View source for Z'EV

{{Short description|American percussionist}}
{{About|the American musician Z'EV|other uses|Zev (disambiguation){{!}}Zev}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| 2                = <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject Musicians -->
| name             = Z'EV
| image            = StefanJoelWeisser aka Z'EV.jpg
| background       = non_vocal_instrumentalist
| birth_name       = Stefan Joel Weisser
| caption          = Z'EV in 2008
| alias            = 
| birth_date       = {{birth date|1951|2|8}}
| birth_place      = [[Los Angeles]], [[California]], U.S.
| death_date       = {{death date and age|2017|12|16|1951|2|8}}
| death_place      = [[Chicago, Illinois]], U.S.
| instrument       = {{hlist|[[Found object (music)|Found object]]s|[[percussion instrument|percussion]]}}
| genre            = [[Industrial music|Industrial]]
| occupation       = {{hlist|Poet|sound artist}}
| years_active     = 1966–2017
| label            = {{hlist|[[Touch Music|Touch]]|[[Cold Spring (label)|Cold Spring]]|[[Soleilmoon Recordings|Soleilmoon]]}}
| associated_acts  = 
| website          = {{URL|www.rhythmajik.com}}
}}	

'''Z'EV''' (born '''Stefan Joel Weisser''', February 8, 1951 – December 16, 2017)<ref>{{cite web|title=American percussionist and poet z'ev has died|url=https://www.thewire.co.uk/news/49299/z-ev-has-died|website=Wire|access-date=19 December 2017}}</ref> was an American [[poet]],<ref name="vinyl">{{cite journal |last=Sanders|first=Rens|date=1981-06-01|title=Z'EV Geluidstyfoon|journal=Vinyl|issue=4|language=nl|pages=20–21}}</ref><ref name="6facesnme">{{cite journal |last=Bohn|first=Chris|date=1982-05-08|title=Sixophrenic, The Six Faces of Z'EV|journal=[[NME|New Musical Express]]|pages=15–16}}</ref> [[percussionist]],<ref>{{Cite book|author=Re/Search|author-link=Re/Search|title=[[Industrial Culture Handbook|No. 6/7 Industrial Culture Handbook]], Limited Hardback Edition|orig-year=1983|year=2006|publisher=[[RE/Search]]|location=[[San Francisco]]|isbn=978-1-889307-16-9|page=109}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Atkinson|first=Terry|date=1985-01-16|title=Z'EV: Percussion as Performance Art, A Lonely Road|journal=Los Angeles Times}}</ref> and [[sound artist]].<ref name="indylonelypath">{{cite web|author=Chris Toenes|date=2007-05-16|title=Sound artist Z'EV's long, lonely path to innovation|work=Indyweek.com|url=http://www.indyweek.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=153968|access-date=2011-07-04|archive-date=2007-09-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070926235426/http://www.indyweek.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=153968|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="enosoundexp">{{cite web|author=Glenn Dixon|date=2007-05-24|title=A Sound Experience: Z'EV'|work=Express Night Out|url=http://expressnightout.com/content/2007/05/a_sound_experience.php|access-date=2011-07-04|archive-date=2011-07-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110710212323/http://expressnightout.com/content/2007/05/a_sound_experience.php|url-status=dead}}</ref> After studying various [[world music]] traditions at [[CalArts]], he began creating his own percussion sounds out of [[industrial material]]s for a variety of independent and underground [[independent record label|record label]]s. He is regarded as a pioneer of [[industrial music]].<ref name="ichb">{{Cite book|author=Re/Search|author-link=Re/Search|title=[[Industrial Culture Handbook|No. 6/7 Industrial Culture Handbook]], Limited Hardback Edition|year=2006|publisher=[[RE/Search]]|location=[[San Francisco]]|isbn=978-1-889307-16-9|pages=106–117}}</ref>

In 1983, critic Roy Sablosky wrote: "Z'EV doesn't just break the rules, he changes them."<ref>{{cite journal |last=Sablosky|first=Roy|date=March 1983|title=Review of Production And Decay Of Spacial Relations|journal=[[Op Magazine|OP Magazine]]}}</ref> Journalist Louis Morra wrote in 1983: "Z'EV is a consummate example of contemporary [[performance art]], as well as modern composition and theater." and, "Z'EV realizes many of modernist art's ultimate goals: [[primitivism]], [[improvisation]], multi-media/conjunction of art forms, the artist as direct creator."<ref>{{cite journal |last=Morra|first=Louis|year=1983|title=Review of Elemental Music |journal=[[East Village Eye]]}}</ref>

His work with text and sound was influenced by [[Kabbalah]], as well as [[African music|African]], [[wikt:Afro-Caribbean|Afro-Caribbean]] and [[Indonesian music]] and culture. He studied [[Ewe music]], Balinese [[gamelan]], and Indian [[tala (music)|tala]].<ref name="acouphen">{{cite web|author=Dmitri Kolesnik|date=June 1999|title=Z'EV – Acoustic Phenomenae|work=Drugie Here|url=http://drugie.here.ru/achtung/new/zevint_e.htm|access-date=2008-07-25}}</ref>

== Career ==

From 1959 to 1965, he studied [[drummer|drumming]] with Arnie Frank, then [[Chuck Flores]] and then Art Anton at Drum City in [[Van Nuys, California]].

