One Ring Zero
Encyclopedia
One Ring Zero is a modern music group led by Joshua Camp and Michael Hearst
that melds many genres and sounds to create a unique type of music.
and Joshua plays the accordion
. They both play the claviola
and prove to be extremely versatile musicians, often switching instruments for each song. Other instruments include a toy piano, a melodica
, a metallophone
, jones-O-phone, cajón
and a series of everyday sounds looped and altered to create textures and rhythms. Using all these instruments (or noises) together One Ring Zero creates a sound that defies genre. There is an undeniable klezmer
influence throughout their music but also a modern rock or indie influence. The band has been denoted "Lit Rock" by the media but they seem to defy any singular name. Both Joshua and Michael sing, Michael bass and Joshua tenor. They normally play with a six piece band now, including of a trumpet
, drum kit
, and bass guitar
.
" (2004).http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=3312149
One Ring Zero on A&E Television's "Breakfast with the Arts
" (2007).
One Ring Zero's on NPR's "Morning Edition
" (2007).http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12773509
One Ring Zero has also performed at music venues and cultural institutions including the Whitney Museum of Art, Central Park SummerStage, The Kennedy Center, Toronto’s Harbourfront Centre
, Spring Scream
in Taiwan, Era in Tokyo, New Morning
in Paris, The Chicago World Music Festival, and the Fundación Príncipe de Asturias in Spain.
Contributing authors included:
This provides a large variation in each song's theme, feel, and over all sound. Some lyrics are more poetic, while others tell stories.
's nearly century-old orchestral suite "The Planets
." As Hearst and Camp put it, "Seemed like maybe it was time to revisit our solar system with some new tunes.”
Michael Hearst
Michael Marcus Hearst is a composer, multi-instrumentalist, and writer. His musical instruments include claviola, theremin, guitar, piano, drums and bass...
that melds many genres and sounds to create a unique type of music.
Instruments
Michael plays the thereminTheremin
The theremin , originally known as the aetherphone/etherophone, thereminophone or termenvox/thereminvox is an early electronic musical instrument controlled without discernible physical contact from the player. It is named after its Russian inventor, Professor Léon Theremin, who patented the device...
and Joshua plays the accordion
Accordion
The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
. They both play the claviola
Claviola
The Claviola is a musical instrument that was designed in the 1960s by Hohner technician and designer Ernst Zacharias . The instrument was produced for a few months in the 1990s before being discontinued....
and prove to be extremely versatile musicians, often switching instruments for each song. Other instruments include a toy piano, a melodica
Melodica
The melodica, also known as the "blow-organ" or "key-flute", is a free-reed instrument similar to the melodeon and harmonica. It has a musical keyboard on top, and is played by blowing air through a mouthpiece that fits into a hole in the side of the instrument. Pressing a key opens a hole,...
, a metallophone
Metallophone
A metallophone is any musical instrument consisting of tuned metal bars which are struck to make sound, usually with a mallet.Metallophones have been used in music for hundreds of years. There are several different types used in Balinese and Javanese gamelan ensembles, including the gendér, gangsa...
, jones-O-phone, cajón
Cajón
A cajón is a box-shaped percussion instrument originally from Peru, played by slapping the front face with the hands.-Origins and evolution:...
and a series of everyday sounds looped and altered to create textures and rhythms. Using all these instruments (or noises) together One Ring Zero creates a sound that defies genre. There is an undeniable klezmer
Klezmer
Klezmer is a musical tradition of the Ashkenazic Jews of Eastern Europe. Played by professional musicians called klezmorim, the genre originally consisted largely of dance tunes and instrumental display pieces for weddings and other celebrations...
influence throughout their music but also a modern rock or indie influence. The band has been denoted "Lit Rock" by the media but they seem to defy any singular name. Both Joshua and Michael sing, Michael bass and Joshua tenor. They normally play with a six piece band now, including of a trumpet
Trumpet
The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
, drum kit
Drum kit
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
, and bass guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
.
Appearances
One Ring Zero on NPR's "Fresh AirFresh Air
Fresh Air is an American radio talk show broadcast on National Public Radio stations across the United States. The show is produced by WHYY-FM in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its longtime host is Terry Gross. , the show was syndicated to 450 stations and claimed 4.5 million listeners. The show...
