Zygote

Zygote (‘The Gote’) began as all of us do, as a twinkle in our father’s eye…or in this case, a twinkle in founding member Amir Epstein’s eye, back in 1992 at the tender age of 16. Together with best friend Jesse Waldman, drummer Brian Lass, and Italian sensation Anthony Torchia, they began their musical journey. Four months after the band’s official formation, Zygote performed their first gig at a Toronto ‘Battle of the Bands’ competition, a favorite indie launching pad, at the Spectrum on the Danforth. After covering songs by Pearl Jam and Alice in Chains and playing some original material, they won the competition, and captivated the audience and local promoters in Toronto. Amir recalls “I remember listening to 102.1 the next day and hearing someone make a request to ‘a girl he accidentally kicked in the head during a pearl jam cover at the spectrum’, I was in shock…that was during our set! I felt like I had just heard our song on the radio for the first time…except there was no song, or even a mention of our band’s name”.The boys decided to take the band seriously, so they began looking for a singer that could actually…sing. Zygote was introduced to singer Jeremy Gladstone, who introduced the boys to a thing called ‘key’ and ‘harmonies’. Amir took on the responsibility of learning how to sing harmonies to Jeremy’s vocal lines, which developed into the core of the bands success. “Their hypnotizing vocal arrangements are what people loved about these guys” declares Josh, the behind the scenes honorary member of Zygote for the last 10 years. Jeremy’s incredibly unique and soulful sound added the essential and irreplaceable ingredient that the band desperately needed. Jeremy Gladstone joined the group as lead vocalist and they landed their first steady gig, performing at the infamous Gasworks two times a week, on a weekly basis. “I remember playing the Gasworks and having to be escorted from outside directly to the stage and back out immediately after the show. We were too young to be inside the place, but they wanted us back week after week. This is really how we became the tight musical unit we are today” Jeremy reminisces.A moment of crises occurred when Zygote’s cofounder Jesse suddenly quit the band and moved to British Columbia. The boys were faced with despondency and the reality that this band may have just come to an end. Jesse was the band’s primary songwriter so without him, there were no songs. Amir took on the challenge and established himself as the new songwriter for the band, writing half a dozen songs, which embodied the sadness of losing his best friend’s musical partnership. Jeremy and Amir promised to find a new guitarist and continue their journey to success. After months of scaling the music scene in Toronto, long time friend Mike Helman joined the band. “I don’t know why we hadn’t approached Mike right from the beginning. I guess we thought he wouldn’t want to play in our band” Jeremy says. His bluesy style and natural music ability took the band’s heavy sound to a more tasteful and soulful sound.After returning from a six-month percussion study in Ghana Africa, Jeremy introduced Percussionist Daniel Shlagbaum (Shlag) to the band. Shlag joined the group in 1996 as a permanent member, after proving his ability to juggle unconventional rhythms and fill out the almost completed sound, which is unmistakably Zygote. His grooves made Zygote’s sound unique yet very familiar.Over the ensuing few months, Zygote played relentlessly, everywhere and anywhere, to everyone and anyone who would listen. These shows led to Zygote’s unreleased recording of their first studio album, using their earnings to produce songs at a studio they would prefer to remain nameless. Frustration struck again as the recording experience turned out to be a yearlong disappointment. “We spent a year at that studio, recording one day a week and sometimes a month would go by before we could return. The sound engineer couldn’t remember where he had placed already recorded tracks…we spent every dollar we had ever earned and lost it all to a record that sounded like garbage. After the last day of mixing, we drove home listening to the cd and I threw it out of my mom’s car window” Amir recalls. After over-playing the Toronto venues and all the college towns in Ontario, Zygote was able to save some money to rerecord the CD. Zygote was introduced to a producer by the name of Rob Digioia of Q107 studios. He helped the band obtain a $7,000 Factor grant, which was invested into recording at Phase One and Metalworks studios. This brought to fruition their first album release ‘Turning Gyge’s Ring’. “The whole experience helped us realize how proud we were to be from a country that supports the arts by providing funding for artists to record music and helping them realize their dreams” ShlagThe album sold over 4,000 copies in Toronto alone via unconventional means (something Zygote is known for) including live gigs, mail orders, websites and select retailers including Sonic Temple and Sam the Record Man.But as everything was beginning to happen for the Gote, tragedy struck again. Mike Helman resigned from the band, having been offered a position at Schulick to pursue his MBA. Once again Zygote was in the midst of a meltdown. Having built a small following in Toronto, Zygote was introduced to a band groupie by the likes of Aaron Ovakim. Being a strong Zygote follower he knew how to play every single song and solo off of ‘Turning Gyge’s Ring”. He blew the boys away with his skill, technique, spirit and belief in the band.Aaron recalls “I went into that first jam so nervous and worried. After jamming a few songs I made a wrong key change and the entire band stopped playing. All of a sudden Amir started yelling and cursing at me. Then the rest of the band started putting me down. I thought I was going to throw up. Finally, they all burst into laughter and told me they were just screwing around and that I was officially in the band.”After perfecting their live performance, Zygote was playing shows to bigger and bigger crowds. Before long, Zygote was opening for the likes of Big Sugar, Fishbone, Wide Mouth Mason, The Headstones, side-stage for Dave Matthews and headlined a show for which Choclair opened. They caught the attention of high-powered printing guru and music manager Mendl Schwartz, who sent them to Nashville to record their sophomore effort with world-renowned