Following on from our chat with the band in the leadup to Bloodstock 2024, here is a much more in depth chat with Root Zero…
Simple things first – where are you guys from?
Giac: The band is based in South East Wales but we’re all from all over the place. I grew up in South London, Sasha and Wren are from the West Midlands, Llyr is from North Wales and Josh and Rob are both South Wales natives.
How did you meet?
Giac: Me, Sasha, Josh and Llyr all knew each other at university but we never played in a band together until we all moved down to Cardiff.
Llyr: Yeah I vividly remember I was due to meet with them for a bassist position in Aberystwyth when we were at uni but I dipped out last minute due to being way too hungover. Oops. Glad I held out though cause now I get to play real guitar.
Sasha: I met Giac when we both responded to a post looking for musicians to form a band in Aberystwyth. It was going to be a pirate themed power metal band called Treasure Quest but we only had one rehearsal and wrote about half a song. It was good fun but everyone was quite busy with uni work and stuff so we never got any further than that!
How long have you been playing as a band?
Giac: I’ve been writing music for this project since 2016-ish, with some unsuccessful attempts at putting together full lineups along the way, however this version of the band started playing together in 2020, with Wren and Rob joining us in 2021 and 2022 respectively.
Before you get sick of being asked… where does the band name come from?
Giac: The name was originally spelled Route Zero, but I realised fairly quickly that if we ever got big enough to play in the States (wishful thinking I know) then I’d get really annoyed by the mispronunciation. Looking for inspiration, I was listening to a lot of a hip-hop band called The Roots at the time, and a lot of my early lyrics were about walking through the woods, so Root Zero felt like the natural choice to go for.
Llyr: You never know man, headline USA tour on the horizon I heard (kidding ofc, not until things improve over there).
What are your influences?
Giac: We have a very broad range of influences between the 6 of us, personally I draw most of my inspiration from 90s alt metal and grunge, gothic metal bands like The Gathering and Lacuna Coil, weird electronic/synth based stuff by artists like Aphex Twin and progressive/depressive artists like Opeth, Porcupine Tree and Katatonia.
Llyr: Definitely the same on most of those influences; I think that’s what drew me to the band in general as well as getting vibes of Karnivool, Alcest, Anathema etc. In terms of maybe more contemporary new bands though, I think I’m pretty secure in saying that Loathe, Holy Fawn and other bands that make a big thing of their atmosphere have been pretty influential.
Describe your music. What makes you unique?
Llyr: I think what makes us unique is Giac’s approach as a composer. There’s a strong variety of the kind of structures used, a lot of hybrid structures where there’s a definable verse, chorus etc for one half of a song but then the rest is just proggy through-composed madness where nothing repeats. I think the blend is quite indicative of the band’s style. If we’re talking sound though, there’s definitely a lot of layering both in the instrumentals and having dual vocals, and I would say a kind of modern approach to riffs but combining that with a love for the density of stuff like doom, post-metal etc. Ultimately a lot of what we do is the product of a melting pot of classic and modern influences.
Giac: Llyr put it a lot more succinctly than I could, my approach to song writing is way less planned and calculated than it seems though, I don’t really go into song writing thinking of a particular way to structure a song. I just see what works and what sounds interesting, sometimes that’s a standard verse-chorus structure and sometimes it’s something that makes absolutely no fucking sense.
Sasha: Instrumentally, the song writing is a bit like a jigsaw puzzle, with songs rarely being written in one go, most often there are bits and pieces recorded asynchronously and then Giac will come back to them every so often and see what fits together well. For the vocals, sometimes I’ll wait until Giac has finished the structure of a song before adding vocal lines and other times certain new or unfinished song ideas will jump out to me and I’ll add some vocals before the song has been pieced together instrumentally.
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Do you have any particular lyrical themes?
Giac: Most of our lyrics tend to be fairly introspective, based on personal experiences as well as just observations of the world around us. Some of our lyrics pull influences from works of fiction – the video game Hollow Knight and the film Midsommar were each sources of inspiration for songs on our Dark Rainbow album.
