Orange County and it’s neighboring towns introduced the world to a whole new breed of punk rock and Zebrahead was undeniably an integral part of this movement. They captured the irreverence and drive of punk’s past but relied more heavily on pop structure and integrated in a slew of genres.
Zebrahead formed in 1996 in La Habra, California and originally consisted of Greg Bergdorf (guitars), Ed Udhus (drums), Ben Osmundson (bass), and Justin Mauriello (rhythm guitar/vocals). The members were all self-professed fans of punk acts like Green Day, Fugazi, and Descendents, but instead of making an appeal to ska like many of their contemporaries they sought inspiration in rap music. There decision to go in this direction prompted them to hirer 2nd vocalist/rapper, Ali Tabatabaee.
On 21 April 1998 the group put out a 26 minute self-titled demo through the label, Doctor Dream. This release showed much potential and landed them a record contract with major label Columbia records. Some of the tracks on the demo earned considerable public recognition as they filtered through various movies like David Spade’s “Lost and Found” and video games such as “Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3”.
Zebrahead’s mainstream studio debut “Waste of Mind” came out a little later that year and featured the two singles “Get Back” and “The Real Me”, the former of the two is credited as being the only Zebrahead single to chart on the US Billboard. “Playmate of the Year” followed in 2000 and the EP “Stupid Fat Americans” was released just a year later exclusively to the Japan market.
The band’s success continued to grow in Japan with their next studio album release “MFZB”. The album departed from the group’s saturated funk sound and embraced a more traditional punk style. It was certified gold in Japan and also peaked at no. 9 on the Japan Album Charts. Additionally the group supported the release with several appearances in Japan, one being at the Summer Sonic Festival.
Not long after the Zebrahead finished their tour through Japan lead singer Mauriello left to form a new rock group called Darling Thieves. Former Jank 1000 frontman Matty Lewis filled in for Mauriello and proved to be a good fit for the band.
The group’s 1st album with Matty Lewis “Broadcast to the World” came out on 22 February 2006 and received glowing reviews and drew comparisons to Rancid and the Clash. In 2008 Zebrahead released both the EP “Not the New Album” and their 7th studio album “Phoenix”.
Their proceeding release “Panty Raid” centered around the concept of covering girl groups. The band had briefly dabbled with this idea on the “Waste of MFZB” album on which they covered the Spice Girl’s “Wannabe”. “Panty Raid” featured covers ranging from Cyndi Lauper, Destiny’s Child, and No Doubt.
2011 saw the release of “Get Nice!” while 2013 saw the release of “Call Your Friends”, which was the band’s 1st album not to feature lead guitarist, Greg Bergdorf. 2015 welcomed Zebrahead’s “Greatest Hits? Volume 1” as well as “The Early Year - Revisited”, which is a collection of re-recorded material written between 1998 - 2003.
Papa Roach
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