The widely acclaimed avant-garde "monster" (that's what French/Moroccan visual artist Halal Shabadoo called them) The Zuckakis Mondeyano Project has risen to great height in the Rotterdam art scene over the last year. Artists such as Mr. Shabadoo, Dutch artist Jan van ten Nine and Norwegian film maker HÃ¥kon Sultaberg have all been dipping into the TZMP vault to find music that's actually useful in video installations. The band's respective members have been in separate countries for the last year, Earl Mondeyano in Tokyo and Robert Zuckakis in Rotterdam, but still they found a way, through the use of internet, to work their music as if they sat side by side. Mr. Mondeyano was mostly working with a Japanese/Greenlandic theater group called Tokyo Qookuru which consists of former TZMP member, Japanese/American actress Jenny Kamikaze along with Inuit shamanist Peter Qachelach. The trio worked together on a play called "Hentai posthus!" whose thrilling sound-scape Mondeyano produced was widely applauded in Japan as an "art-house masterpiece" and it is no surprise that TZMP has been labeled as the new Sugarcubes, as they embrace the eclectic nature of the Icelandic art scene.
The history of The Zuckakis Mondeyano Project is unique. Back in 1988, Robert Zuckakis and Earl Mondeyano met at The Whiskey a Go-Go Club in Hollywood L.A. There they decided, these two then fresh faced teenagers, to create the greatest rock band in history and better fake ID's. After they moved back to Iceland they soon began the journey of creating TZMP. Hardship is the key word to describe the beginning of the band but in the spring of 2001 they met English producer John Cadenza and Ian Dent who recorded and produced "The Album".
Before the shift to seperation that lasted the span of one year, The Zuckakis Mondeyano Project had already started to collaborate with Smokey Joe and the Sunshine Crew on new material for an upcoming album. Neither date nor a name has been released by record executive Gunnar Sandull. But like all TZMP fans know there is an attitude and sense of musical danger that looms over everything they lay their hands on.
There are extremely few bands that create music that moves you on a deep deep level. The force of TZMP is an aural shotgun in your face. Famous producer John Cadenza, who produced their debut album "The Album", has on many occations spoken of the unique sound the band has, "Why are they geniuses? Because they are, you dummy!".
The Zuckakis Mondeyano Project is the band to make the big leap in electronic art-house rockabilly and although many critics believe they are too much of a phenomenon to make an impact, they're wrong. Big time.
-Janus Matsumoto
University of Sendai
Scatology Department
Alien Millennium LIVE @ Chiryu City Hall
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Schattenjagger video
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NEW! TZMP WALLPAPER FOR YOUR PERSONAL COMPUTER SCREEN!
Clickedy-clack the pic for a 1600x1200 version.
Photo by Charlie Strand / Background by nature
