The Long and Winding Road...

The story of Zero Based Perception is a strange tale indeed. Believe it or not, Zero Based Perception began as a snotty-nosed alternative band called Graveyard Shift. The band comprised of Gord (guitar&vocals) and Brian (drums) along with Gavin Dowson on bass and Ryan MacDonald (guitars) and would spend their days playing Green Day and Oasis covers as well as writing songs about chocolate rollercoasters and such(?).... This band lasted the better part of two years and disbanded sometime around 1997.

After the disintegration of Graveyard Shift, Gord and Brian decided to start a band with a young guitarist named James Calleja, who also happened to have a friend who played bass, that being the one and only Mr.Wolfe, Blake. This band was marked by turmoil. Practicing only one weekend a month(and not practicing at all in the spare time of a blurry,hazy summer of 1998),leads you nowhere fast. At one jam, Brian,James,and Blake practiced with Nathan Bozek, convinced his(at the time)KORN AND DEFTONES influence would lead them to greatness.It lead to a few covers but nothing more.

In October of that year, the un-named band split, and James,Nathan, and Blake decided to carry on,in search of an imaginary drummer and writing songs about samurais and wookie love. This regression to a Graveyard Shit-like(sic) state resulted in the three joining an incredibly redundant nu-metal band named,ahem, Kronik Behaviour(laughter), while Gord and Brian languished.Nathan left after 3 practices, citing the overbearing nature of two of the members as his reason for jumping ship. While this beast lumbered on, playing Supernova shows and the like, a turn of events had ocurred in January which would have a profound effect on the future of all musicians heretofor mentioned.

After Brian moved in with James,he and Gord were brought back into the fold, and the un-named group reunited. With no permanent bassist(Gord's friend came out once,as well as Gavin)due to Blake's insistence that he couldn't do both, this metal answer to KB practiced in Blake's basement in a tiny rec room which stunk after each jam(the fartbox). In June,Kronik Behaviour broke up after James and Blake left,feeling that the band would eventually become a joke, much like Limp Bizkit.

That summer, the band(now named Nevertheless) decided to practice every week and get good. A small number of songs were written, but just as they were coming into their own, tempers flared and hostilities that had smouldered all summer exploded.At the end of August, James lost it with Brian(thankfully,Brian was back in his own house), and the band became a three-piece(Blake actually played bass and did vocals after all).

Tired of sacrificing Friday and Saturday nights for practice Gord and co. chilled for a few weeks, and by December got Nathan to pick up the bass. The blueprint was laid and called fiveagainstone. A combination of hardcore (Blake discovered punk rock over the previous year,while his friends discovered sex),and metal of all kinds, there seemed to be solidarity and confidence, and by February of 2000,the first show was played at Georgian College.

By May of that year, the band decided to have two guitarists. Leaving the bass slot empty(Nathan now played guitar), Blake took up the bass again and left vocal duties to Danny Porter, formerly of Kronik Behaviour. Of course, appearances can be deceiving, and even though it seemed good at first,Danny began to drag the band back to the KB days that it was formed against in the first place. Seeing this as being counter productive(and being pissed at Danny for not showing up at practices and other forms of stupidity), he was given the boot.The band should have looked at the summer of 1998 for a taste of what would happen.

It was decided that the band would be a permanent four piece (a la Slayer,Machine Head, etc.) with no front man, and Gord and Blake sharing vocal duties. One show was played like this before the band reconsidered its anti-singer stance. Almost coming full circle,Craig Dowson,the brother of Gavin(of Graveyard Shift), was given a shot. He would have worked had he not been in two bands at once(unbeknownst to the members of the band), while a show loomed.Oh yeah, in September the name was changed to Zero Based Perception.

The band has finally come into its own and gets non-Supernova shows, and for once, everyone seems happy with the songs(for the most part).Hopefully,the future will remain as bright,for the road ahead will be longer and just as fucked up.

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