Biography
A Los Angeles-based trio whose aesthetic deliberately blends punk, metal, stoner rock, and trailer-trash imagery, Zig Zags had already issued a lively series of 7" singles, appeared on a Burger Records anthology, and supported Iggy Pop by the time they issued their Ty Segall-produced debut album in 2014. Over the following five years the industrious group delivered two additional long-players while sprinkling an expanding catalog with assorted split EPs, cassettes, singles, and compilation tracks.
The name originated with an inexpensive footwear brand that guitarist-vocalist Jed Maheu and drummer Bobby Martin happened to be wearing during their first conversation about forming a band; the pair began composing material together in 2010. Both started on guitar, yet it soon became clear during the tracking of their initial single that the configuration would not endure, prompting Martin to switch to drums; Zig Zags performed a few early shows as a duo. Patrick McCarthy first encountered Maheu and Martin while handling sound at one of those initial gigs, quickly becoming both friend and admirer; when invited to join on bass he accepted at once, despite never having played the instrument.
Following a pair of self-released digital singles, the band issued the vinyl 7" “Monster Wizard” on Tubesteak Tuesday, after which four more singles appeared on independent labels such as Mexican Summer and In the Red between 2012 and 2014. Zig Zags also teamed with Iggy Pop for a limited single celebrating Light in the Attic Records, backing the punk icon on a cover of Betty Davis’s “If I’m in Luck I Might Get Picked Up,” while Burger Records released the cassette-only compilation 10-12, recorded between 2010 and 2012. In 2013 friend Ty Segall offered to record the group, and the self-titled debut was tracked at his studio before In the Red Records released it in mid-2014. By the arrival of the second album, Running Out of Red, in May 2016, Jed Maheu had substantially rebuilt the lineup; Bobby Martin and Patrick McCarthy departed, replaced by bassist Caleb Miller and drummer Dane Arnold. After several further singles, splits, and side endeavors, the band returned with the hard-charging full-length They’ll Never Take Us Alive in 2019.
The name originated with an inexpensive footwear brand that guitarist-vocalist Jed Maheu and drummer Bobby Martin happened to be wearing during their first conversation about forming a band; the pair began composing material together in 2010. Both started on guitar, yet it soon became clear during the tracking of their initial single that the configuration would not endure, prompting Martin to switch to drums; Zig Zags performed a few early shows as a duo. Patrick McCarthy first encountered Maheu and Martin while handling sound at one of those initial gigs, quickly becoming both friend and admirer; when invited to join on bass he accepted at once, despite never having played the instrument.
Following a pair of self-released digital singles, the band issued the vinyl 7" “Monster Wizard” on Tubesteak Tuesday, after which four more singles appeared on independent labels such as Mexican Summer and In the Red between 2012 and 2014. Zig Zags also teamed with Iggy Pop for a limited single celebrating Light in the Attic Records, backing the punk icon on a cover of Betty Davis’s “If I’m in Luck I Might Get Picked Up,” while Burger Records released the cassette-only compilation 10-12, recorded between 2010 and 2012. In 2013 friend Ty Segall offered to record the group, and the self-titled debut was tracked at his studio before In the Red Records released it in mid-2014. By the arrival of the second album, Running Out of Red, in May 2016, Jed Maheu had substantially rebuilt the lineup; Bobby Martin and Patrick McCarthy departed, replaced by bassist Caleb Miller and drummer Dane Arnold. After several further singles, splits, and side endeavors, the band returned with the hard-charging full-length They’ll Never Take Us Alive in 2019.
Albums
Ripping Death / Riddle of Steel
2017
Running out of Red
2016
Slime EP
2015
Zig Zags
2014
Brainded Warrior
2014
Singles
