THE EARLY DAYS-Rock, Meet Electronica
After playing many shows in California starting in 1999 as a punk funk outfit, releasing two CDs on San Francisco's Mission Underground Records, and getting their music featured on the MTV show Undressed, in 2000 ZONK founders Nic McFiendish and Uncle Bergie meet Bay Area turntablist DJ Red5 and start taking the group in a new direction. In 2001 McFiendish meets (and soon marries) producer/musician/sound designer Dave L, who since 1995 has been putting out independent electronic music releases on his own label and producing music and sound design for video games and independent films, most notably numerous titles for George Lucas' video game company LucasArts and the film Groove (Sony Pictures, 2000).
2002-2004-The Ball is Rocking and Rolling
Fueled by love and the desire to combine electronic music with the energy of a live rock band, in 2002 Dave L begins performing, producing and writing with ZONK. By 2004 they release an EP entitled Our Five Worst Songs on the Harmony Machine label. With this release, ZONK wins a national music download contest put on by Music For America, tours the east coast opening for De La Soul in Boston, opens for Concrete Blonde in Northern and Southern California, licenses a track to Konami for the internationally popular video game Dance Dance Revolution, and they are featured on Better Propaganda and NPR's Open Mic.
2005-Bigger Shows and Multiple Births
After a year of touring, in early 2005 ZONK begins preparing a new release. In March they open for Lady Kier of Deee-Lite in San Francisco and are chosen to warm the stage for The B-52's in the Bay area this summer, with more touring on this year's calendar. The new ZONK album, Half Human, is released June 21 on the Harmony Machine label, and Ms. McFiendish and Dave L are expecting a full human baby in October-making 2005 the year of more than one birth for ZONK.
