Ygarr of ZOLAR X
New info on forthcoming ZOLAR - X cd, plus new music by Ygaarr, and a possible reunion at the bottom of this page....
( info from Vespera, daughter of BILLY, former singer of ZOLAR X was added may 26th '04 below after the Zolar collage )
The following info was provided by LEONARD DENAULT of SHADY LADY on ZOLAR X, afterall they were close friends with the band and as many of u know S.L.'s drummer BILLY McCARTNEY would go on to sing lead for ZOLAR - X.
Leonard says in his letter that we recieved in early april '04, that he rented a room in a dead end business area in Riverside , Ca ( Riverside is a suburb of L.a. close to San Bernadino ). Leonard says ZOLAR - X came to the area to play 2 shows around this time in the winter of ' 74, one at REDLANDS UNIVERSITY, the other at EROS BOGART's, a small club in San Bernadino. He goes onto say the band stayed with he and his wife and a friend who had previously saw both bands play. Says ZOLAR - X had a practice session that he and KEN WARICK recorded in april of ' 74
LEONARD also says that sometimes when he went to HOLLYWOOD he hung around GERHARD HELMUT's band sometimes called RIPPER, this was in the latter part of the 70s during the punk era. (GERHARD of course was a former member of SHADY LADY. )
Says today he plays in a band called L.D. and the MONKEY KINGS, and they play blues at bars in the Riverside area. There is a bit more info in the letter on SHADY LADY, see our gallery of them on our gateway 2 for that info.
Zolar X recording was a "live dress rehearsal" (not a live audience performance) It was recorded in the last week of Feb, '74 just before the gig you have a flyer on. Leonard said no one has this recording other than he and now you. Not even any of Zolar X's former members have it.
stage shot of the band in concert
THESE PHOTOS WERE SENT TO US BY CHUCK THE GUY WHO RUNS THE ONE AND ONLY ZOLAR X SITE, see reviews of ZOLAR X, on page 23, and there is another picture of the band accessible from the galleries at the bottom of page 21.........
So by now you asking how does this music of the ZOLAR X practice session sound ? SUPER ! They begin with what sounds like some kinda rocketship distortion then begins 'SPAGE AGE LOVE', followed by several tunes from the demos that are allready reviewed on page 23 of the 70s invasion, and plays some others we don't have. Some of these songs sounded like very mellow space rock kinda like PINK FLOYD naturally, others are heavy rock, elsewhere they had that novelty sound close to DEVO, afterall both were sci fi bands can we say ? well yes we can and we will because this is our site and we can say whatever we want !........... as u can imagine these came off with a much rawer sound than what eventually surfaced on their demos we reviewed on page 23 which have a more studio polished sound.......naturally, but listening to these songs late at nite makes one feel as if they have a treasure only a handful of people ever heard.........
1 'SPACE AGE LOVE'
(intro ; guitar note spins quietly, then a huge U.F.O. niose which sounds like the mothership from 'Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind' begins and lingers for a few seconds before the band kicks off with the song, cool guitars begin to slash away, sloppy drums sound all the better.....yes as it says on our old ZOLAR demos this onesounds a bit like SLAUGHTER and the DOGS 'CRANKED REALLY HIGH'.................'OH WELL WE DON'T GIVE A DAMN WHAT THE TV SAYS CAUSE WERE OUTER SPACE THE USUAL WAY', and 'OUR SPACE AGE LOVE, AHH RETRO HEARTS'.....and 'GO, GO, GO, GO.....WE CAN TAKE U ON AN ORBIT'..................(spoken) 'HUMANS ARE FUN....A, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA , HA.........(fades)
2 more u.f.o. distortion, sounds very similiar to what onehears in an old sci-fi film, and it sounds beautiful ! this plays for a minute....
3 'ENERGIZE ME'
this one is slower rock, and heavy.....gREAT song here....this one alternates between a rough hard sound and 'HAWKWIND/PINK FLOYD type music with good organ playing....'SENSATIONS.....( some words are hard to make out here)..........'FAR AWAY I HEARD A VIOCE'......and 'SHE ALWAYS NEEDED (?)', .....and.....'SHE RE-ENERGIZED MY MIND, ENERGIZED ME'.....
4 ( ? ) slow PINK FLOYD type prog guitars, drums pound........'SKYS SHAPE WITH BIG'...................hard to decipher the lyrics since they sound somewhat buried, suffice to say this song is not reviewed on page 23...
5 'BLUE COMMODORE' ?
we'll call this one BLUE COMMODORE since thats the word that gets repeated twice within the song context......and this one is very slow, let's say the slowest out of the batch with ethereal sounding vocals......'BLUE COMMODORE...................UNTIL TWILIGHT BEYOND THE AFTER'..............and...............'I DEDICATE.............COMMODORE , TURNING PAGES, MY INCLINING................SPRUNG INTO SPACE'
'1,2,3'4.........doo guitar begins, band stops.....
