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Music

All Zig Zags Need Are Some Tasty Horror Movies, Iron Maiden, a Cool Buzz, and They’re Fine

The punk thrashers new video follows what looks like a zombie on bath salts around the streets of LA.

Image: Jessie Mann

Scuzz punks Zig Zags have been careening around Los Angeles for a while now bashing out a potent dose of rock and roll. Influenced by the first two volumes of The Decline of Western Civilisation, horror movies and Angry Samoans, it's a fun but ferocious ride.

Their forthcoming four song EP 7", teems with more metal, punk and pop as well as cover of 7 Seconds 1982 classic “We’re Gonna Fight”.

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They just sent us through the video for the opening track “Gröth” and it’s full of Cronenberg-style head explosions of b-grade horror with fuzzed-out bass over hardcore riffing. Suffice to say, it's bangin'!

Written and directed by Calvin Lee Reeder who has made a name with films such as Piledriver and The Rambler, and edited by Buzz Pierece, the video is like following around a zombie on bath salts.

We chatted to Zig Zags vocalist/guitarist Jed Maheu to find out more.

Noisey: Who or what is a Groth?
Jed Maheu: The song is about a tumor or a mass that grows inside your body. The character in the song is too lazy or scared or whatever to go to the hospital so he just lets it get bigger and bigger until it's the same size of him. Since he is kinda anti-social the Groth becomes his best friend and they watch a lot of Netflix together. Los Angeles is a big part of the video. You could say that it's a big part of your sound too.
Calvin and I wanted to shoot a bunch of the grosser downtown LA stuff for the video. All that stuff is going away. I grew up in a really small town so when I was a kid I’d get really excited to go to a big city. My mom and I would drive around late at night and point out the hookers. Now all the hookers are on Craigslist. We live here cause we like movies and hardcore punk and sunshine and surfing and everyone has a dog! Did Calvin come to you with the idea for the video?
We shot on Super 8 which he likes and I like cause of him and all the little moves and looks to the camera that Randy does in the video are all Calvin. Buzz Pierce did the editing which is just as important. The part in the video where I disappear is a classic Calvin/Buzz move. 7 Seconds, horror movies and Iron Maiden. You sound like the perfect band for 16-year old me. What were you digging at that age?
Uh, 7 Seconds and Iron Maiden. Oh and horror movies!

‘Slime’ is available August 11 through Famous Class.

Catch Zig Zags on the road:
Aug 2 - SF at Hemlock
Aug 5 - Reno at The Holland Project
Aug 6 - Portland at The Know
Aug 8 - Seattle Pizza Fest
Aug 11 - Eugene Barn Light
Aug 12 - Concord, CA House Party
Aug 14 – Santa Ana at Beserktown

Euro tour dates:
Sept 29 - Barcelona-Rock Sound
Sept 30 - Bilbao- TBC
Oct 1 - Oviedo- Lata de Zinc
Oct 2 - Madrid- Wurlitzer Ballroom
Oct 3 - San Sebastian-Dabadaba
Oct 5 - Toulouse- Ravelins
Oct 6 -Paris-Le Mecanique Ondulatoire
Oct 7 - Nantes-Stereolux
Oct 8 -Bordeaux-Barbey Indie Club
Oct 9 -Nimes- TBA
Oct 10 -Lyon- Marche Grace
Oct 11 -Giessen- TBA
Oct 12 -Berlin- TBA
Oct 13 -Hamburg- Hafenklang
Oct 14 -Wurzburg- Club Cairo
Oct 15 -Vienna- Eternal Lazer
Oct 16 -Innsbruck-PMK
Oct 17 -Stuttgart-Gold Mark
Oct 18 -Teblice- 3 Ozark
Oct 19 - Prague- Klub 007
Oct 23 Lugano- El Cassotto
Oct 24- Rorschach- Treppenhaus