Zero Boys return to ‘Vicious Circle'
By: Tom Lanham
Special to The Examiner
February 19, 2009
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Pride of punk: The Zero Boys, pictured in the 1980s, have re-released their only album, “Vicious Circle.” (Courtesy photo)
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By any standards, you could say that David Clough has made it.
In his hometown of Indianapolis, the British expatriate bought a house, ran a successful clothing store for 20 years and launched a pub/nightclub, Radio Radio, that during the next couple of months will be hosting hot U.K. outfits such as White Lies and the Vibrators. He’s also kicked out occasional jams with his latest band, Bigger Than Elvis.
But he’s not your average businessman.
Clough — who also answers to his old punk-era nickname Tufty — will remind Berkeley’s 924 Gilman crowd of exactly that this weekend, when the bassist tears the roof off the joint with his recently reformed outfit the legendary Zero Boys.
In the late 1970s and early ’80s, every major American city had its own celebrated punk combo.
Indianapolis had the Zero Boys, whose sole album, 1982’s self-produced “Vicious Circle,” was a hyper-adrenalized Midwest masterpiece that still holds up today in its newly remastered version, re-released (along with anthology “History of”) by Bloomington, Ind., imprint Secretly Canadian.
The story doesn’t end there.
Clough just entered a local studio with original vocalist Paul Mahern, drummer Mark Cutsinger and new guitarist Vess Ruhtenberg (who replaces late axeman Terry “Hollywood” Howe). The two-day session yielded a new Zero Boys album, likely to be pounced on by their current label.
It’s been three decades since the group formed and 26 years since it splintered. Why now for a reunion? Easy, said Clough, who also helmed the post-Zero Toxic Reasons. Fans demanded it.
Sure, he was content with his enterprises. And Mahern had made a name for himself as an in-demand record producer, frontman for the Datura Seeds, owner of Affirmation Records and kundalini yoga instructor.
“But people just kept writing to us, wanting us to play,” said Clough. “But because of the logistics of where we’re located, we’d tell clubs that they had to get us there. And none of us have joined bands and driven around on tour for years, but the timing now was just such that we could all do it.”
IF YOU GO
Zero Boys
Where: 924 Gilman, 924 Gilman St., Berkeley
When: 7 p.m. Friday-Saturday
Tickets: $10
Contact: www.924gilman.org
