So I have this friend named Erick right? Great guy, known him since high school. For the past 6 months or so he’s been on me to do a story on this band “Divided By Zero” who are friends of his both socially and professionally. Now I’d been to more than one show with them performing and there’s no denying that these guys are seriously talented musicians, but the life of a world famous journalist tends to get a little hectic and there were just too many people clamoring for my attention. You might not know this… but I’m kind of a big fucking deal.

So last week Erick and I roll over to Sikworld Clothing’s main warehouse which, aside from housing aisle after aisle of gear and their own monstrous screen printing apparatus, doubles as a nocturnal studio for DBZ as they wrap up production on their latest LP: “The Black Sea”. As vocalist Zach Goode played through it for me and talked a bit about each song I found myself thinking that I should have made the time and squeezed them in because this was a great fucking album and it’s going to be huge. It opens with the hauntingly melodic intro “ Black Sea” which lasts just long enough to lure you into a false calm before “Ashes of Armies” kicks you in the throat with drummer Jason Vick’s powerful Pantera-like double bass pedals. Immediately following is “Chemical” which, thanks to the masterful guitar work of Jeremy Ronstadt and James Albers along with Rice’s driving bass, has single written all over it. Other notable songs include: “Helicopter”, “Drowning Not Waving” ”Strike in the Time Bomb Town” and “Shame”. In all, fifteen amazing tracks that you will all own soon but I’m listening to right now. Plus he gave us a ton of free Sikworld stuff. Free gear is always nice. So we all sat down to a tasty blunt and had ourselves a nice little chat about their album, Sikworld, and what it’s like to be Divided By Zero.

By Morgan Huestis

SM:“So the five of you are putting the finishing touches on your upcoming album “The Black Sea”. Want to do some pre-explaining about an album everyone reading this is soon going to own?”

Zach: “This album is the greatest thing that we have done as a group to date. It’s a mixture of new songs along with some reworked older tunes of ours that separately are all amazing but played beginning to end form a collection of material that is truly more than the sum of all its parts. It’s an extremely diverse album. We have speed metal, ballads, reggae, electronica, lots of melodies and harmonies, instrumentation and percussion. That sounds a little strange but I think we, along with our producer Mikey Doling blended them together perfectly.

Rice: “First and foremost this is definitely the best sounding album we’ve done. But I think the way we came together as a band and our friendships with Mikey and our engineer Brad {Dumjovic} is what allowed us to create this masterpiece. We’re all very proud of it and I think everyone really represented themselves to the best of their ability.”

Jeremy (rolling a blunt) : “It was the funnest album to work on yet.”

Jason: “I just want to say how proud of my band I am. Everyone nutted up and brought their ‘A’ game and the album reflects it. Also Mikey and Brad did a fantastic job. Jaysun, our label owner hooked us up with whatever we needed and that made a huge difference. People will if nothing else feel the heart and effort in it. I hope.”

James: “I’ve been listening to it over and over for the last couple of days trying to compare it to anything else I’ve heard and I can’t. I’m extremely proud of that.”

SM:“Since we’re sitting here in the Sikworld warehouse, why don’t you tell me about the relationship DBZ has with them.”

Zach: “Sikworld is a clothing company that Rice and I work for. The owner Jaysun has been involved in the local music scene for a long time and sponsors a ton of national acts with gear. One of the things he’s wanted to do for a long time is take on the mantle of ‘label’ and after 10 or so years we had the capital to make it happen and do it right. Nothing half-assed. We have a publicist through them. We have distribution through them, a booking agent. It’s cool since we have contacts all over already life is a lot easier. Dominic from Mower works here too. It’s like a built in fan base pre-installed for us to sell to. So go by some ‘Fuck You’ shirts and while you’re on the website check out our new album from Sikworld Productions.”

SM:“That’s some interesting artwork you have on the cover. Where did you find that piece and who is the artist?”

Zach: “I found that piece on the cover of ‘Juxtaposed’ magazine. It’s a very powerful image of a beautiful woman’s face as she points her blood soaked hand at her head like a pistol. Sas Christian is the name of the artist, she’s a British woman who lives in the U.S. and is incredibly talented. I emailed her thinking she wouldn’t even respond asking if there was any way she would allow us to license her artwork for our cover and she very graciously said yes. Her website is www.hotboxdesigns.com and it’s full of amazing artwork. I chose ‘We Are The People’ because I feel it captures visually the same image we went for in our music.”

SM:“What are the major influences on this band? And what do you have playing in your cars right now?”

Rice: “Some of mine are Faith No More, Fishbone, Fugazi, all the ‘F’ bands. I love the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Older stuff too though…Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus. I like Krs One. Anything really that has a deep groovin’ bassline. I would have one of those playing in my car if the CD player hadn’t just been stolen a week ago.”

Zach: “I have a lot of those same influences too. I was really into The Pixies, Jane’s Addiction, Public Enemy, and Devo. Bille Holiday, Beck, Elvis Costello, Smashing Pumpkins. All kinds of shit. Playing in my car is the soundtrack to ‘Match Point’ which is Woody Allen’s new movie. It’s all opera from 1912. No I swear… it’s great. I just got it this weekend after I saw the movie.”

Jeremy: “Everything from Metallica to Marley. My family influenced me too, listening to them. Plus going to Hawaii and listening to reggae 24/7 while smoking weed. All big influences.”

Jason: “I think one of the amazing things about this band is the diversity of influences among all the members. I know that sounds like a cliché but it’s true. On any given day I could rattle off thousands of bands, and I know we get lumped in as heavy metal but if you really listen there’s a lot more going on.”

James: “Mine are Metallica and a lot of eighties music. I like U2. I grew up on a lot of folk music like Cat Stevens, Peter, Paul, and Mary. That’s where a lot of my acoustic style comes from. I have a Seattle local artist named Brandy Carlisle in my car.

SM:“Out of all the places you’ve played, which are your favorites?”

Zach: “SOMA is a great place, The Casbah, Brick by Brick. 4 th & B has a great stage. I like playing in L.A. because they have more all ages venues like Key Club, the Troubadour. The Roxy isn’t but it’s a great place to play. Blind Melons in P.B. and Winston’s in O.B. Show us a lot of love. They have a great beach vibe and Teddy’s been cool. We’ve done a few Belligerent shows at those 2 places.”

James: “I started off with this band at a show at the Viper Room and the one thing I loved about that place is that they have a huge curtain all around the stage so the sound guy queues you in, the curtains open and you play. You don’t have to walk out onstage and gear up in front of the crowd.”

Jason: “Probably the Casbah. We haven’t played there in a while but Tim’s great to work with and the place has good vibes. It’s been around forever and a lot of great bands have played there.”

Rice: “4 th & B, Winston’s. Viper Room was fun too. In terms of overall sound quality and good times those would be them.”

Jeremy: “The old Coconut Teaser in L.A. was awesome, and you know we love our Blind Melons.”

SM:“How do you know Mikey Doling?”

Zach: “Mikey played for ‘Snot’ which is a legendary So.Cal. band. They got signed to Geffen, they were on Ozzfest until the singer was killed in a car crash and they all went their separate ways in ’97 I think. He’s a super cool guy who knows everyone and has been in the industry forever. He produced a friends band so that’s how we hooked up. He had a lot of good ideas; I hope to keep working with him.”

This band is going to make a shitload of money. “The Black Sea” is an amazing album. They have a fucking sitar player sit in for God’s sake! If it works for Sting, it’ll work for them. Check them out www.DividedByZero.tv or at the Sikworld website at www.sikworld.com and buy some ‘Fuck You’ clothes.