Authority Zero

A versatile punk outfit from Arizona, Authority Zero has sustained a multi-decade career based around a unique sound that blends hardcore, skatepunk, reggae, and ska with Spanish and Portuguese influences. After building a strong regional following in the late 1990s, they broke out nationally with albums like Andiamo (2004) and Stories of Survival (2010). Despite numerous lineup shifts and setbacks, Authority Zero continued to thrive, earning the highest chart position of their career with 2017's Broadcasting to the Nations, followed in 2021 by their eighth studio album, Ollie Ollie Oxen Free. The group celebrated their 30th anniversary with the 2024 EP 30 Years: Speaking to the Youth.Authority Zero was formed in 1994 in Mesa, Arizona by high school friends Jason DeVore (vocals), Bill Marcks (guitar/vocals), Jerry Douglas (vocals/guitar), Jeremy Wood (bass), and J.W. Gordon (drums). During its first five years, the band eagerly pushed its sound, playing countless house parties, colleges, and club shows in and around Arizona. By the end of the decade, Douglas had departed and the band found a steady drummer in Jim Wilcox. Drawing comparisons to Rage Against the Machine, they found an early home with local independent label Zia Records, which issued Authority Zero's self-titled debut EP in 2001. It yielded a pair of college radio hits in "One More Minute" and "Sky's the Limit," and the EP quickly became Zia's best-selling release. Around this time the band scaled back on its riveting, metal-like sound for structured hard rock that accented the band's multicultural backgrounds and diverse musical tastesMaking the jump to Atlantic affiliate Lava Records, Authority Zero made their full-length debut, A Passage in Time, in the fall of 2002. With nods to influences like Bad Religion, Dick Dale, Manu Chao, and Sublime, it helped them gain national traction and they were soon touring with Guttermouth and H2O and making appearances on the Warped Tour. Writing their next album in the span of a month, Authority Zero returned in 2004 with the culturally diverse and Latin-flavored Andiamo, produced by Ryan Greene (Lagwagon, Strung Out). Having completed their deal with Lava, they followed it with the 2006 live acoustic Rhythm and Booze album on Suburban Noize. Released in early 2007, their third album, 12:34 explored faster skatepunk sounds and was again produced by Greene. By this point, the group had cycled through a number of different members and with the 2008 departure of founding guitarist Marcks, was essentially anchored by mainstays DeVore and Wood, the latter of whom had taken his own break from the band. Despite this, 2010's Stories of Survival, marked a creative and commercial high point for Authority Zero, hitting number five on Billboard's Heatseekers chart. Wood bowed out again before 2013's The Tipping Point, leaving DeVore to lead a mostly new lineup through subsequent tours, as well as the band's 20th anniversary show in 2015 at their hometown venue Club Red. In 2017, after enduring yet more lineup changes and a stolen tour van, Authority Zero made a heroic return with their sixth studio long-player, Broadcasting to the Nations, which hit number two on the Heatseekers chart. Persona Non Grata arrived one year later along with a third addition of the band's live acoustic Rhythm and Booze albums. Heading into the next decade, Authority Zero's creative control relied on the co-writing team of DeVore and later-era bassist Mike Spero with drummer Chris Dalley keeping time. In June 2021, with new guitarist Eric Walsh on board, the band released its seventh studio set, Ollie Ollie Oxen Free. When the band hit the three-decade mark in 2024, they celebrated with an EP of six new songs titled 30 Years: Speaking to the Youth.
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