" (2004).http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=3312149
One Ring Zero on A&E Television's "Breakfast with the Arts
Breakfast with the Arts
Breakfast with the Arts is a television program that aired on A&E from 1991 until 2007.Over the years, the show featured performances and interviews from all facets of the performing arts including rock, jazz, and classical, music, Broadway, film, dance, and books...
" (2007).
One Ring Zero's on NPR's "Morning Edition
Morning Edition
Morning Edition is an American radio news program produced and distributed by National Public Radio . It airs weekday mornings and runs for two hours, and many stations repeat one or both hours. The show feeds live from 05:00 to 09:00 ET, with feeds and updates as required until noon...
" (2007).http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12773509
One Ring Zero has also performed at music venues and cultural institutions including the Whitney Museum of Art, Central Park SummerStage, The Kennedy Center, Toronto’s Harbourfront Centre
Harbourfront Centre
Harbourfront Centre is a key cultural organization on Toronto, Ontario's waterfront, situated at 235 Queen's Quay West. Established as a crown corporation in 1972 by the federal government to create a waterfront park, it became a non-profit organization in 1991. Funding comes from corporate...
, Spring Scream
Spring Scream
Spring Scream is an outdoor music festival held in early April each year at Kenting in southern Taiwan. The festival showcases a variety of music styles from bands both from Taiwan and overseas. Each year the festival adds the name of the current Chinese astrological animal to its name...
in Taiwan, Era in Tokyo, New Morning
New Morning (club)
New Morning is a Parisian music nightclub that opened in 1981, specialising in jazz and blues.Its concerts are often featured on Mezzo TV.-History:The first concert was given on 16 April 1981 by Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers....
in Paris, The Chicago World Music Festival, and the Fundación Príncipe de Asturias in Spain.
As Smart As We Are (aka The Author Project)
On their critically acclaimed album "As Smart As We Are", published authors and writers wrote lyrics on request, which Hearst and Camp then set to music. Some writers wrote basic chord progressions or requested a certain genre for their song to fall under but for the most part Michael and Joshua wrote their own music for the lyrics.Contributing authors included:
- Jonathan AmesJonathan AmesJonathan Ames is an American author who has written a number of novels and comic memoirs. He was a columnist for the New York Press for several years, and became known for self-deprecating tales of his sexual misadventures. He also has a long-time envy of boxing, appearing occasionally in the ring...
- Margaret AtwoodMargaret AtwoodMargaret Eleanor Atwood, is a Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, and environmental activist. She is among the most-honoured authors of fiction in recent history; she is a winner of the Arthur C...
- Paul AusterPaul AusterPaul Benjamin Auster is an American author known for works blending absurdism, existentialism, crime fiction and the search for identity and personal meaning in works such as The New York Trilogy , Moon Palace , The Music of Chance , The Book of Illusions and The Brooklyn Follies...
- Michael ChabonMichael ChabonMichael Chabon born May 24, 1963) is an American author and "one of the most celebrated writers of his generation", according to The Virginia Quarterly Review....
- Clay McLeod Chapman
- Dave EggersDave EggersDave Eggers is an American writer, editor, and publisher. He is known for the best-selling memoir A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius and for his more recent work as a screenwriter. He is also the co-founder of the literacy project 826 Valencia.-Life:Eggers was born in Boston, Massachusetts,...
- Amy Fusselman
- Neil GaimanNeil GaimanNeil Richard Gaiman born 10 November 1960)is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, graphic novels, audio theatre and films. His notable works include the comic book series The Sandman and novels Stardust, American Gods, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book...
- Myla GoldbergMyla GoldbergMyla Goldberg is an American novelist and musician.-Biography:Goldberg was born into a Jewish family. She was raised in Laurel, Maryland, and graduated from Eleanor Roosevelt High School. She majored in English at Oberlin College, graduating in 1993...
- Ben GreenmanBen GreenmanBen Greenman is an American writer and magazine editor.-Biography:Greenman was born in Chicago, Illinois and raised in Miami, Florida. He attended Miami Palmetto High School and then Yale University where he worked on the Yale Herald...