In 1963, he abandoned [[Judaism]] and began his lifelong relationship with world religions and [[Western esotericism|esoteric systems]].<ref name="acouphen"/>

From 1966 to 1969, he performed in a [[jazz rock]] band with electronic composer [[Carl Stone]] and James Stewart. After auditioning for [[Frank Zappa]]'s [[Bizarre Records]], the band ceased activities and both he and Stone began attending the [[California Institute of the Arts]].<ref name="acouphen"/><ref name="ichb116">{{Cite book|author=Re/Search|author-link=Re/Search|title=[[Industrial Culture Handbook|No. 6/7 Industrial Culture Handbook]], Limited Hardback Edition|orig-year=1983|year=2006|publisher=[[RE/Search]]|location=[[San Francisco]]|isbn=978-1-889307-16-9|page=116}}</ref><ref name="swords">{{cite web|author=Mike Hovancsek|title=Z'EV: Swords into Plowshares|url=http://wlt4.home.mindspring.com/adventures/articles/zev.htm|access-date=2008-11-12|archive-date=2008-10-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081020185436/http://wlt4.home.mindspring.com/adventures/articles/zev.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>

After studying at CalArts from 1969 to 1970, he began producing works using the name S. Weisser, primarily concentrating on [[Visual poetry|visual]] and [[Sound poetry|sound poetries]].<ref name="vinyl"/><ref name="6facesnme"/>

In 1975, he was included in the "Second Generation" show at the [[Museum of Conceptual Art]] in San Francisco.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Loeffler|first1=Carl Eugene|last2=Tong|first2=Darlene|title=Performance Anthology: Source Book Of California Performance Art|year=1980|publisher=Contemporary Arts Press|location=[[San Francisco]]|isbn=9780931818011|page=126|quote=Kent, Tom. "Second Generation," Artweek, v.6, March 29, 1975 p.5. Review of MOCA's fifth anniversary celebration entitled, MOCA: Second Generation, which included works by Richard Alpert, Jim Pomeroy, Darryl Sapien, Irv Tepper, and Stefan Weisser.}}</ref> In 1974, he also became a member of Cellar-M, a musical project of [[Naut Humon]], Will E. Jackson, and Rex Probe. He would continue to work with Humon on various projects until 1988, appearing on the [[Rhythm & Noise]] album ''Chasms Accord'', released on [[The Residents]]' [[Ralph Records]] in 1985.<ref name="adventuresinsound">Hovancsek, Mike.[http://wlt4.home.mindspring.com/adventures/articles/zev.htm ''Z'ev: Swords into Plowshares''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081020185436/http://wlt4.home.mindspring.com/adventures/articles/zev.htm |date=2008-10-20 }}. Adventures in Sound. Retrieved on November 30, 2012.</ref> 

In 1976 he moved from Los Angeles to the Bay Area. A primary reason for this move was his association with the San Francisco [[alternative exhibition space]] [[La Mamelle, Inc./Art Com|La Mamelle]], run by Carl Loeffler.<ref name="ichb116"/> He also formed the band TO, an offshoot of Cellar-M, with musician and activist [[Will E. Jackson]] (playing the [[Serge synthesizer|Serge Modular System]]), which occasionally also performed under the name ''Center for Interspecies Communication''. Together they self-published one album in 1976. TO's commitment to developing the world's knowledge of cetaceans and their preservation would lead them to hold awareness concerts from California to Japan, performing at the Harumi Dome in Tokyo in April 1977 for ''Japan Celebrates the Whale & Dolphin – the Seas Must  Live'' event organized by The Dolphin Project, alongside [[Jackson Browne]], [[Fred Neil]], [[Country Joe McDonald]], [[Paul Winter]], [[Terry Reid]], [[Richie Havens]], [[Odetta]], and others.<ref>{{Cite book |author=RE/Search |author-link=RE/Search |title=[[Industrial Culture Handbook|No. 6/7 Industrial Culture Handbook]] |publisher=RE/Search |year=1983 |isbn= |location=San Francisco |page=116}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{cite AV media notes |title=1968-1990 One Foot In The Grave |others=Z’EV |year=1991 |chapter=Recording Information |page=111 |url=http://www.touchmusic.org.uk/zev.html |type=CD Booklet |publisher=[[Touch Music|Touch]]}}</ref> 

