Remy Zero

Hailing from Birmingham, Alabama, Remy Zero embraced a moody and poetic approach during an era when American alternative rock largely favored aggression and immaturity. The band formed around childhood companions Cinjun Tate on vocals and guitar, Cedric Lemoyne on bass, Jeffrey Cain on guitar, Shelby Tate on guitar and keyboards, and Gregory Slay on drums; at the outset they amounted to little more than schoolboys capturing homemade tapes. During the mid-'90s the group forwarded a demo to Santa Monica’s community radio station KCRW, which drew interest from Geffen Records and ultimately secured a contract. Their self-titled debut appeared in 1996 and passed largely unnoticed, yet the 1998 follow-up Villa Elaine carried expectations that publicists in particular labeled the “Next Big Thing,” positioning the members as a youthful U2 or Radiohead. The soaring single “Prophecy,” with its emotionally unrestrained vocals, echoed Radiohead closely, though reviewers concluded the musicians never attained the creative heights of those influences across the album. Airplay for “Prophecy” coincided with modern-rock stations purging melodic, ’80s-influenced alternative pop in favor of rap-metal and mall-ready punk, leaving Remy Zero without a clear fit. The group remained absent until 2001, when it completed The Golden Hum; its first single “Save Me,” which echoed the Alarm’s toe-tapping anthems through a Radiohead lens, later became the theme for the television drama Smallville.