About Zru Vogue
Zru Vogue formed in Palo Alto, California in 1980, when three musicians inspired by pop, punk and dada began experimenting by mixing up African tribal and Middle Eastern rhythms, ambient, and British-influenced avant-garde rock with minimal electronics and funk-rock guitars.
Zru Vogue’s first single “Nakweda Dream” was released by independent San Francisco label Adolescent Records in February 1981. "Nakweda Dream" was a college radio hit, topping playlists. The B-side "Cumulonimbus" was an atmospheric percussion-heavy experimental track described by England's New Musical Express as a "neo-African avalanche" that also received widespread airplay on college radio. "Nakweda Dream/Cumulonimbus" was critically acclaimed in the alternative press, including Sub-pop who named it the best independent single of 1981.
From 1982 to 1984, Zru Vogue released an album and an EP, and played clubs in San Francisco and the Bay Area. In 1985, Zru Vogue disbanded and the core duo of Rick Cuevas and Andrew L. Jackson made solo records through the late 80's and 90's. Andrew and Rick resurrected Zru Vogue this decade with four albums of new material released since 2004. In 2005, they shot a dada-inspired video for the song with Patrick and Colin lending their talents as bag-headed backing musicians and Boris behind the camera.
in 2007 Rick and Andrew put together a compilation CD, 5000 Years Ago, of extremely rare Zru Vogue songs from their early 80's living room demo tapes. The harmonizer was a favorite effects unit as were the ever-present digital and analog delays. Some recordings were multi-tracked on 4-track cassette, and others like “Statues” and “Immaculate Conception” were recorded live in the living room. 5000 Years Ago is available as a free download on Zru Vogue’s Last.fm page.
About Zru Vogue
Rick Cuevas and Andrew Jackson met in 1972 at Jordan Middle School in Palo Alto. Rick liked to draw scary cartoon faces and pictures of cars. Andy also liked to draw scary cartoon faces (and still does). By 1974, Andy was getting good at playing guitar and starting to write songs. That year he bought his first electric guitar, a Fender Jazzmaster with a sunburst finish. Andy showed Rick some guitar chords, and soon Rick was playing guitar day and night.
Andy and Rick started their first band. Then Andy met Tad Williams at school and they started writing songs together. Before long they started a new band that they called Idiot. The name was Shakespeare inspired: Life is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing — a phrase that seemed to describe the band perfectly.
Alter-egos of the band included Parallel Grooves (Tad and Andy’s acoustic duo), The Bay Cruisers (inspired by the Bay City Rollers), Xander Povar and the Soul Commandos, Slim Chances (Tom and Andy's minimal pop duo), STARBRATS, and Wheatstraw ("from Nebraska"). They knew how to have fun.
In 1979, Andy, Tom, and Tad made a newspaper Room of Concentration in the Palo Alto apartment they shared. One of the walls had a headline that read “Zero Risk Unobtainable” so Andy wrote a song with that title, followed by another song he called “Z.R.U. Part Two.” New Year’s Eve 1980, Andy, Rick, Tom and friends performed at a party as The Random Factors. The sound was rhythmic, strange, chaotic, and near explosive.
Shortly after the party, the ZRU from “Zero Risk Unobtainable” was randomly coupled with “Vogue” and ZRU VOGUE became their new band name. By June 1980, their friend Nancy was playing with Zru Vogue and they planned to record a single at Oasis Studio in San Francisco.
The day before the recording session, Tom broke a bass string so they traded instruments and start improvising. A strange new song emerged, and in the 11th hour they chose to record it for the single instead of another song they’d rehearsed for months. That new song was “Nakweda Dream.” The first 3,000 copies sold out within months, mostly by mail order, and another 3,000 were pressed and distributed.
Following a legendary performance with The Sleepers and DNA at the Savoy Tivoli in San Francisco’s North Beach, Tom and Nancy left the group. Andy and Rick began playing experimental electronic pop music with Christopher (one of The Random Factors) and Spike in a band project they called Science Patrol.
Science Patrol’s music was just as experimental, and arguably much stranger. "Bandit Ducks From Outer Space" b/w “Pop ABCD” became an international cult hit. But by 1985, both Science Patrol and Zru Vogue had broken up.
After a 17-year hiatus, in 2002, Andrew Jackson and Rick Cuevas reformed Zru Vogue -- now with Patrick Coyne on the drums, they are more active and productive than ever before. Their latest album is Eleven Eyes (2009).
In the 1980's Zru Vogue band members were Rick Cuevas, Andrew Jackson (known then as Andrew Finkle), Tom Sanders, Nancy Miller, Angélique, Brian Sheridan, and Barry Greenhut.