What’s your live show like? How many shows have you played?
Llyr: First and foremost it’s a game of buckaroo trying to get 6 people on a stage and then a game of not clonking each other with instruments or getting hair tangled on headstocks! In terms of what we try to deliver though, it’s generally just the best portrayal we can give of the songs; lots of dynamic energy and an attempt at a dense, atmospheric wall of sound. It’s difficult material to translate to the live scenario at times since we like to layer parts and kinda dislike the prospect of backing tracks for what we do. It wasn’t even a consideration back when we wanted to add in the keys/synth element live which is why we opted to look for a bassist and have Giac bring in his piano skills. A lot of bands do the backing track thing well but a lot also abuse it to where the live members barely perform. In terms of the amount of shows, I’m not 100% sure but we don’t play super often tbh. Much like the stage layout, wrangling 6 people together can be tough.
What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done at a live show?
Llyr: Not our show but I saw someone get absolutely tossed like a log for stupidly trying to start a pit during an Amenra set. Not the kind of band you mosh to really but it was a pretty funny sight, and much deserved for someone just trying to collide into the crowd for no reason. Crowdkillers aren’t welcome anywhere imo.
What kit do you use / guitars do you play / etc.?
Giac: My keyboard rig is a Nord Stage 2 and a Vox Continental 73. Both me and Sasha have recently started using SE V7 Black microphones that are really nice quality dynamic microphones; my younger sister works in the industry as a FOH engineer so she got us those mics at a discount which is always nice. Sasha also has a TC helicon Voicetone pedal for on-stage reverb.
Llyr: I’m a big Ibanez guy so most of my guitars are either stock Ibanez stuff or some builds that I’ve put together with Ibanez necks and custom bodies, and I’ve started using a Squier offset tele as well which is sick. As far as the sound, I’ve cobbled together a makeshift Helix rig using a HX Stomp and HX Effects as the controller because I like the workflow. Mainly lot of open tunings, reverb, delay, gain, and weird effects to make my naff playing sound good!
Our other guitarist Wren uses various Les Paul style guitars, a Harley Benton baritone and a Quad Cortex for the same kind of approach but without the confusion of me using 7 strings. Rob uses a Sire P-Bass a TC Electronic BQ500 and a pedalboard which he won’t let me tidy up to satisfy my OCD. His Darkglass B7K and tactical use of chorus are pretty crucial to the bass sound given how Giac presents the demos of songs. As far as Josh on drums, I really should know more given that we set them up together but all I know is he uses Meinl Classics Custom Dark cymbals. If anyone needs to know more about pot-basher gear or gear in general, feel free to shoot over any questions.
What, if anything, are you plugging/promoting at the moment?
Llyr: Our debut full-length album Dark Rainbow is coming out on May 16th. It’s over an hour of some super dense and moody tracks so we’re excited to have it out in the world and let it breathe. The first teaser for it was “Notti D’inverno” which was released last year and “Tumbleweed” came out at the end of February which had some really great reception.
We’ve also got one more single named Ignis Fatuus to come on the 9th of May before the album drops. That one’s a total rager so we expect some complaints about people destroying whatever’s in front of them/some injured necks when it comes on.
What are your plans for the next 6 months or so?
Llyr: After the album comes out, I think we’re looking to play some nice shows over summer and take a short break from the whole promotion grind. We’ve also got some new unreleased songs ready and raring to go for shows and quite possibly recording nearer toward winter.
If you were second on a three-band bill, which band would you love to be supporting and which band would you choose to open for you? A chance to plug someone you’ve toured with, or a mate’s band we’ve not heard of before!
Giac: This list could go on forever, but to try and encompass all of our musical tastes as much as possible I think I can speak for everyone when I say we’d love to support Opeth or Devin Townsend, or maybe Green Lung as they’re really carrying the torch for the UK doom scene right now. In terms of bands we’d love to bring along, again the list is endless. Karmen Field, Thrakian and Edenfall are the three names that immediately jump to my mind!
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