In 1977, he presented his first solo percussion performance at La Mamelle under the project title 'Sound of Wind and Limb'.<ref name="ichb116"/>

In 1978 he began developing an idiosyncratic performance technique utilizing [[experimental musical instrument|self-developed instruments]] formed from industrial materials such as stainless steel, [[titanium]], and [[Polyvinyl chloride|PVC]] plastics. Initially these instruments were assemblages of these materials, used with a movement-based performance style that was a form of [[marionette]], although with the performer visible. He has since come to refer to this performance mode as 'wild-style', a term originally related to graffiti.<ref name="ichb"/> At this time, he first began to perform outside of the fine art context, initially at the [[Mabuhay Gardens]] in [[San Francisco]].<ref name="ichb116" /> 

In the fall of 1978, he began performing under the name Z'EV, which comes from the Hebrew name his parents gave him at birth (Sh'aul Z'ev bn Yakov bn Moshe bn Sha'ul).<ref name="acouphen" /><ref name="ichb116" />

In November and December 1980, Z'EV opened a series of UK and European concerts in the first headlining tour of the British group [[Bauhaus (band)|Bauhaus]].<ref name="6facesnme" /><ref name="indylonelypath" /> On that tour, and his first solo tour of Europe immediately afterwards, Z'EV introduced intense metal based percussion musics to the UK and Europe. Critic Jason Pettigrew (former editor-in-chief of ''[[Alternative Press (music magazine)|Alternative Press]]'' magazine) attests to Z'EV's pioneering use of metal [[Found object (music)|found object]] as percussion, writing: "Consider your music collection. [[Einstürzende Neubauten|Neubauten]]? [[Test Department]]? Z'EV's been there first.' <ref>''Alternative Press, Issue #59, June 1993, p.35''</ref>

In 1981, 'Shake Rattle & Roll', a VHS video documenting his first wild-style performance on the East coast (produced by video artist Jon Child), was released by [[Fetish Records]] in the UK and was the first 'music' / art video to be commercially released. In 1982 he worked with [[Glenn Branca]] for Branca's ''Symphony No. 2'' in which Z'EV had a solo segment swinging with metal can overhead, and rattling chains and sheets of steel. After 1984, he concentrated on performing in a more traditional [[mallet-percussion]] style, albeit with highly idiosyncratic and "[[extended technique|extended]]" mallet percussion techniques and his self-made or adapted instruments. In point of fact, Z'EV doesn't actually consider<ref name="indylonelypath" /><ref name="enosoundexp" /><ref name="acouphen" /> the results as "music" ''per se'', but more as orchestrations of highly rhythmic acoustic phenomena. In 1982, he also appeared on the [[Factrix]] and [[Monte Cazazza]] collaborative album ''California Babylon''.

Z'EV was a strong presence in the New York City downtown music scene in the 1980s and 1990s, performing with [[Elliott Sharp]], [[Glenn Branca]], and doing solo performances at [[The Kitchen (art institution)|The Kitchen]], [[The Knitting Factory]], [[Danceteria]], and other venues where [[experimental music]] flourished.

From 1986 to 1990, he was a Guest Teacher in Composition and Improvisation at the Theater School for New Dance Development in [[Amsterdam]]. With dancer Ria Higler, he mentored a group through their entire four-year course of study.<ref>{{cite web|title=Aktuelles - Thomas Lehmen (de)|url=http://www.thomaslehmen.de|publisher=Thomaslehmen.de|access-date=2013-08-15}}</ref> 

In the mid-1990s, he began working with Amsterdam house musician, DJ Dano. Their work, also in conjunction with Austrian media artist [[Konrad Becker]], was influential within the [[gabber]], [[Hardcore (electronic dance music genre)|hardcore]] and [[Thunderdome (music festival)|Thunderdome]] music scenes. Throughout the decade he also collaborated with [[Lydia Lunch]], [[Psychic TV]], and [[Genesis P-Orridge]].

In the 2000s and 2010s, Z'EV worked and recorded with a wide range of musicians and composers, including [[Faust (band)|Faust]], [[Stephen O'Malley]], [[Hafler Trio|The Hafler Trio]], [[David Jackman (musician)|Organum]], [[Chris Watson (musician)|Chris Watson]], [[Francisco López (musician)|Francisco López]], [[B. J. Nilsen]], [[Peter Rehberg]], [[Oren Ambarchi]], [[Merzbow]], Marc Hurtado, [[John Duncan (artist)|John Duncan]], [[Charlemagne Palestine]], Illusion of Safety, Sudden Infant, [[Edward Ka-Spel]], and many others.

