Zed mania has eased somewhat.  But it’s safe to say they could be the first Kiwi’s to become part of the boy-band phenomenon.  Scott Kara catches up with the lads before the Big Day Out and three months after storming the top of the charts.

"It’s my last day as a teenager," announces Ben Campbell from Zed, who is dressed in a ‘Pornstar’ T-shirt.  (Aimme, have you been sending Ben clothes? *lol*)  It’s Ben’s birthday tomorrow and the studly bass player with New Zealand’s pop/rock heart-throbs says he intends on getting, well, blasted, on his special day.

Sitting round the lunch table at swanky Non Solo Pizza in Parnell with the boys from Zed it’s easy to think - surrounded by their good looks - that they could just be New Zealand’s first equivalent to a boy-band. But of course, being from New Zealand, they tend to rock’n’roll rather than mime to fluffy pop.

It’s a serious question: Are they New Zealand’s first boy-band?  We’ve had the Mockers (but they were too scruffy), Ray Columbus and the Invaders (cool, but too long ago) and perhaps Straitjacket Fits (but only Shayne Carter was a bit of a looker).
Aside from the good-looking, but natural image, there’s also been the spell of Zed hysteria that peaked around October.  In the last couple of months Zed have gone from being easy-on-the-eye in music videos to being mobbed in McDonalds for autographs. "So this must be what Beatlemania was like," was how the Rip It Up reviewer described the mania at the Mandalay in Auckland during the band’s September/October nation-wide tour.

The first time Rip It Up talked to Zed, guitarist Andy Lynch, singer and guitarist Nathan King, drummer Adrian Palmer and bass player Ben, was back in August on the eve of the release of their debut album Silencer.  They were humble rock stars from Christchurch with good looks, a top notch manager and mentor in Kiwi music, legend Ray Columbus - and they could actually play their own instruments.  Since then they’ve debuted at number One on the album charts, Silencer has gone two and a half times platinum (nearly 40,000 copies) and spent a healthy 14 weeks at the top of the charts and is seemingly still going strong.  And guess what? Despite all the attention, increased attraction and floods of fan mail, they’re still humble.

But they can afford to be a bit more lavish perhaps.  Despite Ben’s dessert wine frenzy at lunch - hey, it’s his birthday tomorrow - there was not an ounce of  chart success wank in the air.  Just parmesan, gnocchi and Stella.
One of Ben’s dessert wines arrives and looks more like a toxic cocktail.  By the looks of it, it is…
Ben’s face contorts and screws up with the first wary sip.  The tiny glass does the round of the table and everyone’s face warps as it touches their lips.

So who gets the most chicks? One would presume the frontman Nathan or the seductive bass player Ben.  But no.  "Andy gets more chicks than me," says Nathan, trying to shed the blame, and the limelight.
But Ben says because many of the fans are around 16 years old, there hasn’t exactly been that much flirting, drugs and rock’n’roll.  Just rock’n’roll and alcohol by the looks of things.
Ben points out that there’s a couple of good things about having younger fans.  "The fans will grow with us,’ he says confidently.  But then again, Adrian says he talked to a 70-year-old man who brought their album.

Zed are aware the Big Day Out crowd may not be entirely their sort of audience, yet they’re keen to take on the Limp Bizkit audience.  It’ll be Zed hysteria versus Limp Bizkit hype - bring it on.
"A lot more people know who we are now" says Adrian, in his typically understated tone. "there’s a few more girls outside the house,’ he continues, with more than a hint of sarcasm.
Then again it’s not just the drummer who is understated  - Andy is quietly hungover (and tired), but he has good cause to be.  The night before Rip It Up met the Zed boys, he had won New Zealand Guitarist of the year.  Not bad for a 21-year-old.

Andy has his first beer at the end of lunch with about 10 minutes left before they go off to practice.  The dread-locked guitarist says he was recently stopped by a person who though the was the guy from he Bomfunk MC’s video Freestlyer.
Nathan is a bit quieter than usual and Ben… well Ben is a charmer. These guys are professional and approachable.

But they have to be considering the profile they have been under - most recently a stint on Holmes.  The banners, the screaming and the enthusiastic fanaticism at their concerts not to mention album sales, is testament to that.  No other New Zealand band - at least in a long time - has created so much teenage hysteria as Zed have.  Okay Shihad get people pumping, Stellar* and the Feelers sell loads of albums but fanatic fans are Zed’s domain.  "That crowd (at Auckland’s Mandalay) was louder than my guitar amp," confesses Andy.

"It’s not much different though," says Adrian.  "My life didn’t seem to change a hell of a lot .  People are buying the record - not a lot has really changed."
He says maybe if it was number One in America then some major change n lifestyle might be a necessity.  But until then, its’ the humble boy-next-door look.
 
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