The Zolar X thread

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Because why not. And yes, even the aliens are on MySpace. The Seattle show should be a doozy given that both the Squirrels and the Sacred Truths are also on the bill.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 13 February 2006 19:05 (twenty years ago)

Congratulations on having their own thread, instead of merely being on threads like this, even if they occupied the place of honor.

― Redd Harvest (Ken L), Monday, 13 February 2006 19:11 (twenty years ago)

I wish I liked them more than I do - their songwriting is just so-so, unfortunately. Can't sustain the image.

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 13 February 2006 19:22 (twenty years ago)

JET STAR!

19!

I love that song, the rest failed to impress themselves on me.

― sleeve (sleeve), Monday, 13 February 2006 21:46 (twenty years ago)

I did a search for them this morning, when this thread didn't exist.
Now it does!
They are coming to my town on their tour and I really don't know anything about them other than "oh that LA synth glam band that look like space fairies." But I think my band is gonna play with them.
so...um...c/d?

― Tripmaker (SDWitzm), Monday, 13 February 2006 21:57 (twenty years ago)

So what's your band and where's your town?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 13 February 2006 21:57 (twenty years ago)

I'm in a jam band called CAVE and we are in Columbia, Missouri.
It will be our last show becuase Zach, the real heart, soul, and brain of the band, is moving to France to farm for a few months. I think there will also be a noise project featuring Jon Sheffield (of tomlab records) and Dustin Newman (Apop).
But what I really want to know about is ZOLAR X!

― Tripmaker (SDWitzm), Monday, 13 February 2006 22:08 (twenty years ago)

They just are. ;-)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 13 February 2006 22:20 (twenty years ago)

Tim is a big fan and we went back and forth over the Zolar X reissue. I think the record is fairly straightforward high-energy glam rock. Big classic rock guitar sound, which is what it should be for the genre.

On the back end, I'd assmume they were in LA just at a time where the street scene was turning to punk rock and the punks would have been finicky and fickle with regards to them. Or maybe they just never had good luck or connections.

Anyway, the silly costumes made you think Zolar X were going to be twee.

― George the Animal Steele, Tuesday, 14 February 2006 01:12 (nineteen years ago)

I actually still need to listen more, but they have struck me as being MORE high energy and certainly more surreal than that, George. Something in league, really, with VON LMO and I'm not sure what else. And I think they had more going on in songwriting-wise than Shakey Mo sez.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Tuesday, 14 February 2006 01:57 (nineteen years ago)

Ah, Von Lmo. Imagine them and Zolar X in a double bill.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 14 February 2006 02:05 (nineteen years ago)

I'd be more inclined to imagine Sun Ra and Von LMO. But only 'cause I haven't heard Zolar X yet! (Soon...)

Anyways, Zolar X didn't actually CLAIM to be from another planet. (Did they?)

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Tuesday, 14 February 2006 04:21 (nineteen years ago)

oh Zolar X def. claimed to be from another planet (and I thought one of them had gone born again...?) but they sound NOTHING like Sun Ra, that's for sure. High energy glam rock is about right - they were at this weird nexus between glam and punk (kinda like the Runaways, only without boobs or decent tunes)

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 14 February 2006 04:38 (nineteen years ago)

Listening now a little bit, that strikes me as about the equivalent of someone saying that Hawkwind didn't have any decent tunes. Your comparison of them to the Runaways is perhaps to bemoan the lack of more pop hook elements, but I don't think that's indigenous to the genre.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Tuesday, 14 February 2006 05:13 (nineteen years ago)

haha I love Hawkwind!

glam without pop hooks is, uh, wrong.

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 14 February 2006 05:46 (nineteen years ago)

Unless it's right, which in the case of their great high power Hawkwind rock (first eight or so tracks on the CD) or their more metal and prog oriented stuff is, I think, totally the case. I mean, does Van der Graaf Generator suck because they didn't have enough pop hooks? Does "Remake/Remodel" suck because it's too rock and not pop enough?

Real visionary band, particularly notable on the great long suite tracks (especially "The Horizon Suite" and "The Plutonian Elf Story), but true of the group in general if you ask me.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Tuesday, 14 February 2006 06:44 (nineteen years ago)

glam without pop hooks is, uh, wrong.

Oh, come now. I'm with Tim on this. There are no hooks on Queen II. There ain't no hooks on Slade Alive outside of "Born to Be Wild" and they kind of arrange and play it so there be no hook. Cockney Rebel had trouble with hooks. Lotsa glam bands, not infrequently the less successful ones, had no obvious facility for pop rock hooks. They were often good at dramatic hard rock.

― George the Animal Steele, Tuesday, 14 February 2006 06:54 (nineteen years ago)

Man, all these great names being dropped - I definitely have to check 'em out.

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Tuesday, 14 February 2006 07:07 (nineteen years ago)

don't listen to these fools - Zolar X sounds next to nothin like Hawkwind (or Slade or Queen. okay, maybe Slade. dunno about Van Der Graag Generator, who I've never heard called glam before, but whatever...)

