SoCal punk legends the Zeros play Bay Area shows
Pioneering SoCal Latin punk band the Zeros returns to the Bay Area for two shows in San Francisco and Albany this weekend.
Acknowledged as the first punk band to emerge from San Diego as well as the first punk band with Latin roots, the Zero were part of the first wave of punk groups that surfaced in Southern California's burgeoning scene in the mid-to-late '70s. Co-founding member Robert Lopez was inspired by his early experiences seeing live music as a teen -- Led Zeppelin was his first concert at age 14, though he was far more influenced by his second show headlined by proto-punk icons the New York Dolls. Lopez started playing guitar in the Zeros while attending Chula Vista High School in 1976 with fellow student, guitarist/singer Javier Escovedo, who came from a musical family.
His father played in mariachi bands and his older brothers Pete Escovedo and Thomas "Coke" Escovedo became notable percussionists in the Bay Area, performing with Santana, Malo as well as leading their own bands (Pete's daughter and Javier's niece Sheila E. would also become a Bay Area percussion legend as one of Prince's main collaborators and a solo star). But it was brother Alejandro who exerted the biggest influence on Javier, founding of San Francisco punk band the Nuns (they famously opened for the Sex Pistols at their last show before splitting). He later had success in the bands Rank and File and the True Believers before launching a solo career.
By the following year, the Zeroes were playing Los Angeles with fellow SoCal punk upstarts the Germs and the Weirdos as well as touring acts like Devo, the Damned and SF counterparts the Avengers. The band issued one of the first underground punk singles out of Los Angeles with "Don't Push Me Around" on Bomp! Records, with Lopez penning the B-side of the follow-up 7-inch "Beat Your Heart Out" in 1978.
Later that year, Lopez split from the band, which continued as a trio after a line-up shuffle. The Zeros would relocate to San Francisco and released another single on Test Tube Records in 1980 before the band fizzled out. Lopez eventually ending up as the keyboard player with more experimental punk group Catholic Discipline. That band was featured in the landmark Penelope Spheris documentary The Decline of Western Civilization in 1981.
The Zeros remained dormant through the decade as Alejandro teamed with his brother in Austin, Texas, to form the acclaimed roots-minded rock band the True Believers, who issued one album for EMI and recorded a second record that remained unreleased until after the band split in 1987. Meanwhile Lopez spent much of the '80s focused on art before inventing his satirical tribute character El Vez, the Mexican Elvis, late in the decade.
The Zeros would reunite in 1995 after reissues of early demos rekindled interest in the band. Their first proper album Knockin' Me Dead featured the classic line-up of Escovedo and Lopez with the rhythm section of Hector Penalosa (bass) and Baba Chenelle (drums) with guest appearances by the McDonald brothers from Redd Kross and Kim Shattuck from the Muffs playing a mix of hooky original songs and garage-punk covers.
That version of the band has reunited and toured periodically over the decades since, but this weekend Escovedo returns for a pair of shows with a new line-up. On Friday night, the band tops the bill at the Knockout in San Francisco's Mission District and is joined by rising all-female noise rockers Wife (who recently opened for Steel Pole Bath Tub at the group's first San Francisco show in over two decades) along with Oakland punk experimentalists Gumby's Junk and Shutups.
On Sunday, the Zeros headline an afternoon show at the Ivy Room with a different set of local bands including Hot Laundry. In the space of a few short years, the entertaining crew has risen to become a leading light on the local garage-rock scene. Fronted by pint-sized spitfire singer Janette Lopez, the band matches the vocal harmonies and sass of legendary girl group the Shangri-las and the high-octane R&B of Ike and Tina Turner with the blistering proto-punk guitars of Detroit heroes the MC5.
Flanked onstage by back-up singers Ileath Bridges and Gena Serey with matching tassled/spangled outfits and tandem dance moves, Lopez and her vocal support provide the visual focal point for the group's entertaining live show that is powered by founding guitarist/songwriter Grady Hord and the rhythm section of bassist Casey G. and drummer Arun Bhalla.
While Hord was writing material intended for the band as far back as 2017, the sextet didn't make its proper recording debut until the release of their EP Shake Slide Twist in 2021. In addition to building a following around the Bay Area with their regular club appearances, Hot Laundry provided one of the highlights to the Mosswood Meltdown in Oakland that same year.
It didn't take long for Hot Laundry to follow up with its first full-length album early in the summer of 2022. Packed with catchy, fuzzed-out groovers like "Work It" and "The Dance," Pawn Shop Gold manages to capture the kinetic punch of the group's live show. Last month, the band released a new video for their digital single "Made Like This." Fellow modern garage rockers Garras Sucias and SF punk drum-and-bass duo Lost Puppy Forever also play with DJs Marc Pop and Dick Jagger playing music before and between bands.
The Zeros
Friday, March 15, 8 p.m. $13
The Knockout
Sunday, March 17, 4 p.m. $15-$18
The Ivy Room