songwriter Eddie Schwartz. Eddie, famous for penning tunes for Pat Benetar and Joe Cocker, helped produce an EP for the Gote ‘1.5’, an album that was a bitter sweet experience for Zygote. While recording in Nashville, Jeremy had jumped into the motel swimming pool wasted in the middle of the night and broke his foot. Furthermore the record labels in Nashville passed on Zygote’s EP which eventually led to the breakdown of management. On the flip side, Zygote’s loyal fan base continued to grow in numbers and strength, as they fell in love with the newly recorded songs.On June 28th 2000, Amir was faced with the most emotionally devastating day of his life. His mother, at age 55, died in the hospital of breast cancer. Emotionally withdrawn from life and reality, Amir kept to the band’s commitment to headlining a Molson Indie event as well as the other shows, which had been lined up for the band. Amir simply dove into the band head first. “I ignored everything that was going on in my life, and drowned myself in writing new songs and playing gigs. I didn’t know what else to do. I had lost the most important person in my life and was left with no family, except for my incredible sister”.Writing to please the music industry while maintaining Zygote’s character was becoming a draining process, which slowly developed into resentment. For Amir, the criticism Zygote was receiving for not writing ‘hit’ songs, felt personal. This eventually led to a parting of ways with their management group, at which point friend and entertainment powerhouse Chris Taylor introduced Zygote to producer Andy Curran. He produced and recorded Zygote songs “I did it for you” and “Girl next door” and presented them to Dreamworks, Hollywood Records and Maverick. While Zygote’s name was bigger and stronger then ever before, internally Zygote had fallen apart. 10 years after the birth of Zygote, came the end of an era. “We simply felt burnt out, used up and fed up with everything, and although things were coming together, mentally we had lost hope and faith”, Shlag explainsVenturing onto separate musical and life paths Amir, Aaron and Brian formed a new band called Feebo, but only achieved minimal success. Zygote fans rejected the much heavier sound, which did not appeal to them. Jeremy dove head first into video production and his family, marrying his long time sweetheart that following summer. Shlag also got married and together with his wife they disappeared to India and spent some time meditating and learning the art of Tabla.Three years had passed, when a television special aired on Much Music about aspiring bands from Canada. “They were talking about indie bands when the reporter held up a copy of our CD ‘Turning Gyge’s Ring”. The reporter said how Zygote was on the break of success when we just disappeared. The question was posed, how such a thing could happen…I called the boys to tell them about the story” Aaron remembers.The boys reunited in 2006 to perform a small reunion gig, for close friends and family. The buzz grew, so they upgraded the show to be held at the Mod club, which maintains a 600 person capacity. Word got out that Zygote were reuniting and the buzz swelled to the point where they were given no option but to play at the Opera House, with a capacity of 850. On June 16th 2005, Zygote performed at The Opera House to a completely sold out venue with over 1, 000 people crammed inside to see Zygote at their best. Performing with them on the drums was Toronto drummer Rick ‘Sour Cream’ Welbanks, who replaced Brian Lass as the beat behind the band. Ticket scalpers sold tickets at $50 a pop, as desperate fans were not prepared to miss the most talked about event of the year. Zygote rocked out a high energy, nonstop 90 minute set of old classics to old fans and new fans alike. Shlag brings to mind “I don’t understand how we went from playing our last show years ago for 650 people or so, to completely selling out the place. How is it possible for an indie band to grow a fan base after breaking up…it really makes no sense at all.” The show ended dramatically when, on the very last note of their last song, the power suddenly turned off. The crowd was guided outside by emergency exit lights, only to discover that Zygote blew the power of the entire city block. Filled with energy and excitement, the crowd swelled onto the street shouting the staple chant, ‘you just can’t f*ck with the Gote’. Crowd control police units, as well as K-9 units, were called to the scene to deal with the mania, it was a night to remember.Well known in the industry for their ‘guerilla’ marketing tactics, Zygote achieved indie-cult band status, selling out venues across Ontario without any media promotion other then word of mouth and flyers. They have sold 4,000+ copies of their debut CD ‘Turning Gyge’s Ring’ and 3,000+ copies of the EP ‘1.5’, without any exposure, or distribution whatsoever.In January 2007, Jeremy, Amir, Shlag, Aaron and Rick joined forces with Mike Turner (ex Our Lady Peace guitarist) at Pocket Studios, to produce their latest offering ‘The Nature of Resilience’. Tod Cutler (Pilate, Sara Slean) mixed the album and Noah Mintz (Broken Social Scene) mastered what has turned out to be Zygote’s most revered achievement to date. In less then 14 days of recording, Zygote amalgamated addictive melodies, invigorating harmonies, awe inspiring rhythms, which are brought together by seasoned songwriting, production and genuine, heart felt lyrics. It includes 13 songs, which range in content to address homelessness, the war in Iraq, drug abuse, relationship struggles, love and friendship. “The Nature of Resilience” is the product of 13 years of struggling and of despair. It is the story of a band who has returned to compose a musical masterpiece, brought together by their passion for music. This is an album that everyone can connect and relate to.“This is something we needed to do as human beings, friends, and musicians who love to play, write, and perform music together. We knew it would be tough trying to juggle hectic schedules, but we knew this album had to be made. This album is by far, our best work ever, and I am truly blessed to have recorded this record with such a talented group of individuals” Amir EpsteinFor a review of a recent Zygote concert check out http://www.tangiblesounds.com/zygote.cfm. View More Pictures
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The Nature of Resilience