Playback is Hell

Playback Is Hell is a compilation of tracks from 1991’s Make It Stop and 1992’s The Heimlich Maneuver, remixed and remastered from the original tapes by Zero Boys frontman and engineer Paul Mahern. The album includes two new tracks “Make It” and “In the Back of My Mind,” both recorded in the early ’90s but never released until now.

Recorded less than a year apart, these two albums document a moment when Zero Boys were following instinct — pushing the edges of their sound, threading personal spiritual exploration through the fuzz and the fury. Now, decades later, playback of these records reveals something clearer. These songs — lyrically, musically, emotionally — are still as relevant today as they were over 30 years ago, both a triumph and a tragedy. What Zero Boys wrote in a moment of creative combustion now sounds like warning flares — about institutions, violence and the quiet need for finding the meaning of it all.

Paul Mahern says, “So yes, Playback is Hell. But not the hell of torment. The hell of fire. The hell of transformation. The heat of memory and meaning suddenly rising again. Thanks for listening — then, now, and next.”