Zebrahead formed in La Habra, California in 1996, by guitarist, vocalist Justin Mauriello; guitarist Greg Bergdorf; vocalist Ali Tabatabaee; bassist Ben Osmundson; and drummer Ed Udhus. Their unique sound is largely attributed to the addition of rap vocals by Ali Tabatabaee, while still maintaining dominantly part of the punk rock genre. They have evolved and focused their sound through the years,and kept strong even when frontman Justin Mauriello left in 2004, Matty Lewis replaced him. Despite crossing and mixing musical bounds, their mainstream popularity is limited in the United States, but international popularity and loyal fan base keeps Zebrahead successful.
They debuted with Waste of Mind in 1998 gaining enough popularity with “Get Back” reaching #32 on U.S Hot Modern Rock Tracks. Their next studio album Playmate of the Year did not see as much success in the United States, but peaked at 20 on Japanese charts. Zebrahead’s music began to mature and is evident in their 2003 studio album MFZB, the name was taken from their fanclub. They released three single in the United States from MFZB and four in Japan. The album went gold in Japan and rose to ninth on the charts overseas. After releasing Waste of MFZB, a Japan exclusive of songs written for MFZB but not included, Justin Mauriello left due to “creative differences”. They invited Matty Lewis to replace Justin and were very impressed, so he officially became a member of Zebrahead.
Broadcast to the World was released in Japan in February 2006, and Zebrahead’s first album with new vocalist Matty Lewis. Broadcast to the World features “Anthem”, an upbeat song about being you and not being shut out from the world. The album also features more serious songs, such as “Karma Flavored Whiskey” which is about someone finally getting what they have been giving and being exposed. Zebrahead toured extensively in 2006 with the Van’s Warped Tour in the summer and in the fall for promoting their album.
Zebrahead took two months off of touring to right their new album. They headlined a UK tour and co-headlined with popular punk band MxPx in May 2007 in Europe. Zebrahead also took part in the Get Happy Tour with several other bands including Army of Freshmen, The Bloodhound Gang, and Bowling for Soup. Zebrahead got back into the studio in March 2008 to record Phoenix.
The name of the album, Phoenix, relates to what the band went through after Justin leaving and the addition of Matty Lewis. Overall the album is well rounded musically and lyrically, and Ali Tabatabaee claims that it was the easiest to write in terms of inspiration. Themes of the album include bad relationships, “Mental Health” and cheating, “Sorry, But Your Friends are Hot”. The album varies from a fast, heavy rap in “HMP” to the pop-punk, humorous “Two Wrongs Don’t Make a Right, But Three Rights Make a Left”, which caters to a spectrum of fans from multiple genres. Zebrahead also makes a statement with Phoenix purely through humorous choice of track titles including the ones I mentioned as well as “Mike Dexter is a God, Mike Dexter is a Role Model, Mike Dexter is an Asshole”.
Zebrahead also made a statement with Panty Raid, but one that was not very popular with fans. Panty Raid is a collection of covers Zebrahead recorded from female artists, including Fergie and Avril Lavigne. Although it was not well liked by most, I found it humorous and worth at least one listen or even watch a cover of one the music videos they did.
Zebrahead did not stop making music or touring though. They toured very extensively in Europe and Japan between 2008 and 2010, and then they began work on Get Nice!. Zebrahead got the name from one of their close friends who would always say “Let’s get nice!”, which was meant to do anything to make them feel good, which the album does.
While there were many things going poorly in 2010 and 2011; the economy, unemployment, and natural disasters, especially in Japan; Zebrahead wanted to write something to avoid the negativity and feel good. The band’s positive energy is very apparent in the title track “Get Nice!” and the extremely catchy “She Don’t Wanna Rock”. Zebrahead’s well-rounded and genre-bending sound is not lost in Get Nice! with a heavy rap-rock mixture in “Ricky Bobby” and catchy pop-punk “This is Gonna Hurt You Way More Than It’s Gonna Hurt Me”.
Zebrahead’s unique musical personality is taken for granted in the United States, but thankfully not forgotten. While they only have mild success at home, Phoenix can debut at No. 1 in Japan beating out new titles from Coldplay and The Offspring. With punk and rap influences in their infallibly catchy music, it is only a matter of time before you Get Nice! with Zebrahead. So go to your favorite music service and get a taste of the genre-bending geniuses known as Zebrahead.
Here is the video for their song "Get Nice!"
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