6 ( ? ) guitars lead the song which is bouncy rock, guitar notes go round and round......spacey sounds.....afterwards are some girls in the background talking and they make some kinda suggestion ( see below, for more info on these girls )
7 ' COME THIS WAY ( follow us )' ( some chatter is heard , and is that a girl's vioce in the background ? ) '.........but now ee, akk orr, ahh.......'EEP, AKK , ORR, AHH AHH......'.........guitar note begins beautifully as the band begins their opus,...........( some lyrics)....'DEPARTING FROM A COSMIC WORLD', ....and.....RAISED THE GROUND'......and 'MEMORY BANKS CALCULATING, GRAVITIES FULL'........then.....'INTERNATIONAL INTEREST IS A POWER BAND'.......later.....'PRETTY SOON WE'LL DIE......COLORS TRAPPED WE DIE.................CAROUSEL'.... over and over these words are repeated in a 3-D vocal style - 'COME THIS WAY, FOLLOW US, COME THIS WAY, COME WITH US', so we called it that, maybe it's not the title, don't know and neither do u.............the song leaves the listener feeling as if they just expierenced interplanetary traveling.......:)
Note ; the space words 'EPP AKK ORR AHH AHH' were no doubt taken from the JETSONS cartoons, some of u will remember that episode.............after that last song there is about 3 seconds of a guitar zooming then the sound is cut off
afterwards on our tape is a new number by
L.D. and the MONKEY KINGS
'CHIMP ROCK'
a blues instrumental it sounds a lot like BOOKER T and the MG's 'GREEN ONIONS'......nice guitar playing there with a smooth harmonica playing,......... L.D. and the MONKEY KINGS can be found today playing bars in the riverside area....( LEONARD DENAULT was also called 'BONES' by his old bandmates ) this song may also be called 'SIMEON SHUFFLE', another song he recorded is
'MONEY JOINT '
this one is modern rock with a hip hop beat, the singer sings sparsely 'oh, oh, oh, oh' while electric guitar notes forge , strings added for extra effect ! LEONARD plays the guitar on this track
Back in '72 when SHADY LADY drummer BILLY McCARTNEY saw Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders From Mars at the Santa Monica Auditorium he changed his name to ZORY GLORY, and finally to ZORY ZENITH , dressed like a spaceman and searched for other musicians...also looking for a drummer were; guitarist YGARR YGARRIST ( STEVE DELLA BOSCA),and ZANY ZATOVIAN ( BRUCE ALAN COURTOIS ). Zory was determined to expand his art, into a frontman role, so the drum slot was given to EON FLASH (CRAIG RHINEHART),.....ZORY became the singer and worked hard with his girlfriend of the time Ve Neill to make ZOLAR's stage and light setting look like a sci fi landscape......Ve Neill later became a makeup artist for Hollywood films and won a grammy one year, a picture of her can be seen here -
http://www.npr.org/features/feature.php?wfId=1684409
There is always music amongst the trees in the garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. --M. Aumonier
Look at the stars sometimes. They are only notes They are music. --Pat Conroy
Words make you think a thought. Music makes you feel a feeling. A song makes you feel a thought. --E.Y. Harbug (1898 - 1981)
Music melts all the separate parts of our bodies together. --Anais Nin
( 70s invasion mgmt )
'before the last song on the zolar set i can hear band chatter, and it sounds like a girl is talking, can u ask LEONARD if there was a girl or girls present' ?
STEFEN SHADY
'Yes, there were two girls present'.
( 70s invasion mgmt )
'also is it possible ken warwick has a copy of this set' ?
STEFEN SHADY
'I would think it's possible but I'll ask Leonard next time I talk to him'.
( 70s invasion mgmt )
'also after the last song 'COME THIS WAY ( FOLLOW US) ' i can hear another song begin which is just a guitar zooming for a about 3 seconds, then it quickly ends,...... please what is this '?
STEFEN
'I'll ask'.
'Did shady lady's female fans begin to dress up in glam outfits copying the band since u guys were an EARLY glam band' ?
GERHARD HELMUT
'Absofuckinlutely!! One even had an outfit made by Nudie( Thats the man who made Elvis'es gold lamee suit!), with our logo embroidered on it'.
(70s invasion mgmt)
(Note; Nudie also made suits for the FLYING BURRITO BROS. but thats another story )
'any glitter on people's faces or in their hair' ?
GERHARD HELMUT
'They had glitter in make-up, nail polish and hair.If you got to close to them you had it all over you too'.
(70s invasion mgmt.)
did Zolar x's female fans ever walk around in space outfits or with antennaes pointing out of their heads ?
GERHARD
'If they did I never saw one'.
About Zolar X.:From what I know they didnt have a lot of groupies. General perception was, that they where too weird. The fact that they where heavy into the Bible didnt help either. Nobody was able to get that connection. But Zory did go on stage with a Bible under his arm.And later he became a preacher. Go figure....
( 70s invasion mgmt. )
a bible onstage ? how cool is that ? stay tuned for more revealations about the gospel according to Zolar - X :)
Zolar X collage
EROS BOGART's, presents
a Space Rock Spectacular
March 1st, 1 night only,
7 p.m. tickets at the door only.
