© photo by Tereza Jirásková
ZU is a strange beast...
...Officially born in Ostia, on the sea of Rome Italy in 1997, the band has released more than 15 albums and played thousands of shows throughout the planet, gaining a cult status worldwide. Genre-defying and boundary-blurring, Zu has evolved a unique musical language following its own personal path. Parts of metal, noise, prog, electronic music, ambient, industrial, and contemporary music, are transformed and reshaped in their unique form, resembling none of the above. In the last 20+ years, they have collaborated with a wide array of artists, from their famous collaboration with Mike Patton on Carboniferous album, to acclaimed theatre director Romeo Castellucci and his Societas Raffaello Sanzio. They have released albums on labels such as Ipecac Recordings and (Ulver-curated) House Of Mythology on which they published an experimental trilogy: Jhator (2017) Zu93 – Mirror Emperor (2018), Terminalia Amazonia (2019).
Five years since...
...their last full length on Ipecac, the critically acclaimed Carboniferous, and following a three year hiatus, ZU returned in May 2014 with the release of a brand new EP, Goodnight Civilization (Trost Records) featuring Gabe Serbian of The Locust on drums, and subsequently with an album with Eugene Robinson of Oxbow on vocals called "The Left Hand Path", also on Trost, and the new full length “Cortar Todo” on Ipecac.
© photo by Tereza Jirásková
The band is on tour again...
...until 2019, alternating Tomas Järmyr (Yodok III, Motorpsycho) on drums and Jacopo Battaglia who returns on the occasion of the 10-year anniversary of Carboniferous.
The pandemic has provided a forced break and the opportunity to reflect deeply until 2024, when they show up again with a vinyl reissue of "Bromio" (their first work from 1999), followed by "The Lost Demo", a sort of legendary testimony of their debuts dated 1996, both on the roman label Subsound Records.
In 2024 a "natural" partnership...
...is born with another cult band from the other side of the ocean: the iconic Japanese noise rock band Ruins, performing as RuinsZu. With Tatsuya Yoshida (Ruins) on drums they set off on one month European tour and a live album to be released in 2025 for Subsound Records.
They are in studio recording a new album in July 2025... we'll have news about it soon...
© Daniele Di Egidio
The list of their collaboration...
...is endless, Mike Patton, Joe Lally (Fugazi), King Buzzo (The Melvins), David Tibet (Current 93 - releasing an album in 2018 as Zu93), FM Einheit (Einsturzende Neubauten), as well as Damo Suzuki (Can), Mats Gustafsson, members of The Ex, The Locust, Ruins (new album coming out in 2025 as RuinsZu).
