Standing Over By The Record Machine: The Zeros’ Bomp! anthology gets a supercharged reboot!

The pride of Chula Vista were never quite the “Mexican Ramones”—more like the West Coast Heartbreakers.

The Zeros on the cover of Munster’s Don’t Push Me Around reissue, snapped by Ruby Ray: Javier Escovedo (left) and Robert Lopez (right) stare like deer in the headlights at their bright, shiny future—or maybe just the next gig, the next fight, the next flash of glory….

Hey there, dear readers! Miss me? It’s been a couple months since I hit pause on The ‘Stack, and here’s why: I’ve been buried in editing the interviews for Anarchy In The Studio, my first book. Just 24 hours ago, I ran the final interview in the book’s fanzine supplement through the shredder, and taped it back together better than ever. All that’s left are some final flourishes—on my end and Ruffian Books’—before it heads to the printers. Pre-orders and official release info are coming soon (summer’s the target), so sign up here to stay in the loop.

Obviously, I haven’t had time to write anything new for this space lately, but I didn’t want to leave y’all hanging any longer. So here’s a recent record review I wrote for the new issue of Ugly Things, one of the few print outlets I regularly contribute to these days. It’s about one of the best punk rock reissues in ages. Fresh pieces are coming soon. In the meantime, enjoy this one.

THE ZEROS – Don’t Push Me Around: Singles & Rare Tracks ‘77-’80 (Munster Records/Bomp! Records) LP

The Zeros–singer/guitarists Javier Escovedo and Robert Lopez, bassist/vocalist Hector Peñalosa, and drummer Baba Chenelle–drove up from their native Chula Vista, California to Hollywood the evening of April 16, 1977. They were booked to open one of Los Angeles’ inaugural punk events, organized by OG power-poppers The Nerves, at the 99-seat Orpheum Theatre—just across the street from the famed Whisky A Go-Go. Headlining: The Weirdos, still without a drummer, joined by Captain Sensible of The Damned, in attendance with his fellow Damned denizen Dave Vanian, to jam on The Seeds’ immortal “Pushin’ Too Hard.” Opening: The Germs, in their public debut, playing a set of wildly unstructured noise as the bratty future Darby Crash, then trading as Bobby Pyn, stuck the mic in a jar of peanut butter in neutered emulation of Iggy Pop.

The Zeros were also introducing themselves to L.A., and the city fell in love. They adored their short, sharp songs, full of sugary melodies, raunchy guitars, and lyrics that scanned like teenage Lou Reed. They treasured their lean-and-hungry Chicano visual approximation of ‘60s groups like The Animals, with narrow lapel thrift store suits, skinny ties, and “cockroach killer” shoes picked up for a song over the border. Back Door Man majordomo Phast Phreddie Patterson signed on as their manager, Greg Shaw instantly wanted to release their singles, and fanzine editors stumbled over one another to dub them “the Mexican Ramones.”

The term was more well-meaning than accurate. Given Escovedo’s post-graduate studies at The Johnny Thunders Academy of Trash Can Guitar, and every member’s general love of the Dolls (among other ‘70s paragons of raunch ‘n’ roll)—plus the fact that The Zeros’ music hardly reflected their heritage—calling them the “West Coast Heartbreakers” would have been closer to the truth. Whatever the case, The Zeros produced three of the most crucial punk 45s of the era: August 24, 1977’s "Don't Push Me Around" b/w "Wimp" and June 17, 1978’s "Wild Weekend" b/w "Beat Your Heart Out," both for Bomp!, and January 1980’s "They Say That (Everything's Alright)" b/w "Getting Nowhere Fast" for Test Tube Records. And like many of their West Coast peers, never got around to an LP during their original run.

Shaw corrected that 11 years later, issuing Don’t Push Me Around: Singles & Rare Tracks ‘77-’80 as “Smells Like Teen Spirit” ate every hair metal group in its path. Collecting all six of their A- and B-sides, some extraneous unreleased tracks (including a tougher early take of Lopez’s sublime “Beat Your Heart Out”) and three live tracks, it created an instant vogue for The Zeros’ viciously jacked-up ‘60s rock ‘n’ roll with post-Thunders guitar and post-Reed lyrics among punk records collectors and garage mavens. It led to their ‘90s reformation, with new recordings as potent as the vintage stuff and live gigs proving their power never waned. Meanwhile, Lopez carved a separate identity as El Vez (‘the Mexican Elvis’), and Escovedo intermittently reunited with his older brother Alejandro—fellow punk pioneer in SF’s The Nuns—in their Austin-based band, True Believers. And now it’s hard to imagine a world without Zeros.

Munster Records, in continuing their celebration of Bomp!’s 50th Anniversary, drops a turbo-charged, steroid-enhanced reimagination of Don’t Push Me Around. For starters, they ditched the rather slapdash original sleeve, gorgeously wrapping a classic Ruby Ray snap around the 180 gram repressing, remastered loudly and cleanly by Ángel Álvarez at Sonoplan. The Zeros never barked more viciously than they do now. Everything blasts, every instrument boasts more beef, and the lyrics are the most intelligible they’ve ever been. Peñalosa’s recently-unearthed “Left To Right,” preceding the reprise of the live material, is a gem of rocket-fueled folk rock, much like his "They Say That (Everything's Alright)," arguably their greatest A-side. All in all, Don’t Push Me Around is now a stronger, more definitive declaration that The Zeros were one of punk rock’s greatest bands. And no, not American punk—worldwide.

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