Underground Zerø is a British

space rock Space rock is a music genre characterized by loose and lengthy song structures centered on instrumental textures that typically produce a hypnotic, otherworldly sound. It may feature distorted and reverberation-laden guitars, minimal drummin ...

band, based in

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

, UK. The band is also known as UZØ. While the band is often referred to as "Underground Zero" or "Underground Zer0" in print, the official name of the band includes the

slashed zero The slashed zero, , is a representation of the Arabic digit zero ("0") with a slash (punctuation), slash through it. This variant zero glyph is often used to distinguish the digit zero from the Latin script letter O anywhere that the distinctio ...

in its name. Their sound is influenced by

Hawkwind Hawkwind are an English rock band known as one of the earliest space rock groups. Since their formation in November 1969, Hawkwind have gone through many incarnations and have incorporated many different styles into their music, including hard ...

, with heavy guitar solos, and lyrics based on

dystopia A dystopia (lit. "bad place") is an imagined world or society in which people lead wretched, dehumanized, fearful lives. It is an imagined place (possibly state) in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmen ...

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

and

social commentary Social commentary is the act of using rhetorical means to provide commentary on social, cultural, political, or economic issues in a society. This is often done with the idea of implementing or promoting change by informing the general populace ab ...

. The band was started in 1979 by Andrew Rix (bass/vocals), Adrian Rix (keyboards), Judi Griggs (vocals), Brian Savage (drums) and Karl Dawson (guitar). From 1981, then known as Ground Zero, the group underwent several major changes. Brian left and was replaced by Mike (Mel) Melnyk and guitarist Paul Holden joined. In 1983 Mel left and was replaced by Sean Holden. The band featured on the UKs Tommy Vance’s Friday Rock Show on Radio 1 and during 1983-85 developed a large following in the new Psychedelic scene. At this point the name became Underground Zerø to avoid confusion with a R & B group in the London Area. They performed at the large open-air concert Anglia for Africa in Norwich in 1985, which also featured Hawkwind, Magnum,

Amazulu Zulu people (; ) are a native people of Southern Africa of the Nguni people, Nguni. The Zulu people are the largest Ethnic groups in South Africa, ethnic group and nation in South Africa, living mainly in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. They o ...

, Eek-A-Mouse and

Dean Friedman Dean Friedman (born May 23, 1955) is an American singer-songwriter who plays piano, keyboard, guitar, and harmonica. Although considered a one-hit wonder in the US, he has had multiple singles chart in other territories and continues to write, ...

. Underground Zerø also performed at the last Stonehenge festival with Hawkwind and has featured on Hawkwind, Friends and Relations albums. Although UZØ never split up they stopped performing live in 1994. In 2005, they resumed live performances, doing 3 gigs in the UK and released a CD, ''Powerplay'', featuring remixed versions of the studio tracks from their two vinyl LPs plus one bonus track. At about the same time an unofficial CD entitled ''Never Reach the Stars'' appeared, containing the original mixes of all the tracks from their vinyl albums and single. Although this release was not officially sanctioned it does include three live and one studio tracks that are not on the official CD and is acknowledged on the band's website. Performances include the 2006 Eastern Haze Festival in Somerleyton Hall, UK. 2008 saw them perform alongside Hawkwind at Hawkfest, at Honiton in

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

. They regularly feature at Space Rock festivals such as "On Board The Craft" and "Jackdaw". In November 2014, founder keyboardist Adrian Rix left the band, and their planned 2015 appearances at HawkEaster and Sonic Rock Solstice were cancelled. In 2016, Robert Fielder joined the band as keyboardist. In 2017, the band released ''Hunting Dogs'' on March 15 and made an appearance at Hawkwind's Hawkeaster festival.

Discography

*1983. Ground Zerø. Cassette. *1983. The Official Bootleg. Live Cassette. (featuring Hawkwind's Nik Turner). *1984. Seven Light Years. 12" Single. *1984. Never Reach the Stars. LP. Sharp 023. Flicknife Records. *1985. Hawkwind, Friends and Relations 3.Sharp 024.Flicknife Records. *1986. Orbit 9. Cassette. Terry Hopkins. *1986. Orbit 10. Interview/Fanzine Cassette. HT 111. Terry Hopkins. *1986. A Pretty Smart Way to Catch a Lobster. Live Alice in Wonderland Compilation LP. Sharp 035. Flicknife Records. *1986. Hawkfan 12. Compilation LP. by Brian Tawn *1986. Through The Looking Glass. Live/Studio EP. Blunt 038. Flicknife Records. *1987. Underground Zerø Live. Video. Under 002 *1988. The Best of Hawkwind, Friends and Relations. CD. Sharp 1724CD. Flicknife Records. (Re-released in 1994 by Emporio - EMPRCD 547.) *1988. Never Reach the Stars. LP. ASLE 0010. ASPA Records Spain. *1994. From Year Zerø. CD. Under 003 *1995. Hawkwind, Friends and Relations - The Rarities. Compilation CD. CDMGRAM 91. Anagram. *1995. Forlorn & Lethal. Video. Under 004 *1996. Hawkwind, Friends and Relations - Cosmic Travellers. CD. CDMGRAM 105 Anagram. Pinnacle. *1999. The Elf & The Hawk CD BWRCD 026-2 Black Widow *2005. Powerplay. CD. Under 005 *2005. Never Reach The Stars + CD BR187 Black Rose Records *2011. Hawklords, Friends And Relations: 30th Anniversary Volume - A New Dawn. CD. SHARPCDA11951. Flicknife Records *2017. Hunting Dogs, © Copyright - Underground Zero / Underground Zero (5029385843625) ASIN: B06XCJJ1QC

References

External links

Underground Zerø websiteUnderground Zerø on FacebookUnderground Zerø on MyspaceUnderground Zerø on YouTube
*http://rateyourmusic.com/artist/underground_zero * {{DEFAULTSORT:Underground Zero Musical groups established in 1979 English space rock musical groups