Article By: Pat ‘Riot’ Whitaker ‡ Edited By: Leanne Ridgeway
In the late Nineties’ rise of alternative rock, grunge, and nu-metal, few bands were able to create their own unique sound, one specific to them and them only.
Los Angeles’ ONESIDEZERO was such a band. Formed in 1997, they immediately went to work recording demos and shopping them around to various record labels. Eventually, the band would sign with the partly Madonna-formed Maverick Records – the source of the band’s 2001 début, ‘Is This Room Getting Smaller‘.
At the time of that release, ONESIDEZERO consisted of members Jasan Radford (vocals, guitar), Levon Sultanian (lead guitar, background vocals), Brett Kane (guitar, background vocals), Rob Basile (drums), and Christian Hernandez (bass, background vocals). The quintet’s music was powerfully emotional alt. rock, but with a progressive rock/metal edge to it.
The band was heavily touring by this time, spending a stretch of three years on the road alongside such acts as Static-X, Soulfly, Sevendust, 311, SOiL, and others. Despite the fantastic singles “Instead Laugh” and “New World Order“, plus an appearance on HBO’s Reverb with Linkin Park, the album was not considered a “commercial success” by most standards.
In 2003, ONESIDEZERO asked to be released from their contract, eventually disbanding with members pursuing other projects – most notably, Radford and Sultanian’s Abloom.
The disbandment was short-lived though, as ONESIDEZERO reunited in 2004 and began creating new music while returning to touring. Between 2005 – 2006, the band worked on a new album with producer Ulrich Wild (Pantera, Aboleth, Project 86). In that time, they would eventually scrap an album and a half’s worth of material before the band signed with Corporate Punishment Records in 2006.
2007 saw the release of the self-titled ‘Onesidezero‘, another incredible record of energetic rock music from the band now reduced to a quartet after the absence of guitarist Brett Kane. The story of ONESIDEZERO goes kind of dark at this time – there was talk of a new album back in 2012, but that seems to have never actually manifested.
Despite the somewhat low profile of ONESIDEZERO in recent years, we have an update on their current status and activities. Recently, a mysteriously cryptic video surface on the band’s Facebook page [LINK], one that is teasing the date of August 18th, 2018. Recent posts on their social media have hinted that writing for new material is underway, with vocalist/guitarist Jasan Radford, guitarist Levon Sultanian and new drummer Mike Tarabotto among the participants revealed thus far.
This is exciting news for both fans of ONESIDEZERO, as well as folks that appreciate emotionally solid hard rock music.
