ZAO News Update 12.10.06 When Zao recently played in Denver, CO with Throwdown we were greeted at the venue by Maris The Great. Maris has a band. They are not very popular. To remedy this, Maris has been killing bands that travel through Denver (Throwdown was also recently killed). Maris feels that if these bands that are more popular than his are killed that his band will by default "wow the masses." We were more than willing to be turned into gore for his pleasure. For those of you that were bummed about lack of blood in the My Love video... this is for you. Go check it out: NOT WORKSAFE or SCHOOL SAFE. There are plenty of warnings on the page. Complaint letters can be dragged into that little trashcan icon on your desktop. enjoy WWW.MARISTHEGREAT.COM ZAO News Update 11.10.06 Zao ring-tones! You can get ring-tones from a bunch of songs off of our new album by visiting HERE! The band is taking a little break after a very, very busy year that included making the new album with Steve Albini, shooting a video, touring with In Flames & Trivium, co-headlining the Ferret Music tour, touring with Demon Hunter and touring with Throwdown. Scott is writing and recording with his Jade Meridian project as we speak. Check out his music HERE! Marty has been jamming with a couple of the guys from The Juliana Theory, Dan is tattooing, and Jeff is recording with various projects. Check this new site often for constant ZAO updates!  ZAO News Update 11.02.06 Zao ring-tones! You can get ring-tones from a bunch of songs off of our new album by visiting HERE! The band is taking a little break after a very, very busy year that included making the new album with Steve Albini, shooting a video, touring with In Flames & Trivium, co-headlining the Ferret Music tour, touring with Demon Hunter and touring with Throwdown. Scott is writing and recording with his Jade Meridian project as we speak. Check out his music HERE! Marty has been jamming with a couple of the guys from The Juliana Theory, Dan is tattooing, and Jeff is recording with various projects. Check this new site often for constant ZAO updates!  TOUR DIARY Part 3 September 23, 2006 9.13.06 Denver, CO First an explanation. Scott gets a call on his cell phone maybe 3 or 4 days into tour. We are told we're going to die in Denver. We didn't get upset because we knew exactly who it was. It was Maris the Great. Maris is a zombie who fronts a band called Maris the Great and the Faggots of Death. Now, he feels his band isn't famous enough and all the bands that are better than his must die to make room for his. We think this is amazing, he recently killed Throwdown and they were super excited about it and told Maris that he should kill us. So... we get to the venue early and get our gear into the club anxiously awaiting our "disposal". Sure enough, Maris shows up and takes us across the street to the Headbangers Salon and kills us (As soon as the photos are ready, we'll let you know). The best part of this is that we got done being killed about 5 minutes before our set. So what did we do? We played completely covered in blood. It was pretty fun until the blood started getting in my eyes and burning. All over my drums. All over the guitars. All over stage. Good times. 9.15.06 Boise, ID Ahhhh.... The Venue, in Boise. Third time this year. What's so great about the Venue in Boise? One of the owner's (known as Mom) is a wonderful lady that cooks full on home cooked meals for the band. The first time we were there she had bread bowls and all sorts of soups and chili and stuff... always good to get a decent homecooked meal on tour so we ALWAYS look forward to going here (and the shows are always fun too). Dragonforce is playing down the street and Maylene's tour manager knows someone in their touring party and hooks it up so we can get in with our tour passes. After our set I walk around town looking for it only after a while realizing that I don't like them at all... I settle on a nice little coffee shop and get some REALLY good coffee. I'm still tired from the night before and the drive today. I get to talk to a couple fans outside at the venue before we take off but other than the good meal, the set and Marty and I looking for "young" pictures of Anne Ramsey (Mama Fratelli in the Goonies and Throw Mama From The Train leading lady) online it was a pretty boring day. Side Note: Although we DID find out that Anne Ramsey was partially responsible for opening the Theatre For The Living Arts in Philadelphia (at which Zao has played several times this year, weird. If anyone can find a 60's or 70's era photo of Anne Ramsey it would make my year. We just want to know what she looked like when she was young. Was she a babe? Did she just ALWAYS look like she did in Goonies? What's the deal? These questions haunted the Zao van for the duration of the tour) 9.16.06 Spokane, WA Pull up to the venue in Spokane to find out that the Melvins played here the night before. Figures. We play