Zero Boys at Madison Live

The Zero Boys is a hardcore punk band from Indianapolis, Indiana, formed in 1980. The band currently consists of Paul Mahern (vocals), Dave Lawson (guitar), Scott Kellogg (bass), and Mark Cutsinger (drums). The band's most well-known release is the 1982 debut album "Vicious Circle", considered a landmark album in hardcore and pop punk by critics. Through the band's on-and-off tenure, Mahern and Cutsinger are the only consistent members across each lineup. In early 1980, Indianapolis high school student Paul Mahern would join up with three friends from his school; Rick, Randy, and Kevin, and together the 4 started a band under the name "3PM", named after the time they got out of school. 3PM was a short-lived local band, playing only a few house shows in early 1980. At one of these shows, 3 older Indianapolis musicians, guitarist Terry Howe, drummer Mark Cutsinger, and bassist John Mitchell would watch the band perform. The 3 of them, looking to recruit a singer, escorted Paul Mahern out of the band after the show for their own band. The band, naming themselves "Zero Boys" after the name given to thugs in Chicago that Cutsinger had read about, would form in early May 1980, playing their first show on May 31st, 1980, at the esteemed local Indianapolis club Crazy Al's. The following month, the band, with the help of friend Ted Dunn, would record 5 tracks in Dunn's basement studio, all in one night on a 1/2 8-track recorder. These 5 tracks would be released 3 months later in September as the "Livin' in the 80s" EP, only producing 500 copies of the EP on vinyl. In 1981, the band would start the year recording the track "New Generation" for the upcoming "Red Snerts" Gulcher compilation. Gulcher was one of the bands they had pitched the EP to be released under but denied. After few local shows in the early months of 1981 including a few at the new and improved Crazy Al's venue, in May 1981, John Mitchell would decide to leave the group. After looking for replacements, the band settled on UK immigrant David Clough, who they had wanted at formation but was not available at the time. The band begun to rehearse in the garage in the summer of '81 for their newest LP, to which they would enter friend John Helms' Keystone Recording studio on August 18th, 1981 and rent 3 days of studio time. The band would cut 17 tracks in these 3 days, being the base 14 on the record, 2 outtakes "Slam And Worm" and "She Said Goodbye", and one cover outtake of Aerosmith's "Toys in The Attic". After consistent shows in the latter-half of 1981 and early 1982, the Vicious Circle album would release on April 2nd, 1982. Around the spring of 1982, the band would record 3 tracks for a planned compilation LP penned by Mahern, being The Master Tape. After this, in June, the band would embark on a summer tour, starting off in Calgary where the band played for a week and then playing selected venues around the U.S. Around this time, the band members started to banter and argue, and by the end of the tour in mid-July, the band was burnt out, tired, and had had enough with the broken-down residency they lived in, offered by manager Bill Levin. After playing one-off shows in the lead-up months of fall 1982, Zero Boys would disband in October 1982, with Clough joining Toxic Reasons and Mahern establishing his Affirmation record label. The following year, in February, Mahern announced in the Indianapolis Star newspaper that the Zero Boys would be reforming. The band, now in a busy state as Mahern was through college and Clough was busy as ever with the constant touring of Toxic Reasons, played their first show back at Indianapolis Academy of Arts on February 18th, 1983, and had hired roadie Tim Crist to play bass for future live venues, due to Clough's commitment. In March, the band (with Clough) would enter Hit City Recording in Indianapolis (a 1/2" 8-track recorder in someone's garage) and record 10 tracks for a planned sequel LP to "Vicious Circle". The album, under the tentative name Pay Back Is Hell, was scheduled to be released in June on Mahern's Affirmation label, which had released The Master Tape the previous year. Playing one-off shows for the rest of 1983, the album would be pushed back more and more as the band pressed on, until January 1984 where the band gave up and disbanded when the album was shelved. Affirmation's distributors (mainly a local company, Upstart Records) failed to pay Affirmation, leaving Mahern with a slew of debts but offered to join up with Gravelvoice Records and form the "Gravelmation" imprint. Advertising it in Maximum Rocknroll in February, Gravelmation released the Zero Boys "History Of" compilation cassette, including 8 of the 10 songs from the Pay Back sessions as well as songs from Vicious Circle. The band remained dormant in '84, playing only a single one-off show on December 30th, 1984, at Cosmo's Pizza (which the show is viewable on YouTube), as well as two shows in 1985 in January and November respectively. The November show (at the Hoosier Ballroom) would be the last formal show the band would play with Howe on guitar. In 1988, after the reissue of Vicious Circle on Toxic Shock Records, the band would reform as a live-only band with college student and Zero Boys fan Vess Ruhtenburg replacing Terry Howe on guitar. The group would play various shows across different states in the U.S. and would tour Europe in April and May with Toxic Reasons before splitting again. Ruhtenburg would join the band JOT, and eventually join Mahern on his power-pop side project Datura Seeds. 3 years later, in 1991, Bitzcore owner Jürgen Goldschmidt reached out to the Zero Boys and asked if they were interested in recording a new record. Sharp with ideas, the band would reform with Ruhtenburg in August and enter GALT Studios in Culver, IN in September to record 13 tracks across 3 days. The record would be released in December as the "Make It Stop" LP, featuring a newer, more laid-back and melodic sound for the band. The new lineup would play their first show of the 90's on January 2nd, 1992 at The Patio in Indianapolis. After touring Europe in June and debuting new songs at the shows, the band would enter GALT again in August and record 16 tracks across another 3 days. This record, released in May the following year as The Heimlich Maneuver, was largely ignored by the press, especially Maximum Rocknroll, who had grown to hate the band's new sound. After one compilation appearance, the 2nd lineup would quietly disband in May 1994 after an April 30 show at Cafe Angst in Indianapolis. The band would reform for a single New Years Eve show on December 31st, 1999, in which both Ruhtenburg and Howe would perform together, being the only time Zero Boys has performed with 2 guitarists live, and the last show with Howe before his death in 2000. Reforming for one-off shows a handful of times in the early-2000s, Zero Boys would officially reform following a July 2005 show. The band's latest album, Monkey, showcasing a more 70's rock-n-roll style approach, was released on May 20th, 2014.