Zru Vogue: 1980's cold wave tribal fusion art funk band
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Nakweda Dream |
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Zru Vogue in the 1980's
Zru Vogue’s first single “Nakweda Dream” was released by independent San Francisco label Adolescent Records, after label-mates The Sleepers brought a tape of the first Zru Vogue studio recording to Adolescent's executive producer. Released in February 1981, "Nakweda Dream" was a college radio hit, topping indie playlists. The record's B-side, "Cumulonimbus" (spelled out phonetically on the record sleeve), was an atmospheric percussion-heavy experimental track described by England's New Musical Express as a "neo-African avalanche," that also received widespread airplay on college radio. "Nakweda Dream/Cumulonimbus" received critical acclaim in the alternative press, including Sub-pop who named it the best independent single of 1981.
Band members in 1980-81 were Andrew Jackson (then known as Andrew Finkle – he changed his name in 1984), Rick Cuevas, Tom Sanders, and Nancy Miller. In 1981, shortly after the single was released and not long after a legendary benefit performance at San Francisco's Savoy Tivoli with The Sleepers and DNA (Arto Lindsay's no-wave band), Tom and Nancy decided to quit the band and move to LA, reducing Zru Vogue to the duo of Andrew and Rick. Shaken up but determined to continue, they began rehearsing a new set of songs, and soon went back into Oasis recording studio to produce a full-length LP, “Zru Vogue The Album,” this time releasing it on their own Zero Risk Records label.
The Zru Vogue album included songs from their live set re-made and re-modeled, including “Loubella Extendables,” “Exploring The Underworld,” and of course “Nakweda Dream.” But it also explored electro-art-funk (“Ubuhuha,” “Do The Zru,” “Pretty Girl”) and dream-pop (“The Dream Stops,” For The Time”).
In 1983, Andrew and Rick were joined by singer/percussionist Angelique, and they recorded a 3-song EP: “Now!,” “Possibly Imagined,” and “The Artist” at Sensa Studios in the heart of Silicon Valley (with Engineer/Producer Doug Hopping, and guest artist Bobb Bragg on funk bass). The EP expanded on the band’s avant-funk sound, blending mid-eastern darbukas and clarinets with e-bowed guitars, drum machines, synthesizers, and funk bass.
Lyrically, Andrew Jackson’s songs often referenced the European Dadaists, as with the lyrical imagery of “Now!” inspired by the surrealist collages of Max Ernst (“The other-worldly elements have this day come to life / Men with the heads of animals are beating on the wife / Naaoooowww…”), and from “Do The Zru”, the lines: “Three-pronged chants obscure the view / Sleep-learning Dadaists who do / Throng-gathered voodoo of the Zru.” In 1983-84, Zru Vogue performed a series of shows at clubs around the bay area incorporating elements of performance art and poetry, notably “Club Zru” and “Galerie Zru” at Studio II, a converted yoga space in Palo Alto. Absurd animal masks, random projections, a neo-dada preacher, and spoken-word pieces like “One-Hundred-And-Fifty-Hand-Picked-Ridiculous-Men” and “Elvis’s Ghost” blurred the boundaries between music, art, and performance poetry.
Zruism, the home-brewed culture of Zru Vogue, drew its inspiration primarily from Dadaism and Surrealism. Simon Reynolds notes in his book, Rip It Up And Start Again: Postpunk 1978-1984, that postpunk-era bands borrowed notoriously from twentieth century modernist art and literature: “Cabaret Voltaire borrowed their name from Dada; Pere Ubu took theirs from Alfred Jarry; Talking Heads turned a Hugo Ball sound poem into a tribal-disco dance track”, etc. And in this regard, Zru Vogue was no exception. Andrew’s lyrics to “Nakweda Dream” imagine Alfred Jarry reincarnated as a 34-year-old teenager, “Big Fish Swing” name-drops Huelsenbeck and Tristan Tzara, and Tom’s vocal jabs during “Cumulonimbus” sound like excerpts from a dada sound poem.
Musically, most Zru Vogue songs let Rick’s bass step forward and take a more lead role, while Andrew’s thin, clean-sounding guitar focused on the rhythm. The few leads were usually e-bowed, often with a harmonizer adding an electronic fourth to evoke a haunting, Arabic feeling. The band used real drums and drum machines equally, transitioning to a more electronic sound as the early 80’s progressed. In late 1985, Zru Vogue disbanded and Rick and Andrew each made solo recordings through the late 80s and 90s.
Zru Vogue in the 1990's
In 1998, Tom (now going by the name Max Tyrell) and Andrew reunited for a one-off new Zru project by exchanging tapes between Los Angeles and Palo Alto, culminating in a self-released CD titled “Unlimited Enjoyment / Instant Gratification.”
New Millenium Zru Vogue:
Then in 2002, Rick and Andrew started recording music together again, and eventually put together a new Zru Vogue CD released in 2004, which they named “Beautiful Again.” Since then, Andrew and Rick have recorded a soundtrack to a full-length documentary film (“The Search For The Captain”) and released two more Zru Vogue CDs: “Survival of the Cutest” (2005) and “The Exile” (2006), each of which expand on the sound and concept of Zruism that began in the early 1980s.
Original Zruists Rick, Max, and Andrew each continue to release solo CDs as well as their collaborative Zru works, the most recent being Max Tyrell’s “Life After Life” (2003), Andrew Jackson’s “Memories of Things That Never Happened” (2005) and the Rick Cuevas solo CD “Love & Colors” (2006).
As for the name Zru Vogue, ZRU is an acronym for Zero Risk Unobtainable, a newspaper headline taken at random from a newspaper wall in Andrew’s apartment that he shared with Tad Williams, circa 1979. “VOGUE” was later added randomly after “ZRU” with large plastic colorful refrigerator magnets in Tom and Rick’s kitchen (by a housemate that didn’t know she was making history, or anything for that matter). In the spirit of randomness that the band prides itself upon, the name ZRU VOGUE was adopted by mid-1980 as the group’s moniker.
Rick Cuevas – Bass, 6-string and 12-string Guitars, Keyboards and Synthesizers, Backing Vocals, Hand Drums and Percussion, Slide E-bow, Drum Programming, Toy Xylophone, Engineering.
Andrew L. Jackson – Lead Vocals, Electric and Acoustic Guitars, E-bow, Synthesizers, Bass, Synth Drums and Rhythm Programming, Hand Drums and Percussion, Clarinet.
Occasional Zru Vogue band members:
1980-81 and 1997-98 Max Tyrell (aka Tom Sanders) – Bass, Guitars, Vocals, Drums and Percussion, Keyboards.
1980-81 Zelda Blue (aka Nancy Miller) – Keyboards, Percussion.
1983-85 Angelique – Synthesizer, Percussion, Vocals.
1983 Brian Sheridan – Drums (in live performances).
1984-85 Barry Greenhut – Keyboards (in live performances).
2005-present Patrick Coyne – Electronic Drums.
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Nakweda Dream / Cumulonimbus (1981) – 7" single – Adolescent Records ARTT 005. |
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Zru Vogue The Album (1982) – 12” LP – Zero Risk Records ZR002. |
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Zru Vogue Now! (1984) – Cassette EP – self-released. |
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Zruism: Zru Vogue 1980-84 (1998) CD – self-released compilation. |
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Unlimited Enjoyment Instant Gratification (1998) CD – self-released. |
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Beautiful Again (2004) CD – self-released. |
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Survival of the Cutest (2005) CD – self-released. |
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The Exile (2006) CD – self-released. |