- Daniel HandlerDaniel HandlerDaniel Handler is an American author, screenwriter and accordionist. He is best known for his work under the pen name Lemony Snicket.-Personal life:...
- A.M. Homes
- Denis JohnsonDenis JohnsonDenis Hale Johnson is an American author who is known for his short-story collection Jesus' Son and his novel Tree of Smoke , which won the National Book Award. He also writes plays, poetry and non-fiction.- Biography :...
- Lawrence Krauser
- Jonathan LethemJonathan LethemJonathan Allen Lethem is an American novelist, essayist and short story writer. His first novel, Gun, with Occasional Music, a genre work that mixed elements of science fiction and detective fiction, was published in 1994. It was followed by three more science fiction novels...
- Rick MoodyRick MoodyRick Moody is an American novelist and short story writer best known for the 1994 novel The Ice Storm, a chronicle of the dissolution of two suburban Connecticut families over Thanksgiving weekend in 1973, which brought widespread acclaim, became a bestseller, and was made into a feature film of...
- Aaron NaparstekAaron NaparstekAaron Naparstek is the founding editor and creator of Streetsblog, a web site providing daily coverage of transportation, land use and environmental issues in New York City...
- Darin StraussDarin StraussDarin Strauss is an American writer based in Brooklyn, NY. Strauss's memoir Half a Life won the 2011 National Book Critics Circle Award for memoir/autobiography.-Biography:...
This provides a large variation in each song's theme, feel, and over all sound. Some lyrics are more poetic, while others tell stories.
Planets
For One Ring Zero's 2010 release, Planets, the band composed thirteen new songs to represent the solar system and beyond. Tracks on the album include "An Introduction To Planets," "Mercury," "Venus," "Earth," "Mars Part I," "Mars Part II," "Jupiter," "63 Moons," "Saturn," "Uranus," "Neptune," "Pluto," and "Exoplanets." The concept was inspired by Gustav HolstGustav Holst
Gustav Theodore Holst was an English composer. He is most famous for his orchestral suite The Planets....
's nearly century-old orchestral suite "The Planets
The Planets
The Planets, Op. 32, is a seven-movement orchestral suite by the English composer Gustav Holst, written between 1914 and 1916. Each movement of the suite is named after a planet of the Solar System and its corresponding astrological character as defined by Holst...
." As Hearst and Camp put it, "Seemed like maybe it was time to revisit our solar system with some new tunes.”
Albums
- One Ring Zero "Tranz Party” (1999) (Planetary Records)
- One Ring Zero "Alice” (2001) (Urban Geek Records)
- One Ring Zero "Interludes and Out-takes from The Pumpkin Pie Show” (2001) (Urban Geek Records)
- One Ring Zero "Memorandum” (2002) (Urban Geek Records)
- One Ring Zero "As Smart As We Are” (2004) (Soft Skull Press)
- One Ring Zero and Rick Moody (2004) (Isota Records)
- One Ring Zero "New York Spleen” French Edition (2005) (Naïve Records)
- Sophie Auster (2005) (Actes Sud / Naïve Records)
- One Ring Zero "As Smart As We Are” Deluxe Edition with DVD (2006) (Barbes Records)
- One Ring Zero "Wake Them Up” (2006) (Barbes Records)
- One Ring Zero "Wake Them Up" Japanese Edition (2007) (MoorWorks)
- One Ring Zero "Live at Barbes" (2008) (Barbes Records)
- One Ring Zero “Ten Years Of Extra Stuff” (2009) (Urban Geek Records)
- One Ring Zero "Planets" (2010) (Urban Geek Records)
- One Ring Zero "Planets" Japanese Edition (2010) (MoorWorks)
- One Ring Zero "As Smart As We Are" Japanese Edition (2010) (MoorWorks)
EPs
- One Ring Zero “The Sirens of Red Hot” (2004) (Isota Records)
- One Ring Zero and Rick Moody (2004) (Isota Records)
Video
- One Ring Zero “Addendum” (2005) (Urban Geek Records)
- As the subject of “As Smart As They Are - The Author Project” (2007)