Video Transmission: ZED – Chingus

Before tucking into the meatiness of DIY cool and hard rock hallelujah which is the brand-spanking-new music video from San José’s ZED, an apology is in order. A hellish amalgamation of work-based tedium and excess, insufficient attempts at remaining “on the level” and staying “with it” with the health of my noggin’s insides, and a careless disregard of my work-load limits, this page has remained quiet for the better part of this year. We’ve seen many great albums released, not unnoticed by our Nubian Overlord, which have gone on to great acclaim; sadly, I have had neither the time nor the physical and mental energy to transcribe such judgement. So let’s let bygones be bygones and start from scratch yes? To those bands who I owe reviews for, please remain patient, and rest assured I am working on delivering!

Right, now the boring bit is out of the way, it’s time to feast our eyes on the labour of love that ZED’s latest MV truly is. Constructed and animated solely through Lego across a period of three months by bassist Mark Aceves, ‘Chingus’ hit global YouTube stations (well, the band’s own channel anyway) just over a week ago, garnering nothing but sincere adulation by followers of the riff across a multitude of social media platforms. A testament to just how fun the four dudes are to see live, ‘Chingus’, lifted from the band’s new album Volume out on Ripple Music July 26th, is a hellraising and grin-inducing spectacle of everything which makes rock music great, complete with the pulverizing of false music (herher, how’s that for edgy?), decapitations, and enough high-octane energy to summon stormtroopers at the appearance of the country’s Commander-In-Grief.

It’s all tongue-in-cheek and wildly entertaining good fun at the expense of no one besides said leader and a grumpy Gene Simmons. It’s not just a smorgasbord of who’s who in music – featuring animated cameos of KISS, ZZ Top, Lemmy, and David Bowie among amother – but of pop-culture in general; there’s Alien and Predator duelling it out, a witless Jason Voorhees, plus the aforementioned stormtroopers to name just a few. Good for the whole family if you ask this writer! Not just a knock-out performance on the screen but off the screen too; a seriously grand job from Mark with this, proving the best music out there truly is DIY – take that Gene! Rock’s not dead, and bands like ZED are living proof of this!

Follow the band here.

Preorders for ZED – Volume can be made at Ripple Music.