CHANNEL ZERO

Belgium's equivalent of Metallica, in that it succeeded like no other group to break the boundaries between the "normal" or grunge-rock oriented audience to heavy metal. Very loud, but with the songs prevailing over the number of decibels. Or as their record company puts it : "Hard-hitting, aggressive, angst-ridden, full of attitude, rude and tough are only a few of the adjectives that people use to describe music in the nineties and each definition directly applies to Channel Zero's music".

They started their band in Brussels in late 1990 and the self-titled debut album followed in early 1992. Songs like "The Pioneer" and "Tales of Worship" soon provided them with a rapidly growing fan base in Germany and the Benelux.

Mid 1993 saw the release of Channel Zero's second album "Stigmatized for life". Their live-reputation grew and resulted in shows with Biohazard, Obituary, Napalm Death, Life Of Agony and Pro-pain. They also supported both Exhorder and M.O.D. on their European tours.

The third album "Unsafe" became the first Channel Zero album to be released internationally. With this album they took on the world in 1995. It was really the year of Channel Zero's breakthrough : they toured with Megadeth, Danzig, Spudmonsters, Biohazard, ... They were on the bill of some famous European festivals (Torhout/Werchter, Pukkelpop, Bourges,...) They played a headline tour in Australia.

By the end of 1996 they released the fourth album "Black Fuel". More live success followed, with a second appearance on Torhout-Werchter.

In Belgium, they were very popular (about 20.000 copies of the albums sold), but abroad they didn't get the expected sales. In august 1997 the band split up.

After the split, the members of Channel Zero quickly spread in all kind of directions. Ex-members were seen playing in "Ten Thousand Women Men" and "Mantra". Franky DSVD produces young Belgian metal-groups (such as the band "Crush", with Olympic gold-medal winner Fred Deburggraeve).

GroepsLeden :
- Franky "DSVD" De Smet Van Damme - vocals
- Xavier Carion - Guitar
- Phil B. - Drums
- Tino DeMartino - Bass

Buy CD's of this band at

Albums :
- Channel Zero (Shark Records - 1992)
- Stigmatized for life (Shark Records - 1993)
- Unsafe (Play it again Sam - 1995)
- Black Fuel (Play it again Sam - 1997)

Websites :
- Channel Zero at Play It Again Sam
- Nico De Vreese's Black Fuel : a very good Fan Site.
- Tabs to a few Channel Zero songs at guitarfiles.be

Forum :
- Read the messages/questions about Channel Zero
- Add your message, question, cd- or concertreview ... about Channel Zero