ZAO Announces First Show Of 2009

Influential Greensburg, Pennsylvania-based heavy music act ZAO has announced what it is calling "maybe the only show of 2009... at least, the only one we have locked in."The gig will take place on Friday, July 24 at Mr Smalls Funhouse in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Also scheduled to appear are TO SPEAK OF WOLVES, KAMIKABE and DRUGDEALER.

"Awake?", the new album from ZAO, sold around 2,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The CD debuted at No. 19 on the Top New Artist Albums (Heatseekers) chart, which lists the best-selling albums by new and developing artists, defined as those who have never appeared in the Top 100 of The Billboard 200.

Released on May 5 via Ferret Music, the follow-up to 2006's "The Fear Is What Keeps Us Here" was recorded in Latrobe, Pennsylvania (near Greensburg); Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Encinitas, California; and San Marcos, California. AS I LAY DYING frontman Tim Lambesis and Daniel Castleman headed up the proceedings, along with ZAO's Scott Mellinger, for what is said to be another monumental ZAO album.

ZAO's "Where Blood & Fire Bring Rest" was hailed as "one of the most the most influential albums of 1998" by Alternative Press magazine. That album, which introduced frontman Dan Weyandt to the heavy music scene, and follow-up "Liberate te ex Inferis", which introduced guitarist and songwriter Mellinger, continue to be cornerstone albums to a new generation of bands drawing influence from ZAO's dark, passionate and creative music.

The lineup for this ZAO album is the same as "The Fear...": Longtime co-conspirators Weyandt and Mellinger alongside bass player Martin Lunn and drummer Jeff Gretz (FROM AUTUMN TO ASHES).