The Zero Point Homepage

ZERO POINT INFO FROM SINGER STEEN: 

The Zero Point formed in 1979, but it all started a long time before that.

I was lucky enough to spend the summer of `77 in England. 14 years old and already heavily into music (glam and early Kiss).  Before I left Denmark I had only read about this punk thing but I was very eager to check it out. It turned out to be just what I had been looking for. I bought my first punk records and brought them home to Denmark among them “Pretty Vacant” by The Sex Pistols. I remember spending a lot of time in England searching records shops for one of their albums. I didn’t know that they had not yet released one!! I returned home with the feeling that something big and important was happening. Something that I wanted to be a part of.

Henrik, Peter, Lars and I were in school together. They were into loud noisy rock music as well, so punk was greeted very welcome. Soon all of us were out looking for records and record shops like “Dandelion” and “Mimosa” became important places in our lives. In 1978 we attended the first Danish punk rock festival and then things started to happen. Soon we were regulars at every punk and new wave gig in town. We wanted to put a band together and were looking for a rehearsal room. Henrik, Peter, me, and a girl named Lisbeth. We knew this girl from the youth club we all went to (later to become one of Denmark’s most famous punk hangouts “Opgang 2”).  After some time Lisbeth`s parents agreed on letting us rehearse in their basement. Peter bought a home build bass from one of our schoolmates and a huge old monster of a bass amp. Lisbeth bought an old drum kit. I managed to raise enough money to buy a guitar and a small amp. Henrik found a very old tape recorder microphone, which we plugged into my guitar amp and now we were a real band. We did our first gig 13th November 1979, at Huset, Aarhus, the same venue that had hosted the punk rock festival a year before.

At some point Lisbeth suggested “we should also do some “normal” rock songs. The three of us just stared at her, but no one said a word. That held together with our old schoolmate Lars having started taking some drum lessons, resulted in an early 1980 exit by Lisbeth. Lars took over the drum duties and we moved rehearsal room to “Opgang 2”. One of the first gigs we did after Lars had joined was in the city of Randers. We had hardly reached the town before the police arrested half the band. Henrik and I decided to do the gig anyway so a couple of band members of fellow punk rock pioneers THE NORMALS lent us a hand. That night Lars and Peter spent in jail but the day they had to appear before court we were all there to support them.

In May 1980 The Zero Point split. That lasted for about a day or two. Then we were back together again but with a different line up. Peter left the band; Henrik took over on bass. I took over the vocals and Frank Sørensen joined us on guitar. Lars was still the drummer. Henrik and I knew Frank from high school and he started to pop up at punk gigs and hang out with us. At that point Frank was a skilled as a musician than the rest of us but nevertheless he eagerly wanted to join us. The reconstruction of the band was musically a great gain for us and he turned out to be mad as a hatter and bit of a wizard with electronics. Once we had a brand new song we wanted to perform at a gig in Copenhagen. What does Frank do? He simply builds an amp by the size of a beer can, running on batteries with input for both guitar and bass! We rehearsed the song during the ferry trip to Copenhagen and performed it later that night. It went down very well.
In early 1981 Frank decided that he want to concentrate on his studies and he therefore left the band, but first he wanted to be sure to find the right replacement.

Enter Thomas Maintz. Thomas played guitar in another early Danish punk rock band called THE FUCKING GHOSTS. We had done quite a few gigs together in the early days. When he got the opportunity to join us, he did. He was a very good substitution for Frank. With that line up we recorded an E.P. that was never released, the T.Z.P. tape and a track for a compilation album that was never released either. We did a lot of gigs around the country; among them (as the only punk band) we were invited to play on one of the big stages, at a festival in our hometown of Aarhus, in front of a crowd of approx. 10.000 people. That was great!

In 1982 Lars decided that he wanted to join the “leftovers” of Thomas’s old band (renamed: EXECRATION), to do more “normal rock stuff” and Thomas decided to end his punk rock career. That left only the two of us back, Henrik and I. After some discussions and considerations, we decided that I had to pick up the guitar again as well as doing the vocal, and then we asked this young punk Dennis “Umlaut” Jensen to join us on drums. Dennis was the drummer in a punk/skin band called DUNDERHEADS and he had been a great Zero Point follower, fan and friend for a long time. So there we were as a three piece band. Dennis soon improved in his drumming and became a major part in the Zero Point sound. With this line up we recorded an released the “HA!!” E.P. on our own record label “SPÅN RECORDS” run together with WAR OF DESTRUCTION.

We never stopped looking for a guitarist, but it had to be the right one and we were in no hurry. In 1984 the old Danish punk rock band DREAM POLICE had reformed and they had brought in a new guitarist Jens Andreas Müller. He turned out to be just the guy we had been looking for. When he was asked to join he had no second thoughts. Besides adding a much wider live sound, Jens, at that time, brought in a touch of post punk and Goth to the sound, which can clearly be heard on “THE MURMUR” recordings. Jens did one of his first live appearances with us at “BLITZ” Oslo in Norway. On our way from Denmark to Norway we where strip screeched not one but 3 times!!! It was ridiculous, but the gig was great.

From December `85 till January `86 we did our first Europe tour playing in England, Germany and Spain. In 1986 we recorded the “THE MURMUR” E.P. Originally we went to the studio to record a track for a compilation album, but in the studio we decided to record a complete E.P. Again released on our own SPÅN label. In 1987 we decided to call it a day. We did a Farewell gig the 14th of March at “Musikcafeen” in Aarhus. At that time we where the oldest and longest living punk Rock band in Denmark!!!
              
In 2002 I reformed the band and were joined by the originally 1985 line up except my old partner in crime: Henrik!! He decided that he had not got the time, but he supported the reunion. Instead we were joined by long time friend and supporter Anderz Nielsen on bass and in the official program for 2002´s “HOLIDAYS IN THE SUN” Festival in England we where voted among  “THE BEST PUNK/Oi! BANDS IN THE WORLD EVER”!!! In 2003 we did our “comeback” gig at the ANTIFEST in the Czech Republic in front of a 5000 + crowd. The gig was a success and we where invited back to England where it all started so many years ago for me!! The rest of the band decided that they where NOT going to go, but supported that I would find some fresh blood to fill in the ranks......... enter:

Anders Snotbeam: Guitar
Søren Lærkegaard: Bass
SRC: Drums  

Since then we have played the Punk-Aid Festival 2004 in the U.K., the WASTED FESTIVAL 2005 in the Netherlands, STAVANGER PUNK ROCK FESTIVAL Norway, done gigs with bands like THE TOY DOLLS & D.R.I, been headlining our own 25 Years Anniversary gigs in Denmark (supported by very special guests: FOREIGN LEGION from the U.K.), toured the Netherlands and latest done a 2008 tour of the U.K.! In 2006 the “PUNK & Oi! IN THE U.K. E-AWARDS” placed the band in the top of 3 categories. The categories was: BEST LIVE BAND: 4th.  BEST INTERNATIONAL BAND (non U.K.): 2. BEST BAND OVERALL: 4th.  

2006 also saw the release of the bands first C.D. called “HOOLIGANS WITH CHEAP GUITARS” containing all the 1979 to 1986 releases and recordings. In 2007 we entered the studio to finish the work and recording of a brand new album “SHAMELESS SELFPROMOTION”. This is the first full album that presents the bands new line up and sound.

THE ZERO POINT is:

Steen Thomsen: Vocals & Guitars.
Anders Snotbeam: Guitars & Backing vocals.
Søren Lærkegaard: Bass
SRC: Drums