Zero Boys - Biography
The Zero Boys are hardcore punk band that emerged from Indianapolis, Indiana in the early 1980s as unlikely peers to the established pioneering punk bands on the coasts, like The Dead Kennedys, The Ramones and Black Flag. The ZB’s original line-up for their first go-round—Paul Mahern (vocals), Terry “Hollywood” Howe (guitar), John Mitchell (bass) and Mark Cutsinger (drums)—formed in 1979 after Mahern read a cover story about (and absorbed the images of) The Sex Pistols in Creem magazine. The Zero Boys would release one of the seminal albums in punk rock history in 1982, Vicious Circle—which was re-released in subsequent decades, renewing interest in the band—making them one of the more recognizable names in hardcore and spawning significant appearances on both coasts. Though the landlocked group lasted just shy of four years, disbanding in 1983, it returned in the late 1980s and early 1990s to release two more full-lengths, and has reunited from time to time in the 2000s for concerts.
With Mahern only 19-years-old, The Zero Boys practiced for just three weeks before performing their first gig in Indianapolis. Oscillating between deeper subject matter often of a socio-political bent with tuneful interjections of quasi-pop sensibilities, the band put out a five-song 7” on its own Z-Disk Records called Livin’ in the ’80s, pressing 500 copies. The EP was recorded in a friend’s basement on eight-tracks over a single night and shared its sound with iconic bands like The Dictators and The Sex Pistols—and before long, word of mouth of the Midwestern act got to the punk-teeming coasts. They toured the East Coast in late 1981, playing shows in Boston and New York City, where they opened for The Beastie Boys.
The more “blazing” David “Tufty” Clough replaced Mitchell on bass and, following rehearsals in their road manager’s garage, the band recorded Vicious Circle (1982) in two days, and local label Nimrod Records brought it out with a press run of 2,000 records. Mahern—or Paul-Z, as he was called on the record sleeve—wanted the album to sound like The Germs’ Gi, and producer John Helms accommodated. Gaining play on college radio and coverage in punk fanzines spread word of The ZB’s from coast to coast and, while the vibrant raw energy and tight punk efficiency of the songs (most under two minutes in length) earned the album critical acclaim in the short run, it became an unqualified classic in years to come. Songs like “Civilization’s Dying” embarked on the popular anti-society themes of the genre, inspired by the recent shootings of Ronald Reagan, John Lennon and Pope John Paul II.
A West Coast tour in support of the album was described by Mahern as “a total unorganized fiasco” and, despite its nominal success, led to the ultimate break-up of the group. A follow-up record that The Zero Boys had been working on—titled Pay Back is Hell—never came out. However, the material from the initial EP, Livin’ in the ’80s, was included on a cassette tape called History Of (re-released by Secretly Canadian in 2009 on CD) which marked the sum total of The Zero Boys catalog before they split up. Clough joined a band Toxic Reasons and Mahern joined up for a tour with Los Angeles’ The Leaving Trains in the mid-’80s before forming Datura Seeds, which issued one full-length album Who Do You Want it To Be? (1990 Toxic Shock). Around this time, The Zero Boys reunited when Toxic Shock reissued Vicious Circle with six bonus tracks and interest in the band was again piqued. With Vess Ruhtenberg replacing Hollywood Howe on guitar, they played a show in New York City.
In the early 1990s, The Zero Boys would put out two more full-length albums that leaned more towards metal stylings—Make It Stop (1991 Bitzcore) and The Heimlich Maneuver (1993 Skyclad). Neither received much attention in the United States, but in 2009, Bloomington, Indiana-based Secretly Canadian re-released Vicious Circle as well as History Of, now considered the band’s second album.
Over the years, Mahern has primarily moved on as a producer and studio engineer now, working with artists like John Mellencamp, Lisa Germano and The Blake Babies.
