In 1997 I managed a band called FADE through a demo, a couple of gigs and, eventually, a break-up which actually saw the lead singer and main songwriter sacked! That’s OK, because the band didn’t last much longer without him anyway! That singer/songwriter worked in tribute acts like Pearl Jammed through the late 1990s and into the next millennium to keep his name active in the biz and to hone his craft.
His wife, Jo, tells the story of travelling to Tea Gardens at Bondi Junction of a Tuesday night during 2010 to watch this singer strum his heart out acoustic style to these great songs that he’d written.
“He worked hard to build a band,” Jo says, “and over the years various ‘band brothers’ came and went and all contributed something unique to the journey”. This journey included the project known as 30three that seems to have come and gone without too much ado, let alone any output I can find online.
“4 years ago the band became known as WHITEFORD,” Jo continues, “with Zarz (Nathan Zahorodnyj) on vocals and rhythm guitar, Brad (Kypo) Kypriotis on lead guitars, Nate Meryment on drums, and Steve (Shorty) Short on bass. Over the last four years the band has become next-level greatness and I’m so excited for what the future holds”.
I, for one, can’t wait to hear how much Zarz has grown as a musician, singer, songwriter, and performer over that time.
Listed on the TripleJ Unearthed site as influenced by Pearl Jam, U2, Powerfinger, LIVE, and Foo Fighters, we have been treated to musical and visual snippets on their Reverb Nation page. I’ve seen them live a couple of times since we reconnected through his own online sleuthing and some mutual personal and business connections, so I sort of had an idea of what to expect. I was even treated to an unexpected preview when Words Like Bullets was played on breakfast radio on the day of the album release! With support like this, the only way is up for this band, despite the pandemic that shan’t be named!
Let’s take a step back, ourselves, to those Reverb Nation days – there are five tracks and three videos, so from the top we have Move Me, co-written with Ben “The Captain” Irvine from the FADE days, with as much of Zarz’s influence on his sleeve straight from the top! Now I am a little biased but this rocks socks and anything else you want to remove! This is what got me involved with this guy from the outset! Day’s End pares it back a bit, as the title suggests, and reminds me again of those FADE days but eventually emotes with the best of them and brings the Rock right back!
Dirty Baby returns to the vibe established by Move and, like any good rock track, needs to be turned all the way up. Your stereo only goes up to 10? Get another stereo! Carousel continues in the same vein and is accompanied by Zarz’s first effort at making a video clip. Tell Me rounds things out with another Zarz/Captain collab but, although it still needs some work in post, is both gentle and powerful as anything published on this page.
It turns out that four of the five RN tracks are on the band’s Bandcamp page, along with the August 2018 single “She Joins Love”. I actually recorded and posted one of the songs from the launch of that single which earned the comment, “I like his voice”. Lisa, we all do!
Zarz tells me the story of being inspired by a visit to the old Festival studios at Pyrmont while I was managing the band back in those early days (I have an idea guitarist Marcüs Beaumont might also have been with us that day). Zarz learned about the now-famous Neve recording console and has had the dream of recording on that desk (or one of the other handful in existence world-wide) since that day. Well that day has come with the release of his debut album, and if the Reverb Nation work is anything to go by, we’re in for a real treat!
So without any further ado, let’s turn to the album, which is a whole new collection of ten tracks we have only heard live or in pre-production mixes. The single, Words Like Bullets, opens the set with Kypo, Shorty, and Zarz playing The Edge, Adam Clayton, and Bono, while Nate powers on! But this soon changes to the rock and roll we’ve already been treated to, and Zarz’s vocals cutting through like a stronger Dave “Fini Scad” Thomas from back in the 90s. She’s Amazing is beautifully segged- a song that could only be dedicated to / about Mrs.Z! It’s still U2 but with some Pearl Jam, and/or Powerfinger and a more mature version of the old sound. Consequence continues with some great picking and wailing from Kypo through the middle-8 and, I’m pretty sure I’ve heard this at gigs.
For mine, this drives toward the ballad which should be- oh look! She Joins Love! Like he’s been doing it all his life! Some backing vocals in the fade add depth to a song which should have been a bigger hit than it was. Still, there’s time! Fall Short brings the rock back with a new sound for the guys and some excellent production values which bring Zarz’s voice to the fore. A stand out so far.
Shorty gets an intro for Lies and a radio-mic effect for the vocals plays over some guitar noodling before the more-established sounds return, albeit gently. Keep Moving On does the same again but has more of an up-tempo and combines both the established and new sounds with some guest vocals and some old-school U2 slide-guitar work on the middle-8!
Always You breaks out the acoustic guitars for the wedding vows with a country feel! Stop The World is as straight-ahead as we have heard so far, but it’s both first-generation Pearl Jam and Fini Scad’s Just A Show (the opener for “Wider Screen”). I’m Alright closes the set with a gig favourite and killer hook. A great earworm that won’t go away anytime soon and, hopefully, the next single! It’ll definitely drive sales!!
Zarz works his arse off around suburban Sydney gardens to fund his music and support his little family, so you might well have a rock legend-in-the-making mowing your lawns! Help him make a real difference in the world and get behind WHITEFORD, the band and the album! You won’t be sorry!
PG (Jacky) Gleeson
17 October 2020
