for a few years now; we’ve done a couple tours with them in the past. They see where we’re coming from as well, they’re there to guide us and support us, and it’s almost like they push us in many ways. They befriend us.

Alex: At the same time it’s got to help to have some seasoned vets in your corner rooting for you and making sure you guys don’t make the same mistakes they might have.

Jason: Or they make you make the mistakes and shit just goes south real fast!

(Jason and Alex laugh)

Jason: It’s great man, they’re really great guys and it’s a big with the Viking Funeral records thing, it’s really nice to listen to these guys. With Authority Zero, I personally was highly influenced by Jim Lindberg (original Pennywise vocalist) and Greg Graffin (of Bad Religion) as lyricists and vocalists growing up just skating. That’s how I got into punk music, that’s how I got into Pennywise, I was out skating and a friend brought them to my attention. Now to be on tour with them, befriending them and working with them on a daily basis. With the label it’s weird to see the bands you look up to have faith in you when there are so many bands out there, like why us? It’s cool and it’s a cool accomplishment.

Alex: Did you guys get signed to Viking Funeral first or did you make the record and then everything sort of fell into place?

Jason: We had no record label, we funded the record ourselves, we played some shows and paid the record off ourselves and recorded it. Our manager and Fletcher grew up in the Hermosa Beach area and they were talking about starting a label that was subsidiary of Suburban Noize, like an imprint. Sub Noize would be the financial backing, like the top dog of it and Viking Funeral would be the ones pushing it and putting it out.

Alex: But you don’t have big brother looking over your shoulder telling them what bands they can and can’t sign or what records they can or can’t put out. It’s more of a free spirited thing.

Jason: Exactly man. At first we weren’t sure, because our last label was our management that turned into a record label and shit just didn’t work out at all. Like really fucking didn’t work out. There’s a worry of ruining relationships in the future, especially with Pennywise, like if shit goes south with this it could do a lot of damage. But in the end they were going with the old school spirit of it like Epitaph, Theologian records, Fat Wreck Chords back in the day that we looked up to and wanted to be a part of. But for us to be the first band on something like this was great.

Alex: It’s got to be an honor.

Jason: It really was. For us it was almost a no-brainer. Like, “What are we even thinking? How is this now a good idea because it could be the start of something really great” and it’s cool for us to be a part of something like that and start out really fresh.

Alex: Well there are no great rewards without great risks.

Jason: That’s very true man. This beard tells that story!

(Alex laughs)

Alex: Now that punk has grown and changed so much over the last ten years, let alone the last twenty or thirty, how do you guys maintain your own identity?

Jason: Just being yourself and having the support of bands and playing with bands you grew up listening to. They’re still playing, they’re still kicking ass and that’s all you ever dream of being as a kid in a band was even being noticed by bands you look up to. Let alone have them be like, “Yeah, let’s help you out” or whatever. That just right there, we might as well keep being who we are, that’s what got us to where we are. I think a lot of it is rock driven music, I think we throw so many different elements of music into our sound it just confuses people and keeps people coming or maybe thinking about getting into the band or checking us out.

Alex: At the same time that’s how it grows on people too if they don’t get it right away. Just to focus on the album (“Stories of Survival”) a little bit more, the song “Get it Right” really stood out. Do you feel that song really reflects the optimism of the album? Even though it (the album) is very rugged, rigid and rough around the edges, it has a lot of optimism in it because essentially it’s about the undeniable will to survive.

Jason: I was just playing acoustic guitar and it came from the two years of hardships for the group in general, and seeing that there might not be any Authority Zero after this year and that mentality. People were coming in and going out until it was like a weird cesspool and it didn’t even feel like Authority Zero any more. Thank God for all of our friends that stepped in to be a part of the group to keep us alive up to this point. Without them our original bass player (Jeremy Wood) would have never come back and we could have never made this record. Now the only new member is Zack and he obviously brings a new spirit to us. But that was just it, trusting people, being let down, old friendships, being let down, you feel like you’re fucking up all the time and its like, “What am I doing this for? What am I fighting for?” Maybe one day I’ll figure it out and I’ll fucking get it right.

Alex: It must have been nice to have that pent up aggression and put it to use. Funnel all that misplaced creativity into one direction.

Jason: That was totally it man. It couldn’t have come at a better time; I had a lot to talk about, a lot to say, a lot get off my chest in general. It really was a survival album; I felt that it did really encompass everything we were trying to say at this point in time. There’s not a whole lot I’d change about it.

Alex: I’m sure that’s a big part of life as an artist too, turning all this bullshit and tragedy into something awesome and beautiful in a way.

Jason: its optimism like you said man. It’s always going to be worse for someone else; it’s always going to be fucking shitty but it’s also always going to get better at some point. So you can shit on yourself and dwell on it or you can look past it and do something about it.

Alex: You can strap your boots on and kick some ass.