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 14 February 2006 07:15 (nineteen years ago)

Slow a track like "Science" down a little and it would sound exactly like Hawkwind.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Tuesday, 14 February 2006 07:24 (nineteen years ago)

"Timeless," too - total Hawkwind. (Good Hawkwind at that.)

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Tuesday, 14 February 2006 07:28 (nineteen years ago)

I dunno--I saw them blasted on several Quaaludes and they still didn't sound any good and looked like several Jobriaths after watching Man from Planet X.

― Ian in Brooklyn, Tuesday, 14 February 2006 07:31 (nineteen years ago)

haha - yeah Jobriath is a good ref. point.

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 14 February 2006 18:41 (nineteen years ago)

I wouldn't mind getting to hear the 1st Jobriath album, actually. You guys think it sucks or somethin'?

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Tuesday, 14 February 2006 19:14 (nineteen years ago)

I've only heard it a couple times. It was okay.

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 14 February 2006 19:21 (nineteen years ago)

You guys think it sucks or somethin'?

Yeah, in his day Jobriath records, all two of them, were genuine gobblers. But even with gobblers, the dedicated delver can often find one or two things to like. Often works for me, anyway.

― George the Animal Steele, Tuesday, 14 February 2006 20:21 (nineteen years ago)

W/ Zolar, though, I'm surprised to see people write off a band with songs like "Jet Star 19," "Energize Me," "The Horizon Suite," "I Pulled My Helmet Off," "Blues on Blue," and "The Plutonian Elf Story" with a big "Meh."

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Tuesday, 14 February 2006 20:28 (nineteen years ago)

I like Jobriath. I'm getting more excited about playing with Zolar X.
Maybe the local shop will get a few copies of the cd, so I can actually hear them before the show.

― Tripmaker (SDWitzm), Tuesday, 14 February 2006 20:29 (nineteen years ago)

what this thread needs is pics!

― Tripmaker (SDWitzm), Tuesday, 14 February 2006 20:31 (nineteen years ago)

WTF?
http://www.sfweekly.com/Issues/2005-07-06/music/hear.1.gif

― Tripmaker (SDWitzm), Tuesday, 14 February 2006 20:31 (nineteen years ago)

Er, there's songs on the myspace link I started the thread with, I believe. ;-) And pics!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 14 February 2006 20:31 (nineteen years ago)

I stand by my assertion that they look better than they sound. By way of evidence, I have the CD and have listened to it a bunch, but I can't recall a single thing about any of the songs Tim has mentioned (apart from Timeless, which has a decent vocal refrain).

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 14 February 2006 20:41 (nineteen years ago)

I'm digging these songs on their myspace profile! timeless and torrack, especially.

― Tripmaker (SDWitzm), Tuesday, 14 February 2006 20:44 (nineteen years ago)

"can't recall a single thing about any of the songs"

Yeah, but I listened to Brahms' German Requiem once in college all the way through. Saw a Mahler symphony performed. Can't remember any of the themes, but it doesn't mean they're not great. (Not comparing Zolar X to Brahms and Mahler, but same principle at work.)

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Tuesday, 14 February 2006 21:24 (nineteen years ago)

Roctober zine did a fascinating piece on Zory Zenith recently, who as of that writing was in an Oregon jail. So is he out?

― mike a, Wednesday, 15 February 2006 00:57 (nineteen years ago)

What I recall was first seeing them and thinking, Okay, this space-rock thing has gone way too far and Goodness, but yoiu guys look silly. Then I looked around me and the Whisky was paxcked with guys who looked like they'd just left from the World Science Fiction convention, and I thought, Fuck, all those 'ludes and I'm never gonna get laid tonight, unless I get a sudden hankering for a Roger Zelany fan with a secret love of Hawkwind.

― Ian in Brooklyn, Wednesday, 15 February 2006 05:52 (nineteen years ago)

Yet to hear Zolar X, but the pictures are amazing - not unlike the Rezillos, who I love.

Why would a Roger Zelazny fan keep his love of Hawkwind a secret?

― soukesian, Wednesday, 15 February 2006 19:54 (nineteen years ago)

I listened to the comp CD again last night. I stand by my original assessment - hookless glam tunes played really fast (with the added bonus of lots of "space age" sound effects). I really can't see a pack of 40-yr-old men pulling this gimmick off well, personally - especially without the tunes to back it up.

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 15 February 2006 20:01 (nineteen years ago)

but yes, they looked absolutely amazing. Nice pseudo-Jim Starlin artwork too.

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 15 February 2006 20:01 (nineteen years ago)

I'd agree that the last batch of tunes on there are fairly hookless (though the over-the-top prog stuff on the long tracks is still enjoyable, I think).

I hear plenty of hooks elsewhere, though. Interesting that one of the genre tags they use on their myspace page is "powerpop."

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Thursday, 16 February 2006 18:31 (nineteen years ago)

Fuck, all those 'ludes and I'm never gonna get laid tonight, unless I get a sudden hankering for a Roger Zelany fan with a secret love of Hawkwind.

