ZEZOZOSE
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A BRIEF 'PRE-ZEZOZOSE' HISTORY
In the spring of 1990, the band known as THE AMERICAN VANDALS was on its last leg. Founding members DOUG HARRADINE on guitar, and TOM PETER on lead vocals weren't even seeing eye-to-eye on the music anymore. Since 1985, the band changed line-ups at least 4 times and was getting bored playing the same songs to the same people . Even playing was difficult with bassist LOU ROSSI living in Boston and only coming to Rochester for the summer and holidays. Drummer ROB FILARDO sided with Doug that 'a change had to be made'.
At the same time, death-metal-heads EXPLICIT DEATH were on the brink of self-destruction. Formed in 1987 by lead guitarist/lead singer/songwriter JOE DIPROJETTO, this band also had numerous line-up changes which led to an overall lack of 'wanting to progress', which is what Joe wanted
to do more than the others. After a particularly lousy gig at a party in May of 1990, Joe quit the band he started and joined his friends THE AMERICAN VANDALS as it's 2nd guitarist the next day.
Having 2 guitarists proved to be messy, especially with the differences between Joe's metal style and Doug's VERY unorthodox punk style, so after a show at NYC's 'THE BITTER END' in August of 1990, Lou returned to Boston for the fall semester of school and the band decided to make Joe the bass player and continue as a 4-piece, which led to even more changes...
The 'new' American Vandals played only a handful of shows from August 1990 - November 1990 when they realized that, although the *music* was headed in a new, exciting direction, the lead vocals didn't fit quite right. A new singer and a new name would help the band follow their vision, however blurred it seemed at the time. THE STORM, a local rock band with a strong, but shy lead singer by the name of JIM CLARK were falling apart around this time and Jim & Joe had recently become friends. Why not try him out?
