The Zeros
Right Now!

    In the very early days of punk rock, 1974-75, I was living in the N.Y.C Borough of Queens. A half-mile or so down the street from the 59th street bridge, there was a club called "The Coventry." It was there that I stumbled upon the Ramones for the first time, and on that same night, I saw one of the first ever gigs of Johnny Thunders Heartbreakers. Two influential bands, whose legacy lives on, in this powerful new disc, Right Now! by the Zeros. A band once labeled as the Mexican Ramones.
    Around that time, I played bass in a band fronted by Tish & Snooky. They owned Manic Panic, New York's first Punk Rock boutique. They took a trip out west. A scavenger hunt of thrift stores, and second hand shops, in search of cool 50's and 60's threads for their infamous St. Mark's Place ground breaking shop. They brought back black leather, Cuban heeled, roach killin', pointy toed Beatle boots from Tijuana. And they brought back records. Records from bands I never heard of before. Bands like The Screamers, The Dickies and The Zeros.
The one that caught my attention, was a single by the Zeros, on the Bomp record label. It was called "Don't Push Me Around," the flip side being "Wimp." Could this be for real? A Mexican punk rock band, complete with a Chicano Johnny Thunders-style lead guitar player?
Now don't get me wrong here: don't confuse these Zeros with the purple-haired 80's band. No, these Zeros were there from the beginning, and they are still here. So let's give them a little long overdue respect. Perhaps they have not played together for a number of years, but the various members have continued to make great music. Singer Robert Lopez, best known as "El Vez," can often be seen at local L.A. watering holes, like Jack's Sugar Shack, fronting the speeding Rockabilly freight train, known as "The Trailer Park Casanovas." Guitarist Javier Escovedo, who is one of a long line of talented family musicians, (Coke Escovedo, Sheila E. and brother, Alejandro among them), has been keeping his musical chops up, as a member of the local band Sacred Hearts. He has also recently toured Spain as a member of the resurrected White Flag. Rounding out this record is the original rhythm section, consisting of Hector Penalosa on bass, and Baba Chenelle on drums.
    Playing regularly, they have matured as musicians. This new album, Right Now!, on the Bomp label doesn't merely take up from where they left off, but it shows that they have developed, and at the same time maintained the original feel of what made them so special in the first place. Their influences are all over this record. If you are a fan of the Buzzocks, The Rich Kids, The Boyz, The Undertones, Syl Sylvain, Eddie & The Hot Rods, The Dictators, The Ramones or Johnny Thunders Heartbreakers, you will love this record. If you dig 60's Garage, like The Standells, The Pretty Things, or The 13th Floor Elevators, you will also love this record. You'll find an inspired version of "Pushin' Too Hard" by The Seeds. There is also a spirited cover of the song that has become a staple of Garage bands everywhere, (most notably The CrampsThe Cramps, and The Fuzztones), "Strychnine" by The Sonics.
    The standout track, "You, Me, Us," is the best power pop song since "Teenage Kicks"(Undertones). If this were the 70's, they'd be on the cover of Trouser Press magazine. Paying homage to the late Johnny Thunders, The Zeros give us a slick, clean, polished version of "Chatterbox," the song that was Johnny's first recorded vocal performance. I'm sure Johnny (Thunders) and Jerry (Nolan) are proud up there in rock 'n' roll heaven.
    It's fitting that this new record is on the Bomp label. Just as the original Zero's record, 22 years ago was on the Bomp label. A label that has brought us great records throughout all those years and the original home of such power pop gems as The Poppees, and The Boyfriends. The label that first gave us The Romantics, Stiv Bators, The B'Girls and Nikki & The Corvettes. Let us not forget that Bomp owner Greg Shaw had his hand in one of the finest rock 'n' roll records ever, The Flamin' Groovies masterpiece, Shake Some Action. For that alone, he deserves a place in the rock 'n' roll hall of fame! This new record by the Zeros fits in nicely with the previous Bomp catalog. Listening to it now in the twilight of 1999, the pounding beat takes me back twenty-two years, to when I heard the Zeros for the first time. 1977 forever!
--John Carlucci