ZIA is an exclusively electronic band who began performing on the East Coast in 1992. Founded by Elaine Walker, ZIA bangs out pro-space and sci-fi music on futuristic instruments. All of the synths are triggered live with drum sticks. Microtonal musical scales run rampant throughout the ZIA repertoire. In the pop genre this is a monumental task which adds an eerie, futuristic edge to the songs. ZIA was together for 11 years in Boston and NYC, and relocated to Arizona 2003. ZIA has 3 full length albums and two EPs. The newest release, Martians, was officially released at the first XPrize Cup! The video for the title track was filmed on Devon Island in the Canadian High Arctic (75°North), commissioned by the Haughton-Mars Project. ZIA is currently developing a larger Vegas-stye show, complete with a spacey story line!
<---- ZIA uses six Drum Kats. Click here to learn about them!history
Do you have any fond / crazy / meaningful memories of ZIA over the years? Remind me, please! I’ll be filling these years in gradually, when I remember things, when you remind me, and in my own words. For me, personally, this is just a place to stick stuff so that I have it all in one place and don’t forget the good times we’ve had so far. And for super-duper-fanatical ZIA fans, well, this will give you something to chew on. Both of you. -elaine
BOSTON YEARS..
For old school ZIA fans and newcomers alike, what follows are some ancient artifacts from the early years of ZIA.
1989 - 1992
Back in 1989, I finished my first solo album called Blue Cartoon, sequenced on a DOS computer and recorded onto a 4 track Tascam cassette recorder, mixed down to another cassette. Yay, white noise! I had also met a brilliant photographer / videographer named Norm Francoeur at a Boston club and we worked together on some Blue Cartoon videos (and..uh.. “comedy” videos as well). Norm was familiar with the Boston music scene, so he told me where the cool clubs were - namely Manray - when I graduated from Berklee in 1991 and had some time to finally explore the city. At Manray I saw an amazing aggro industrial duo called D.D.T., and heard “electronic industrial” music for the first time - Nitzer Eb, Front Line Assembly, early Ministry, Front 242, Skinny Puppy, etc. It was both of my worlds put together -----> new wave electronic + punk rock = electronic punk rock music! And there were absolutely no guitars to smother the synthesizers! Yessss.
I decided to do a female-fronted version of this style. I continued to use the Blue Cartoon logo (a ZIA symbol) and just called the band by that name. ZIA was born, in my brain, one fine evening at Manray.
The very first ZIA songs were Pagan Goddess, based on a science fiction novel, and Reconstruction/Destruction, based on, well, something to do with trying to reconcile buildings and cities with “nature”. Some of the lyrics, specifically “the form twists from beauty”, are referring to the World Trade Centers in NYC. How horrifically ironic that we would perform this song at a Fireman’s benefit in NYC exactly 10 years later. I had to stop the song abruptly because it was impossible to sing the lyrics.
Both of those songs had an environmental topic. The “Pagan Goddess” I’m referring to is “Daisy” from David Brin’s novel, Earth. Daisy was trying to kill a good portion of humanity (using the internet, of course) to balance out the food chain. I wasn’t trying to spread this message as a “good idea”, of course. But I was starting to think these things through -- where does humanity fit into the big picture of “nature” (whatever that is)? I became an ardent environmentalist overnight.
I set up recycling boxes in the electronic music labs at Berklee when I found out they had no recycle program, and I hauled all of this trash to my boyfriend’s Mom’s house 45 minutes away, where it could get picked up. There was no recycling program in the Boston area. I thought it would be an awesome idea to start a clan that wore masks and oxygen tanks around the city to make people aware of the pollution, and to throw trash right on the ground instead of in trash cans, to make people aware of all the junk getting thrown into landfills. This all seems embarrassing now, and honestly, most so-called environmentalists drive me nuts nowadays because they don’t think things through.
I managed to leave a Blue Cartoon cassette at one of the D.D.T. after parties. Noel (who is now a Buddhist monk) and Lisa (now DJ Goldilox) heard a melodic element of my music that they thought could round out their rhythm-and-noise sound. They contacted me about my Blue Cartoon cassette, but by then I had already started sequencing some ZIA music, which was more along the lines of their industrial sound. Once they heard ZIA, they promptly asked me to join D.D.T. I was a huge fan, so of course I said yes, and I moved in with Goldi!
Goldi lived in the original Sound Museum on Albany Street in Boston, helping to take care of the building, taking out the trash (mostly beer cans) and mopping the concrete hallway. It was a dilapidated band rehearsal building (eventually torn down in the “Big Dig” to make an onramp). Goldi lived in what used to be a recording studio, complete with a checkerboard painting concrete floor, no windows, and a makeshift bathroom. She was very handy. She installed a shower over one of the toilets in the formerly public bathroom. She rigged a strobe light for our doorbell since music was usually blaring too loudly to hear the actual bell.