......Below the caption is a animated picture of the band with the lunar landscape and moon, the same image from the flyer site, all though in the picture the band members are shown differently all resemble animated space super heroes, ( actually more like Micronauts ) than rock musicians.) ... :) ...
'Billy named me from a baby book of names....I was born December 9,1976....I was raised in the Hollywood area most of my life, west & north, couple blocks from Sunset, so I am a Hollywood child....and loved every minute of it'!
.......MORE.........
on the tape also were 2 RIPPER songs were called 'UNDER DER FAUST', and 'TRAPPED LIKE A RAT',....let it be said these 2 tunes are EXCELLENT new wave/punk songs, the latter has a strong influence of ZOLAR - X, sounds like Dracula singing :), also a bit of ULTRAVOX/GRAY NUMAN sound as well, these songs are reviewed on page 7, and a gallery on RIPPER has been made, see the bottom of our gateway 2....
some ancient info, there was a guy named MITCH BARRETT, says he was the rhythm guitarist and EON was the lead guitarist. they covered love, the who and the yardbirds, this was back in High School long before Zolar - X, the name of the band was called the BLIND EXPIERENCE.........
And Normal (Battery) Eggs? The battery hen, from which the vast majority of all eggs are produced and almost all products containing eggs (especially cakes) suffers an even worse fate. The battery hen is an anxious, frustrated, fear-ridden bird forced to spend 10 to 12 months squeezed inside a small wire cage with up to nine other tormented hens. There are usually many tiers of these cages in gloomy sheds which hold a total of 50,000 to 125,000 birds. Caged for life without exercise while constantly drained of calcium to form egg shells, battery hens develop the severe osteoporosis of intensive confinement know as caged layer fatigue. Calcium depleted, millions of hens become paralyzed and die of hunger and thirst inches from their food and water. Battery hens are debeaked with a hot machine blade once and often twice during their lives, typically at one day old and again at seven weeks old, because a young beak will often grow back. Debeaking causes severe, chronic pain and suffering which researchers compare to human phantom limb and stump pain. Between the horn and bone of the beak is a thick layer of highly sensitive tissue. The hot blade cuts through this sensitive tissue impairing the hen's ability to eat, drink, wipe her beak, and preen normally. Debeaking is done to offset the effects of the compulsive pecking that can afflict birds designed by nature to roam, scratch, and peck at the ground all day, not sit in prison; and to save feed costs and promote conversion of less food into more eggs. Debeaked birds have impaired grasping ability and are in pain and distress, therefore eating less, flinging their food less, and "wasting" less energy than intact birds.
1 ROCK BOTTOM and the SPYS
YGARR was in this short lived new wave band, they recorded 8 songs total, 3 are said to be GOOD punk ones and those made it onto an e.p. of which u can see the front and back of the sleeve on the link below,....... click on the BREAK MY FACE link to read their story, and from there is a link to buy reissues !!
http://collectorscum.com/wyft/rock_btm.html
2 a crazy photo of YGARR with ROCKBOTTOM after he left ZOLAR - X, can be seen at the bottom of our gateway 2 in a gallery with the RIPPER single, or simply copy and paste this link -
https://www.angelfire.com/vt2/70sinvasion/ygarr.html
3 SIMPLY SAUCER
a canadian band called SIMPLY SAUCER who can be considered very obscure, recorded an lp in '74 , a blending of sci-fi rock and sounds ranging from the VELVETS, to the STOOGES, to PINK FLOYD, the cd which has the reissue of the tracks from '74 plus some from '78 can now be found, we have a small review for this band SIMPLY SAUCER on our gateway 2 probably,...........see this link for other info and a download -
http://www.epitonic.com/artists/simplysaucer.html
4 the TWINKEYZ
yea, u never heard of this sacramento band who only played less than 10 shows and released 3 singles, and an lp in '77, they lasted till '80, however they had a strong SCI- FI sound as well as resembling the sounds of LOU REED, STONES 60's pysch, BOWIE glam rock, and a new breed of cartoon inspired Punk rock, see these 2 links for more info -
http://www.newsreview.com/issues/Sacto/2004-07-01/arts.asp
and this link too -
http://www.cartuneland.com/Pages/twinkeyz.html
5 ZORY ZENITH DEFENSE FUND
if u don't allready know ZORY aka BILLY has been in jail for sometime, at the Zolar X site they are trying to raise funds to help get him released see this link if you'd like to send in some dough or if u wanna write him personally -
http://www.geocities.com/zolarx1/zoryzenithdefensefund.html
6 THE MARTIAN ROCK BAND
this N.y. band dressed like space aliens circa '75 - '76, they played at MAx's and CBGB's, maybe they saw ZOLAR - X play in L.a. and got the idea from them, then again maybe it was an all original act, they featured guitarist Rik Fox, see a photo of him in a space suit at this link with a female KISS fan -
http://www.chaoticworks.com/fox/fox45.jpg
another photo of him in black with platforms and green hair is here -
http://www.fullinbloommusic.com/rikfox.html
'...the RAMANS always did things in 3's...'
...