on the same block as Dragonforce the night before but not the Melvins. (The Melvins are probably one of my favorite bands by the way) Oh well. Zao hasn't played in Spokane in YEARS and it shows. REALLY good crowd. Super excited. This further sends home the proof that we need to tour LESS. Quite a few fights tonight. This whole fighting this is really getting out of hand and boring. Every night we see at least 3 fights break out at the shows. All the bands are getting sick of it. Great show nonetheless. Get to talk to some fans outside the club afterwards again. I must say, most of our fans are some of the coolest. For the most part I usually have really interesting conversations with people at our shows. Granted for every good one there is the Omaha girl (see previous entry) but I really do enjoy it. As we're leaving the club Dan opts to ride with the Evergreen Terrace guys (as he does a lot on this tour). We get back to the hotel. I'm watching TV in my room with Mike (our merch guy) and I get a text message from our manager, "Dan is in jail?" Here's what we hear at this point. The guys from Mayelene called the guys in Throwdown and said that Dan and the Evergreen Terrace boys got caught trying to steal liquor from a gas station. Hit the owner of the gas station with their van and ended up getting arrested and thrown into jail. What REALLY happened? Evergreen got pulled over for missing a stop sign. The cop let them go. Maylene passed the van pulled over and sent a text message to Josh (Evergreen's guitarist) and said, "what happened". Josh and Dan thought it would be funny to mess with them and basically sent a message back that said "Dan got caught trying to steal liquor and beef jerky. The owner caught them. Josh punched the guy out and they sped off and then got pulled over". The guys in Maylene never bothered to call back, they merely called throwdown and told them. Throwdown called their manager, who is OUR manager and told them. The whole time, Dan and the guys are waiting for Maylene to call back and say, "are you serious" to which point they would let them off the hook. See what happens when you're on the road for too long kids? It later got sorted out and everyone had a good laugh. Except for our manager who I think has several grey hairs because of it. 9.17.06 Seattle, WA Uh oh. Seattle. El Corazon. Last time we played here was on the Ferret Tour, Dan and I got into a pretty heated arguement backstage. Dan punched a wall and shattered several bones in his hand causing the tour to be cancelled. The time before when we were in Seattle we almost died in the mountains in the snow. Seattle has a sort of curse for us. We're scared. As soon as I get to the venue I go backstage to look for Dan's bone. (The doctor's told him part of the bone is gone and is probably laying in the club). The first thing Dan does is look for the bone. Neither of us find it. Roy Culver (former Solid State employee) is out to see us tonight as is Ryan Clark (Demon Hunter vocalist). Really good show, I think we make up for the last time's bad vibes. Ryan comes out and sings on Skin Like Winter (reprising his role on the original recording). Nothing bad happens this time (oh wait, Dan lost his keys and never did find them) 9.18.06 Portland, OR Steeler game. We track down a Steeler bar several blocks from the club to watch the game. It's amazing. It's like being at home. Everyone in the bar has their black and gold on and their terrible towels. They also have a deal 2 tacos for a buck. I get 6. At the half Dan calls us to let us know the game is on a big screen in the bar of the club. So we drive back and watch the steelers lose. This casts a pall over us as we get ready to go play. So we start the set and no sooner than maybe 5 minutes in someone throws a coin onstage. Then a few minutes later a water bottle. Full. Now, I know, it's a plastic bottle. But the point is, when you're on stage and you're playing and the lights are in your face you're sort of at the mercy of the crowd. I've seen dudes get knocked out cold from getting hit with something as silly as a water bottle. I basically offer a deal that if the person throws anything else I will give the person that points him out a piece of merchandise from the band of their choice. Nothing else comes on stage but there is a fight right after I say this... so who knows. Another show, another fight. Overall a good show though. The second the show is over I end up throwing up every last bit of taco from the steeler bar all over the alley behind the club. No more mexican food for me on this tour. This is too much. 9.19.06 Day off I'll tell you what, the drive from Portland to San Francisco is the most beautiful drive in the country. It is like driving through a model train set. The mountains are perfect, the trees are perfect, the lakes are as blue as you can imagine. I got to drive the bulk of this and I'm SO glad. Otherwise I would have slept through it. Mount Shasta is where I will move when I get old and turn into the Unibomber. 