People often ask, “Why is ZIA so in to outer space and futuristic technology, living forever and what not?” I partly have my 25 MHz Apple IIci computer, which I got from my parents as a graduation present, to thank for it. 25 MHz sounds ridiculous by today’s standards but this was super-futuristic for the times. I mean, that was back in the day when we still wrote letters with a pen to stay in touch with our childhood friends. The only thing to stress about was whether to use cursive or print. And 25 MHz was powerful enough to change the trajectory of my entire way of thinking.My uber smart new roommate/band mate, Goldi, was really excited to get my new computer hooked up to the “internet”, which is in quotes because it was a very mysterious word at the time. I attempted to learn some unix, which you needed back then to do anything at all on the “net” as we called it. I used pine for email, snooped around using ftp, and used Prodigy to “chat” with my only friend connected to the internet -- Marq from You Shriek -- who lived right across the street. Back in those days it was ludicrous to type to someone who was merely across the street!
But most importantly, I discovered Usenet newsgroups. There was an endlessly long list of newsgroups to choose from. Having no idea what I was in for, I scrolled down the list and chose the ones that sounded interesting. I chose several of them. I sat back and looked at the list of newsgroups I chose, and suddenly discovered a part of me that I had no clue about. I had chosen things like sci.space.science, alt.physics, sci.cryonics, alt.extropians, alt.cyberpunk, and of course, rec.music.industrial. I don’t think I ever thought about these topics - except industrial music - one nanosecond before this moment.
I joined a few environmentalists newsgroups as well. I learned about the green party and other anti-technology (at the time) wackos. It didn’t jive that pro-space lists were talking about how we would have to recycle everything in space, leading to better ways of recycling on Earth, yet environmentalists were ranting about technology being BAD. I unsubscribed from those and just kept doing what I was doing -- recycling and fantasizing about wearing a gas mask around town.
So, to answer the question above, the Why part is twofold. On one hand, there are many, many reasons to care about the future and to be interested in the trajectory of our human technology. On the other hand, since I don’t recall giving one iota of thought to these topics before my earliest Usenet newsgroup moment, the only logical conclusion I can draw is that it’s all just common sense - and simply put - nothing before that moment had triggered my brain to go in that direction.
Sure, I had thought about space here and there. My parents had coffee table books, and I remember my mother commenting on the Viking Mars Landers in 1976, “This is very important.” I was very upset ten years later in 1986 when the Challenger exploded. But I had certainly never had the words “science”, “space”, “cryonics”, “extropians”, “cyberpunk” and “music” all fed into my brain at the same time. It was like a multi-triggered key unlocked some madness in my brain, causing neurons to cross-connect with their hibernating brethren. It takes “science” to get us into “space”, and “cryonics” may be necessary for long term space travel, and “extropians” are already experts in all of the above.
I dubbed myself an Extropian and started chanting, “Boundless Expansion! Self-Transformation! Dynamic Optimism! Intelligent Technology! Spontaneous Order!” (Extropian Principles v2.5)
Oh yes, and “cyberpunk” was apparently my new musical genre. “Cyberpunk” was a super cool word until Billy Idol released his Cyberpunk album in 1993, which is extremely ironic for two reasons. (1) Billy Idol was my inspiration to be a performer in the first place -- I had Billy posters plastered all over my bedroom in my teen years. I wanted to be either a female version of Billy or his keyboard player. Either would be acceptable. (2) It was his Cyberpunk album that gave my friend Bob Gourley the idea to start releasing his “music ‘zine” on floppy disks. But I’m getting ahead of myself...
Our first (crazy, amazing, wacky, trouble-causing) D.D.T. show was at Venus DeMilo in Boston in the Fall of 1991. Goldi and Noel, who is now a Buddhist Monk in upstate NY, were throwing a tantrum on stage during the entire set because we didn’t get a sound check. I wondered why they hadn’t warned me ahead of time, but the fact is that it wasn’t planned. Mess with true artists, and they will turn their gut reaction into art. This half hour tantrum -- Goldi dancing instead of playing her drums and Noel ranting instead of singing -- WAS art! Meanwhile, being the dork that I am, I was trying my very hardest to execute my parts flawlessly, as if they would notice my precision in the midst of their mayhem.
1992
ZIA’s first show was February 1992 at the Rathskellar in Boston, MA. Working with D.D.T. had caused me to put ZIA on the back burner, so Goldi and Noel agreed to help me perform in ZIA. Marq Free (Raziel Panick) from You Shriek joined as well. The first show was exciting, but far from polished. I could only remember half of my lyrics, and Noel was hallucinating on somethingorother, but we got people’s attention! Most people hadn’t seen a singing/screaming-girl-fronted guitar-less electronic industrial band - ever - and Norm Francoeur’s futuristic light sculpture stage props took everyone there to a different universe.
1993
This is the year the Billy Idol came out with his new Cyberpunk album!wiki -----> “Despite the critical and financial failure of the album, Billy Idol set several precedents in the process of promoting the album. These included his use of the internet, e-mail, virtual communities, and multimedia software – each a first for a mainstream celebrity. Idol also based his fashion style, music videos, and stage shows on cyberpunk themes and aesthetics.”
Go Billy!
wiki -----> “It was reported that his e-mail account on the WELL received mail from angry computer users, and was occasionally flooded with e-mail spam to antagonize him.”
