From Deseret News archives:

Zao's music abrasive yet spiritual

Published: Friday, Jan. 28, 2005 12:00 a.m. MST

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Guitarist Russ Cogdell has always loved playing music. But not just any music. When he decided he was going to be a guitarist, he wanted to play only the best music he possibly could.

"I don't think I had any real ideas of how I was going to form a career around music," Cogdell said by phone from somewhere outside of Kansas City, Mo. "I just knew that I was going to put my time, my soul and my life into making music, and I wanted the music to be the best quality it could be."

Being in the band Zao (pronounced ZAY-oh) has given Cogdell the chance to live his ideas and dreams. "I love playing live and getting the music to the people. And with the way the music business is today, I don't take this band for granted."

Zao — comprised of Cogdell, guitarist Scott Mellinger, vocalist Dan Weyandt, bassist Sean Koschick and drummer Steven Peck — plays music that is hard, abrasive and furious. But there is also an element of spirituality.

Zao is a Christian rock band, much in the same lines as P.O.D.

"That's one of the things that has been something of a challenge for us," said Cogdell. "People are trying to put us in a category. The label of 'Christian band' has hindered us in some ways. But it has also made us work harder and harder to get to where we want to be."

The band's new album title might not sound like an inspirational album, said Cogdell. "It's called 'The Funeral of God,' " he said. "It's based on a concept that came to us after talking about the state of the world. The story is basically this — what would happen if God stopped loving us? What would happen if he just let the human race alone? It would be a dark life. More dark than it is now.

"The album is just saying life is hard, but if you looked at it this way, it would be worse."

The band had all the songs written and arranged before it went into the studio, said Cogdell. "We are always listening to different types of music to get our ideas. We all have open minds when it comes to music. We don't want to get ourselves stuck in a hole. We want to be able to write songs that we feel are the best we can do. And we can't do that if we close ourselves off to other types of music.

"And likewise, we want our fans to be able to understand and accept the things we write and record. Bands mature, and their music does too. We would love to have our fans mature with us."

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