You see, in an age where most rock bands take themselves so seriously it’s almost like they’re afraid to move so much as a limb on stage, and plain ol’ sex-starved, rude and crude rock-and-roll is considered old hat, ZänKoma is a breath a fresh air. You walk into a ZänKoma show—well—you’d better brace yourself for the primeval freak-out; the head-banging and the scraggled hair and the tongues flashing and the hips thrusting in perfect time. That’s rock and roll, folks. Or at least, that’s what it used to be, and ZänKoma—a young L.A. band comprised of a bunch of furry dudes who could have been Metallica roadies if they’d been born two decades earlier—is bringing it back.
Since the band’s inception in early 2007, the beer-swilling boys of ZänKoma have graduated from the school of typical run-of-the-mill bar bands and become first-class arena rockers, opening for Bad Company, scoring roles in commercial ads and selling out shows on a regular basis. And with their splashes of Moterhead-induced power chords, their AC/DC riffing and soaring Guns N Roses choruses, their sound is powerful enough to blow the balls off a charging rhino. Here’s how it all happened:
One day Adam Balogh puts an ad up on Craigslist because, shucks, being in a band has been his dream since he was five years old and just why the hell did he high-tail it out of Germany and into Los Angeles anyway?—for the smog? Fuck no. He’d been in and out of bands for several years, but this time, with his Hetfield-like growl and his Nathan Explosion look, he was going to make it happen. When he got a response from Ben “jammin” , a Texas-born drummer more influenced by the caveman beats of The Electric Mayhem’s Animal than John Bonham, the two of them met in person, and wouldn’t you know if they didn’t hit it off immediately? From there, they recruited the tea-sipping Steve Burchell into their midst, fresh off the boat from England—a guy who could hold his own against the best of them so far as the neck of a Les Paul was concerned. Add to this, the addition of the bass-humping, shit stompin’, Jager Guzzling, Thunder-Steed Jeremy Mendelzon (SoCal, born and raised) some months later, and you had ZänKoma, fully loaded and ready to take aim and fire straight into your geriatric grandmother’s face.
In the later half of 2007, the band teamed with Bill Dooley—musical engineer extraordinaire whose portfolio includes such names as David Crosby, Zakk Wylde, Cheap Trick and Motley Crue—to master their first EP, a self-titled, self-produced three-song preview of where the band was headed. From there, the shows started pouring—first onto Hollywood’s Sunset Strip, then quickly spreading to Las Vegas and the wider regions of Texas. ZänKoma has accrued more and more fans at each and every pit stop they make. For each power chord they shred and for every shot of whiskey they drink, their crowds grow, along with their name. And with a primetime slot scheduled for this summer’s Pride! Festival—a charity event with a mission to raise money for AIDs research—they’re gearing up to play to a crowd of over 40,000.
Grab a gal, turn up the amps and let the beer pour, gentlemen. ZänKoma’s gonna rev this engine ‘til it squeals.
