It wouldn't be accurate to say that Zolar-X were "ahead of their time", because that phrase would imply that the rest of the world caught up to them at some point. Better to say they were outside their time, sounding not quite like any band before or since, with a mix of glam, bubblegum pop, sci-fi prog, and punk that Jello Biafra called the "missing link between Chrome and The Stooges". They never put out an album during their peak -- issuing only one posthumous LP years after their breakup.
this is interesting! i'll have to check them out. the only other band i know of from around that time that made it's own language is Magma from France who formed in the late 60s and had a language called Kobaian. Definitely more prog rock than a punk forerunner, though bands like ruins and hella evolved out of magma.
it's pretty amazing that this zolar-x stuff has been released! and i'm glad this article popped up at the bottom of my window 2 years after it was written!
courtneyriot
STAFF
Los Angeles, CA
AUG 24, 2005 06:00 AM