Well, I actually sent Bill some NICE email during that time! -----> read my actual email exchange with my most beloved Idol.
wiki -----> “Cyberpunk was created in Idol's home studio in Los Angeles, centered around his Macintosh computer and accompanying software.[3] [10] Programs used in the production included Studio Vision, by Opcode Systems, and Pro Tools, by Digidesign.”
And those are the same programs I used. woooo!
wiki -----> “Excited by the DIY aspects of the production process, Idol took only ten months to record the album, which he often contrasted with the combined period of eight years it took to create his two previous albums.”
uh... der.. It takes me eight years to do two albums even in my DIY world. :(
And then it happened. Chaos Control (digizine) featured ZIA and D.D.T. in their new Hypercard stack multimedia format, which -- at 844k -- barely fit on one low density floppy disk. And boy was this futuristic for the times! Bob Gourley of Chaos Control was way ahead of his time (as was Billy Idol). Download the original Hypercard version and see if you can get it to work! Mind you, you'll need a Mac with Os 7 - Os 9 (it doesn’t run on Mac Os X or Windows) , Hypercard 2.0 or greater. It contains information about ZIA, space, (tiny) pictures and (extremely short) audio clips, lyrics and more!
If anyone can convert all of these hypercard stacks to a newer format (I’ve tried and failed), I would be most appreciative!
Less than a year later, a color version was released on TWO whopping high density floppy disks! Not only that, but they were self contained Hypercard stacks and didn’t need Hypercard to run. woooo! Download the original Hypercard versions and follow the instructions which may seem humorous: -----> Install ZIA1 and ZIA2 by double-clicking the Icon and selecting your hard drive. Then click ZIA1 to open the electronic promo kit. ZIA1 will run by itself, however, clicking on the galaxy will automatically open ZIA2. Clicking on the galaxy while in ZIA2 will bring you back to ZIA1. Clicking on the planets In either contents page will take you somewhere within the same file. If you have problems hearing the sounds or seeing color, use "get info" to increase the memory of ZIA1 or e-mail zia@world.std.com.
Again, if anyone can convert all of these hypercard stacks to a newer format (I’ve tried and failed), I would be most appreciative!!
1995
ZIA’s first tour -----> Cyberboogie Tour Log (NorthEast)
1996
ZIA’s second tour -----> Luxury Tour (SouthEast)
NYC YEARS..
1999
ZIA gig report -----> International Space Development Conference in Houston, TX
ZIA gig report -----> Our Philly gig and the exciting road trip!
Liz, Hae Young, Baloney and I moved to Brooklyn in the Summer, in time to settle in before I started graduate school at NYU.
2000
Life started getting very busy in - a good way - living in NYC. Between grad school, heading the NYC Chapter of the National Space Society, and playing lots and lots of ZIA shows, I was learning to manage my time very resourcefully.
<----- one of our early banners!2001
Other than getting my Masters Degree in Music Technology, this was the worst year EVER. My friend David died at the end of 2000, Geek Boy broke my heart, and my beloved grandmother Alice died. I also developed throat nodules (which I did not know yet) and was having trouble singing. Liz started singing lead for a few songs out of the set so that I could rest. It was fun playing the triggers while she sang though, I do admit! And she wrote the awesome spacey songs she sang. Thanks Liz! :) Things started looking up -- I finished my degree in the summer, ZIA was going strong, and the NYC chapter of NSS was chugging right along, but then 9/11/01 happened. We entered a very long, dark period after that.
THE SOUTHWEST CALLED..
2003
I survived for a couple more years in NYC, embracing what it means to be a true New Yorker. I love NY! But then I decided it was finally time to take things down a notch, simplify and reboot. John (aka Geek Boy), Baloney, and I moved from NYC to Phoenix in John’s 1981 diesel chevette, towing a 2700 lb trailer.
2004
We played our first ZIA show in the Phoenix area.
2007
Jason Hardy was an attractive waiter at my favorite restaurant. I gave him some of my music and he asked if I could produce some of his songs. We became a duo called Number Sine. We were signed to Mirage Records (a branch of Red Truck Entertainment) for a brief period of time in 2007 and played seven gigs, when it suddenly came to an end when several big things went wrong at the same time. Our slogan was “Mars meets Venus. A boy meets a girl. A comet from space crashed into a lonely guitar.” The Star Castle and Plutotar that I built for Number Sine, along with 3 new Drum Kat Turbos are now a part of ZIA arsenal which I lovingly refer to as the “ZIA spaceship”.
2008
ZIA is going in a new direction. Perhaps the days of dive bar shows are finally over. We’re currently working on a ZIA show with a story line - sort of a musical, meets live band, meets blue man group, complete with video and speaking lines to stitch the story together. Of course it has to do with flying around the galaxy looking for a good man for Elaine. The ending has a twist.
I started philosophizing on Youtube this year. I’ve decided that no matter which way one decides to probe the universe to her limits, we run into paradoxes. It’s like being in a video game where you can never get past the invisible “edge”.2009
I obviously need to finish filling these years in.. It will come with time. Send me some fun memories! I’ll see if i can weave it in! -elaine