Ha-ha. I never thought I'd see Roger Zelazny's name get dropped in an ILM thread on a glam rock band, but here we are. One of life's unexpected and quite welcome humorous moments. Phil Dick, maybe, Zelazny -- no way.

Early Skyhooks pulled off a look that was as extreme glam goofy (pre Zolar-X by a couple years) in Australia. It helped that they immediately had a few hit singles downunder. The vibe was similar -- they were basically a slightly eccentric-sounding classic rock band -- but it was taken another way. No American label was able to do anything with them here.

I still put Zolar-X in the muddle of third-four tier US hard rock bands. I like that stuff but that's one of my bags. Skyhooks, the same, except second-third tier.

― George the Animal Steele, Thursday, 16 February 2006 20:09 (nineteen years ago)

There's a good CD that Arf! Arf! put out probably back in the late nineties or so of an unknown '70s NY glam band (literally - no one knows who they were, I don't think - someone found the tapes or something?) called Pandora. Only heard it once, but also pretty over the top and good and people who like Zolar X would probably like it.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Thursday, 16 February 2006 20:35 (nineteen years ago)

three months pass...

Okay, having finally actually gotten the CD itself ;-) -- it rules.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 19 May 2006 16:42 (nineteen years ago)

We hired them to play a show at my school in L.A. a couple weeks ago, they were great, and mostly nice guys (although not above hitting on some of the radio station's female employees)... they also left flyers after the show that something to the effect of "ZOLAR X VISITS EARTH SCHOOL AND BRINGS PLUTONIUM ROCK." I enjoyed myself immensely.

― max (maxreax), Friday, 19 May 2006 17:48 (nineteen years ago)

Wow, at school! I'm just trying to get some idea of how a show at my school would've been received... Now I must find a wormhole to see the real thing!

― willem -- (willem), Friday, 19 May 2006 18:02 (nineteen years ago)

seven months pass...

so this is one of the things i got for like $3 at tower. HOLY FLURKKING SCHNITT IS IT GREAT. i've had a cdr of it for eons and never listened to it, and now i regret every second lost where i could be listening to "rocket roll."

― GOD PUNCH TO HAWKWIND (yournullfame), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 10:57 (nineteen years ago)

Jealous of $3 bargain. It is a great CD, I had Rocket Roll on my Ipod for ages.

― Colonel Poo (Colonel Poo), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 11:10 (nineteen years ago)

these guys = total insanity. love.

― shanghaied by the dragon lady (get bent), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 17:32 (nineteen years ago)

six months pass...

Check the page -- new CD out in September!

― Ned Raggett, Monday, 23 July 2007 15:24 (eighteen years ago)

two months pass...

yeah, so apparently these dudes are on that wretched-looking "next great american band" show tonight? i saw an old-looking guy in a green andorrian-style wig with antenna in the commercial and just about shrieked "that's zolar x" to my wife, their myspace says they're on it. weird.

― GOTT PUNCH II HAWKWINDZ, Friday, 19 October 2007 22:20 (eighteen years ago)

Let's just hope there are no Tellarites on that show.

― James Redd and the Blecchs, Friday, 19 October 2007 22:35 (eighteen years ago)

they got slammed!

― scott seward, Saturday, 20 October 2007 01:27 (eighteen years ago)

from rolling metal 2007:

the space glam aliens in Zolar X have a new album up on cdbaby; doesn't hit me like Timeless so far, but "Now You See It" is sounding good:

http://cdbaby.com/cd/zolarx

-- xhuxk, Sunday, 24 June 2007 17:44 (3 months ago) Link

Zolar-X newie. I can't take too much "elfin power pop," apparently. I'm going to have get out the reissue of Timeless and see if the vocals were really that annoying.

-- Gorge, Sunday, 24 June 2007 21:38 (3 months ago) Link

I decided the new Zolar X X Marks the Spot album is at least more rocking in the guitar department than their outtakes-tapes-anthology or whatever it was Zap! You're Zolarized from earlier this year, and as resurrected space-glam- metal goes, neither of those new ones stacks up to Timeless from a few years ago [and recorded light years before that]. And it's not like I've pulled that one out lately either, actually.)

-- xhuxk, Monday, 17 September 2007 11:24 (1 month ago) Link

― xhuxk, Saturday, 20 October 2007 01:38 (eighteen years ago)

the simon cowell wannabe on the fox show totally cut them off and made them go home. he asked where they were from and then he said: "really, sounded more like that came from uranus."

and he called them middle-aged time-wasters.

― scott seward, Saturday, 20 October 2007 01:41 (eighteen years ago)

adults still finding uranus joeks funny

man

― J0hn D., Saturday, 20 October 2007 01:49 (eighteen years ago)

Results 1 - 10 of about 256 for gaydiohead. (0.28 seconds)

― Myonga Vön Bontee, Saturday, 20 October 2007 12:09 (eighteen years ago)

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