His recordings have been released by [[Crippled Intellect Publications|C.I.P.]], [[Cold Spring (label)|Cold Spring]], Die Stadt, [[Soleilmoon]], [[Tzadik Records]], [[Subterranean Records|Subterranean]], [[Sub Rosa (label)|Sub Rosa]], [[Important Records]], [[Atavistic Records|Atavistic]], [[Mego (label)|Editions Mego]], and [[Touch Music|Touch]].

== Later life and death ==
Z'EV was severely injured in the [[2016 Cimarron train derailment]] which took place near Dodge City, Kansas on March 14, 2016.<ref name="nytimes"/> After this accident he continued to have health problems but never stopped working. A crowdfunding was set up to pay for medical treatments. He lived for three months in the guest room of his friend [[Boyd Rice]] in [[Southern California]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://louderthanwar.com/rip-zev-industrial-music-legend-and-supreme-percussionist/ |title=RIP : Z'ev - industrial music legend and supreme percussionist |website=Louderthanwar.com |date=17 December 2017 |access-date=2020-03-14}}</ref> Afterwards, Z'EV traveled to Europe and was an artist in residence at the [[Porto]]-based sound lab Sonoscopia, where he built a number of percussion instruments. One of his last performances took place in an Amsterdam Synagogue. 

Z'EV suffered from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and died on December 16, 2017, in [[Chicago]] from [[pulmonary failure]].<ref name="nytimes">{{cite news|last1=Pareles|first1=Jon|title=Z'ev, Percussionist and Industrial Music Pioneer, Dies at 66|work=The New York Times |date=26 December 2017 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/26/obituaries/zev-percussionist-and-industrial-music-pioneer-dies-at-66.html|access-date=27 December 2017}}</ref>

==Published works==
* ''Wheels On Fire #'s 1 And 2''
* ''Rhythmajik, Practical Uses of Number, Rhythm and Sound''
* ''Face the Wound<ref>{{cite web|title=ARTIST: Z'EV: Face The Wound: Label: Soleilmoon|url=http://www.soleilmoon.com/store/searchresults.lasso?ArtistName=Z%27EV|publisher=Soleilmoon.com|access-date=2013-08-15}}</ref>''
* ''The Sapphire Nature<ref>{{cite web|title=Welcome to Tzadik|url=http://www.tzadik.com/index.php?catalog=7161|publisher=Tzadik.com|access-date=2013-08-15}}</ref>''

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Wozencroft, Jon, ed. (1991). ''Z'EV 1968-1990: One Foot In The Grave'', booklet released together with the double CD as a boxed set. [[Touch Music|Touch]]
* Z'EV (1992). ''Rhythmajik, Practical Uses of Number, Rhythm and Sound''. Temple Press. {{ISBN|978-1-871744-40-8}}
* Zorn, John, ed. (2000). ''Arcana: Musicians on Music''. New York: Granary Books/Hips Road. {{ISBN|978-1-887123-27-3}}.
* RE/Search (1983). ''RE/Search No. 6/7: Industrial Culture Handbook'', [[RE/Search|RE/Search Publications]] {{ISBN|978-0-940642-07-2}}
* RE/Search (2006). ''RE/Search No. 6/7: Industrial Culture Handbook'', Limited Hardback Edition, [[RE/Search|RE/Search Publications]] {{ISBN|978-1-889307-16-9}}

==External links==
* [http://www.rhythmajik.com/ Z'EV rhythmajik.com website]
* [http://www.discogs.com/artist/Z'EV Z'EV Discogs discography]
* [https://vimeo.com/rhythmajik Z'EV Official Vimeo]
* [https://www.imdb.com/name/nm5793898/?ref_=rvi_nm Z'EV Filmography] on the [[Internet Movie Database]]

{{Psychic TV}}
{{Rhythm & Noise}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zev}}
[[Category:1951 births]]
[[Category:2017 deaths]]
[[Category:American industrial musicians]]
[[Category:American modern pagans]]
[[Category:American percussionists]]
[[Category:Converts from Judaism]]
[[Category:Converts to pagan religions]]
[[Category:Deaths from respiratory failure]]
[[Category:Jewish American musicians]]
[[Category:Jewish American poets]]
[[Category:Modern pagan artists]]
[[Category:Modern pagan poets]]
[[Category:Musicians from Los Angeles]]
[[Category:Soleilmoon artists]]
[[Category:American sound artists]]
[[Category:Modern pagans of Jewish descent]]
[[Category:21st-century American Jews]]