Zero Cipher;
ze•ro n (the lowest possible point or degree)
ci•pher n (a text written in code)
A genuinely fearless combination of metal, pop, rock, and the then-nü-biquitious turntables, brought south londoners Zero Cipher to the attention of Metal Hammer magazine in 2002, when their homemade demo found its way onto the cover of the february issue.
The ensuining year saw Zero Cipher cut their teeth across the UK toilet circuit, earning endorsements from Marshall Amps and winning ‘Best Unsigned Band’ from Rancid News, ‘Best British Band’ from Amplify This, and placing in Kerrang’s ‘Best Unsigned Band’ reader poll.
Record company attention wasn’t far behind, but the incredible shrinking offers accompanied by some label advances led to a tenacious ‘fuck you’ approach, which the band has kept to this day.
Choosing to work with UK indie, Copro Records, home to Medulla Nocte and Snub (whose vocalists had both guested on the 2001 demo), Zero Cipher put together a concept album of self recorded demo tracks, in-jokes and ambient noise, including a donation from the labels then-flagship (and much missed) band, earthtone9. Critical acclaim was universal and 2003 saw the band play with One Minute Silence, Skindred, Kerrang’s Scumfest, Uxfest and many more.
Ryan Harris of Fony, recently off tour with Life of Agony (a tour Zero Cipher were themselves unable to accept due to the financial restraint of no official label), joined, after the band changed rhythm section mid-tour in 2004. Filling the drum stool with a permanent member would take much longer…
Anticulture records stepped up, and released ‘Diary of a Sadist’ on halloween 2005. European touring followed along with support slots to Dry Kill Logic, Hed(PE), and festival appearances such as Hard Rock Hell with Cradle of Filth. Fatherhood, day jobs, depression and insolvency took their toll. Without a penny spent on advertising or tour support, critical acclaim from the major and independent rock press was nevertheless highly positive, but the relationship with the label deteriorated rapidly, ending with Zero Cipher buying the remaining stock and re-issuing the album themselves in 2007.
In 2008 it became time for Zero Cipher to put their money where their mouths were once again, using the infrastructure from their 2nd album reissue to put together a barrage of new songs, in the shape of “Juggernaut”.
Justifiably proud of the new material, Whattingham says of the recording process “For the first time we have made an album as a unit, real drums, real performances, properly mixed – this is how we were supposed to sound the first time round”.
Juggernaut is a genreless, satisfying, and melodic album. The weight of the bands years has undeniably made its mark on the lyrical content, as vocalist Williams explained of first video, ‘Horrorshow’, “literally it reads as the story of the gimp in Pulp Fiction, told from his perspective. But we actually wrote it with our experience of the music industry over the last ten years in mind! Some of the songs might upset people if they recognize themselves in there, but why should we care? We don’t want or need anything from anyone else, apart from to be left alone to do our thing”… Juggernaut is released on Null Void Records 30th March 2009.
Press:
“Hardcore, Metalcore, Death Metal, Hip-hop and even Ska fuelling this twisted sound.” – 8/10 Metal Hammer
“A Massive-sounding piece of work, the downtuned metal riffs bolstered by a subtle electronic undercarriage…” – KKKK Kerrang!
"Zero Cipher transform the indoor stage into one big dance floor. Their blend of psycho, off the wall metal, vocal hooks, rampant drumming and DJ/tape-loop tomfoolery make you want to shake yourself until dehydration comes a-knocking," – 8/10 Rock Sound
