One Ring Zero, Band

One Ring Zero is an unusual Brooklyn band headed up by Michael Hearst and Joshua Camp, with a troupe of musicians and lyricists filling out their ever-morphing sonic tribe. Their lyrics have been written by some familiar names: Jonathan Lethem, Margaret Atwood, Paul Auster and Dave Eggers are amongst them. This year they enter their 10th year of making music, and this Friday they'll be at Joe's Pub celebrating on stage. Join in on the party, you can buy tickets here.

Did we mention they wrote us a theme song?

One Ring Zero, "Gothamist Theme Song"

Your 10th anniversary is coming up this week, how did it all begin? As absurd as it sounds, Joshua and I were accordion and harmonica technicians at the Hohner North American distribution and repair center in Richmond, VA. Joshua tuned, tested, and repaired accordions eight hours a day, five days a week, and I did the same with harmonicas. Although we vaguely knew each other from music school (Virginia Commonwealth University, where we both studied music composition), it wasn't until Hohner that we really got to know each other. Of course, this meant shooting rubber bands at each other across the warehouse, and making stupid noises over the intercom.–Michael Hearst

This band really started as a side project where Michael and I would write, arrange, and record a song all in one day—usually our day off from work. We used many of the instruments at the Hohner factory like accordion, harmonica, and electravox. The star of our studio sound, of course, was and still is the claviola. It arrived one day at the Hohner warehouse and we both new right away the awesome and ridiculous potential of this instrument. One Ring Zero was born on that day.... –Joshua Camp

What is your songwriting process? Our songwriting process is all over the map. Sometimes we start in the studio with a blank slate and the two of us hash it out from beginning to end. Other times Michael or myself will bring in a fully-realized demo and it will need only slight tweaking by the other. And still other times one of us will bring in a song fragment which will be completed by the other. We're both very flexible and open to the creative process. If something works, it works. I think this approach is the main reason why we're still working together. -JC

You've had a lot of well known authors write lyrics to your songs. Which author who hasn't written lyrics for you already would you like to? So, so many. Jeffrey Eugenides, George Saunders, Fiona Maazel, Barbara Kingsolver. Actually, I really want to do another cd with lyrics just by international writers. Maybe even in their native language! Haruki Murakami, Wole Soyinka, Gabriel García Márquez, etc. -MH

How have you seen the music scene change since you first began playing here? In all honesty, for the first several years we were here, we were much more involved with the literary scene than the music scene. I'm not sure there really is just one music scene. Generally they seem to be based around a particular venue or neighborhood, or a genre of music, obviously. If anything, I guess we are part of a South Brooklyn music scene. Our home base is Barbès in Park Slope. We were fortunate enough to get to know the owners (who also happen to be musicians and who do all the booking) just as the place was opening. They also started a label called Barbès Records, which we are grateful to be part of. There were really no other good music venues in Park Slope at the time. Of course things have changed tremendously. Now there are places like Southpaw, Union Hall, and many more to come, I'm sure. -MH

Well, there's certainly been a great flowering of venues and cultural activity in Brooklyn. I'd like to think there are now more people open to different instrumentation outside of the typical guitar, bass, drum of rock mainstream. This might be wishful thinking on my part, however. JC

What has your most memorable show been in the past 10 years? The most memorable shows for me have always been the ones where we get various guest to join us on stage… even if they have no musical talent. We've had Jonathan Lethem, Margaret Atwood, and even my own father play theremin with us. The event with Atwood at Toronto's Harbourfront Centre might be my favorite. We gave her a crash course on how the theremin just before the show. And then, when we played her song, she came out and waved her hands around and made spooky sounds. It was hilarious. The CBC filmed the whole thing. The next day the footage was on the national news, and a picture was on the cover of the arts section of the Globe and Mail. Of course, the footage now lives on youtube. -MH

Then again there was that time when we were introduced by a hermaphrodite puppeteer. So many weird shows, it's hard to say what's the top one. -JC

What can people expect at the anniversary show this week? Our friend, humorist writer, Jonathan Ames will be hosting. Of course he will join us for a song or two as well. We will also have several guests vocalist, our friends who sang on the author CD, Hanna Cheek, Las Rubias Del Norte, Olivier Conan, etc. Oh yeah, and we are giving away a free CD to everyone who is there! It's a limited edition CD called "Ten Years of Extra Stuff." All the b-sides… if b-sides still existed.
And then there's the after-party. Very nice of Joe's Pub to let us use their back room. There's even a piano back there. My guess is Joshua will start playing Styx and Rush after a few glasses of wine. -MH

Please share your strangest "only in New York" story. You mean like the time Joshua and I ended up in Macauley Culkin's apartment playing video games with him and his brother Kieran? -MH

Which New Yorker do you most admire? I admire David Byrne… mostly just because he still rides his bicycle through the city. I have a reflector of his, which must have fallen from his backpack at a party where we both were. I emailed his assistant to tell her that I had found one of his reflectors, but she didn't seem particularly interested in getting it back. So now it sits on a table next to my front door. Every once in a while I push the button on the back of the reflector and watch it blink. -MH

Given the opportunity, how would you change New York? Secede. No more cars. No more plastic bags. No more spitting. -MH

This is a common one, I know, but the subways are still too dirty. It's embarrassing considering how many foreigners visit. Every one of the transit systems I've been on in my travels is miles above New York's. I know it's an old system, but come on. -JC

Under what circumstance have you thought about leaving? Under many circumstances, to be honest. This is the hardest city to live in, but the rewards, particularly for an artist, are unparalleled. I definitely daydream of living somewhere cheaper and having to working less to pay rent. I'd get bored real fast, though. -JC

When cars start driving by and throwing plastic bags full of spit at me. -MH

Do you have a favorite New York celebrity sighting or encounter? I saw Bill Clinton in midtown a few years back. He was shaking hands with people on the street and had a few black escalades in tow. Keeping it real outside the Baccarat store, I guess. -JC

I saw Alan Rickman at a party one time. He was in front of me in line at the bar. I tapped him on his shoulder. He turned around and looked down at me through his eyebrows. I said, "Hi, um, you like direct movies and stuff sometimes, right? Here's a copy of my bands CD, just in case you ever need some music or something." He put the CD in his coat pocket and then turned back around, expressionless. Never said a word. -MH

What's your current soundtrack to the city? You mean like what am I listening to on my iPod as I walk around? I rarely leave a five block radius from my apartment. But lately I've been listening to the Kronos Quartet's album with Asha Bhosle. -MH

I've been listening to a lot of Duke Ellington's band from the 1930's. Great music for the urban landscape. JC

Favorite headlines: NY Post or Daily News? Definitely the Post. I love to hate'em. JC

Did you see today's NY Post headline. "Hill & Obama in shootout." There's a picture of both of them photoshopped with old western outfits. This is our news! Ha ha! -MH

Best cheap eat in the city. I'm gonna have to go with Xuyen on 7th ave in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. Vietnamese sandwich! Bahn Mi! -MH

Best venue to play/see music in NYC. I think we're probably obligated to say Barbès here. Seriously though, it really is one of the best venues in NYC. They get some of most amazing musicians to play in an intimate environment. Of course, Joe's Pub, specifically this Friday night at 9:30pm, is a great venue too! -ORZ