9.20.06 San Francisco, CA I now have a handlebar moustache. I don't think my girlfriend is going to like it. In fact at breakfast as I'm on the phone with her and tell her she says, "you don't look like a 70's porn star do you" I asked the guys if I did and at once they all said, "Yes you do". Scott (throwdown's guitar-tech) says I look "so shitty" I ask if that's good and he says, "dude, that's the best facial hair I've seen in a while." Mission Accomplished. A bit of chaos at the club. Someone breaks into Evergreen Terrace's van and steals their merch guy's passport (he's from austrailia and has to fly back after tour) this happens in broad daylight so we take turns sitting outside by the van watching it and jason gives him a ride to the austrialian embassy to work this garbage out. Slim's (the club) is great. They have an in house cook that makes all this great food for the bands. I eat light so as not to repeat Portland. Good show again. We do a little video interview outside and I give a drum head signed by the whole band to a fan of ours since it's his birthday. 9.21.06 Lancaster, CA Ok. So I guess last night while we're in San Fran the venue in Lancaster gets shut down by the fire marshall. They find an alternative venue. It's in the middle of the desert. It's a mexican restauraunt. There is a trampoline in the parking lot. The bathroom is covered in spider webs and the show is going to be outside. There's sand blowing everywhere. This is amazing. If you've ever seen From Dusk Till Dawn you'll get a good idea. It was sort of like we were playing in the parking lot of the Titty Twister. In fact, we were all waiting for everyone that worked there to turn into vampires. I'll tell you what though, the food was amazing (not only did I give in and get a GIANT burrito) but had quite a few of the best Margaritas and Mexican beer I've had in a long time. The show was good (even though we had to cut a couple songs due to and early show curfew). More fights again. 9.22.06 Ventura, CA Last show of the tour. Ryan, our manager, comes out because we're having a pretty big band meeting about our future plans for recording and touring. Everything goes pretty great and we're all super excited when we leave the meeting. Dan gets a haircut and shaves. It's freaking me out. He looks like he hasn't aged a day since 1998. Literally, if you look at the photo inside Where Blood And Fire Bring Rest... that's what he looks like again. Super weird. Show is pretty good. A couple of the guys from Devildriver come out to see us since they live near here. Josh from Evergreen (also the singer from the band Casey Jones) comes out and sings on Five Year Winter with Dan. Which is fitting. Evergreen and Zao have pretty much become one band for this tour. We pretty much hang out toghether more than any band we've ever toured with. Many fights tonight. In fact, Scott stops the set to berate a group of guys that are literally pounding on some kid for like 5 minutes in front of him. At one point someone throws a hunting knife on stage. All I know is I look up and Dan is shrieking into the mic with one hand and holding this knife in the other. He quickly jams the knife into the drum riser. I have no idea where he got the knife until the show is over and he says, "someone threw it onstage". Now it's getting scary. Maybe it's good we're taking a break. The violence and "scene" bullshit we've seen on this tour are getting really old. It's not just us either, I watch Throwdown's set from the balcony and see at least 3 fights at different points. Dave spends most of the set yelling at the people involved. Is this what the "scene" has become? Not the best way to end the tour, everyone was kind of bummed afterwards. Immediately after the show we left Ventura, CA (approx 11:30 pm) we drove STRAIGHT across the country and pulled into pittsburgh at around 10:30 pm Sunday night. 47 hours in the van with no stops (except for gas and one ill-fated stop at Denny's). Next step: We're going to sit on our asses. No, not really. Marty is going to start working on his new band The Hymnal. Scott is going to spend some time with his wife (he's pretty much been on tour non-stop since they got married) and continue writing for his Jade Meridian project. Dan is working on a book (Zao-related) and do some tattooing. I'm going to do some stuff with Conelrad and relocate to New York. Oh yeah. Zao stuff... We're going to put together material for 2 (!!!) albums (one is sure to piss some people off and one is a "standard" Zao record, which will probably piss some people off). We're also going to be launching an official "fan-club" and we'll probably be out in the Spring for a headlining tour. In the meantime, we'll let you know about stuff as it happens. Keep checking back here and soon on our newly rebuilt (and might I say, darn pretty) new website which will be launched soon. - Jeff