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South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com

Boca Zombies! release debut album

By John Thomason

Forum Publishing Group

October 29, 2008


To dub Boca Raton's Zombies! Organize!! as just a band is to do a disservice to the most interesting group in South Florida.

A sexy, rhyme-spitting manifesto, a sociopolitical mission statement, a low-budget horror film soundtrack, a not-for-profit cultural institution: Zombies! Organize!! is any and all of these things, using its crunk-pop hybrid to critique the zombie culture of America and netting almost 2,800 MySpace followers in the process.

And the trio has just released its debut album, "Before it's Too Late," a 10-track collection of crowd favorites and new recordings about rebellion, consumerism, fear-mongering, robots, turtles and, yes, zombies.

But we're getting ahead of ourselves. Just two years ago, the group was but a twinkle in our collective undead eye. Like South Florida indie comrades The Freakin' Hott, Zombies! Organize!! began as a joke. Its three members — vocalist Mary Sheffield, 28; her sister and guitarist Laura, 24; and her now husband and keyboardist/programming wizard Bobby Jividen, 30 — had never been in a band before (though Mary is a classically trained pianist).

"We didn't take it seriously for a long time," Jividen said. "It was a joke, a fun thing to do with friends."

But after building up a reputation and packing houses at Respectable Street in West Palm Beach, Dada in Delray Beach and the Poor House in Fort Lauderdale, the demand became too high. The band went on to play prestigious events like last year's "Beat For Life" breast cancer benefit at Cinema Paradiso and this year's "Nerdapalooza" festival in Orlando. For the growing number of die-hard Z! O!! fans, the debut album has been a long time coming.

"We had enough material to get serious about it," Jividen said. "We could have had a CD done months ago. We've had starts and stops and finally just decided to record it ourselves."

For a band known for its anti-consumerist leanings on tracks like "Crunk in the Mall" and "F-Bombs and 1Ups," it's perhaps no surprise that Zombies! Organize!! is not in the biz to make a profit. Taking the approach of Radiohead's recent embracing of the music-piracy boom, the band is offering "Before It's Too Late" for free, in its entirety. Just follow the download links on its MySpace (myspace.com/zombiesorganize).

Or if you're collector or want to put food on the band members' tables, you can purchase the album for $10, which gets you the wicked-cool cover art and liner notes.

But according to Jividen, it would be hypocritical for the band to demand money for its wares.

"I don't pay for music," he said. "I download all my music. The only music I pay for is from local bands. I don't see why I would try to sell people CDs. We didn't get into this to make money. We're in it to have fun and have a message."

And that message is one of political high crimes, blind ideology, corporate greed and whatever new societal ill incites their latest craving for brains. Like filmmaker George Romero in his cycle of zombie movies from "Night of the Living Dead" to this year's "Diary of the Dead," the band uses the symbol of the zombie to comment on the real terrors of the rest of the world.

President Bush is a target of their attacks on "HSAS," in which the Department of Homeland Security uses the prospect of zombie attacks to raise the terror alert to red. Conservatives in Bush's cabinet and on the Fox News airwaves dominate the discourse in "Zombie Manifesto," which labels Democrats as thoughtless zombies.

Though right-wing Republicans receive much of their ire, Z! O!! are no fans of the Democratic party and are not in the game of endorsing a candidate for next week's election.

"I remember when Clinton was in charge, and the Democrats were in charge of both branches, and he rolled back welfare," Jividen said. "He did so many conservative things. I'm sure if Obama is elected, he'll do enough to be able to write songs about."

Zombies! Organize!! will perform around midnight Friday at Vagabond, 30 NE 14th St., Miami. The band will have a free CD release party at 10 p.m. Nov. 29 at Dada, 52 N. Swinton Ave., Delray Beach.

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