Those currently labouring beneath the supervision of producer Mark Wallis on what will become The Blazing Zoos' debut album are Andrew Mueller (vocals, guitar), Mike Edwards (guitar, vocals), Robin Colgan (keyboards, mandolin, vocals), Seymour Patrick (bass), Gen Matthews (drums). Special guests thus far corralled include Jason Moffat (banjo), Matthew Dupuy (bass), John Moore (saw), Astrid Williamson (backing vocals), Neil Herd (pedal steel).
Influences
George Jones, Glen Campbell, Gene Clark, Leon Payne, Waylon Jennings, Robbie Fulks, Cracker, Shel Silverstein, Johnny Cash, The Old 97s, John Hiatt, Chris Mills, Big & Rich, The Bottle Rockets, Dwight Yoakam, Beasts Of Bourbon, Buck Owens, Green On Red, The Handsome Family, Jim Reeves, Corb Lund & The Hurtin' Albertans, Dallas Wayne, Paul Kelly, 16 Horsepower, John Kennedy's Love Gone Wrong, Thin White Rope, Jim White, Lee Hazlewood, Willie Nelson, Todd Snider, Drive-By Truckers, Bobbie Gentry, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Ryan Adams & The Cardinals, Faron Young, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Emmylou Harris, Merle Haggard, Laura Cantrell, Violent Femmes, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Merle Haggard, Johnny Paycheck, The Arlenes, Uncle Tupelo, Travis Tritt, The Dillards, Hank Williams, The Jayhawks, Patsy Cline, Tammy Wynette, John Prine, Sparklehorse, Alabama 3, American Music Club, Steve Earle, Kris Kristofferson, Lynn Anderson, Weddings Parties Anything, The Louvin Brothers
Sounds Like
Shel Silverstein and The Old 97s yelling at each other, in a shed.
"If Badly Drawn Boy made an album in Nashville, it would sound like The Blazing Zoos" - MCPS-PRS Alliance podcast
"Phenomenally marvellous" - Uncut
"They really rock" - The Outlaw Punk Cowboy Show
"A country band" - The Adelaide Advertiser
"A country band" - The South China Morning Post
If it was legal to drink yourself to sleep in Libya, none of it would ever have happened. The Blazing Zoos, a country & western group, gestated in late 2005 and early 2006 in Sydney, Tripoli, London, Nashville and a small Cameroonian town called Kumbo. The linkage between these disparate locations was the peregrinations of the journalist and author Andrew Mueller, who is the person chiefly responsible, although he pleads in mitigation a singularly unmake-uppable series of happenstances and coincidences which have persuaded him, perhaps foolishly, that ineffable cosmic forces with which it would be daft to trifle are at work, and that this was Meant To Be. There is a reason for The Blazing Zoos' name, but since disclosing it is apt to encourage folk to mistake The Blazing Zoos' raison d'etre for vindictive misogyny, it will be revealed only upon application. And probably not even then. Just enjoy the repeated "Z" sound.
The Blazing Zoos made their live debut in July 2006. For reasons far, far too complicated to explain here, this occurred at a festival on a beach in southern Albania. The Blazing Zoos' lineup that evening comprised Andrew Mueller (vocals, guitar) Jesus Jones frontman Mike Edwards (guitar, vocals), justly revered Shetlandic chanteuse Astrid Williamson (piano, vocals), Dan Burke (guitar, vocals), Alec Pointon (bass) and former Jesus Jones drummer Gen Matthews (drums, unsurprisingly). There are photos confirming that this did actually happen in the Pics section of this site.
The Blazing Zoos' piano stool has since been filled by the unarguably less glamorous but riotously gifted Robin Colgan. As of August 2007, bass guitar duties have been temporarily transferred to the capable hands of Seymour Patrick, late of Miss Black America, presently of Ten City Nation and Open Mouth.
More shows are being scheduled in the maddeningly rare windows which find every one of the jetsetting playboys that comprise the group in the same country at the same time. However, support spots to such luminaries as Kris Delmhorst, The Dials and Corb Lund & The Hurtin' Albertans have already been discharged. And, thanks to the patronage of a burgeoning clique of discerning broadcasters, The Blazing Zoos are cropping up on the radio in at least four US states, which delights us severely.
The Blazing Zoos are now determinedly plotting their next steps towards owning graceless mansions with banjo-shaped swimming pools, a rhinestone-studded tour bus with moose antlers jutting from the front, and feeling entitled to swan about wearing stupid big hats despite a collective inability to discern one end of a cow from the other.
In January 2008, they began recording, with producer Mark Wallis (Go-Betweens, Alabama 3, Paul Kelly, Travis, among a zillion others) what will become their debut album, at time of writing more likely than not to be titled "I'll Leave Quietly", for unleashing at a date to be confirmed.
Gday Blazing Zoos, It will be a pleasure to be doing a gig with you at the Troubadour in a few weeks. Looking forward to meeting y'all. Cheers, Carolyn
Hey why not don ya best cowboy boots and space helmet and climb aboard the only spaceship with horses legs...BONANZAs brand new club night: 'Tripping In The Country' at Bardens Boudoir on Wednesday/tomorrow/tonight!!!!
+ BONANZA on ResonanceFM every Sunday at 12 Noon… Resonance 104.4FM or online at www.resonancefm.com
Upcoming shows:
Sunday 20th May: live session Josh T. Pearson... Fresh from his appearance at All Tomorrows Parties and UK tour, Texan Maverick and Troubadour Pearson will deliver what is sure to be an intense and yet intimate performance.
Sunday 3rd June: live session from The Family... Swaggering, Bourbon-drenched, Cosmic, Country for bow-legged women. These guys will surely 'Country-Rock!'... Bedlam beckons!
Sunday 10th June: live session from The Brick Lane Boogie Boys... Keeping the spirit of Johnny Cash alive with blistering, raw boogie-woogie, Rockin' Country & authentic Hill/Rockabilly!
