Zero 7

In a noisy world we should be grateful there’s still a space for acts likes Zero 7, the Greta Garbos of the music industry. It’s not that they are reclusive, merely that they prefer to do things their way; at a glacial pace that somehow also evokes the warmth of their music, too. Given that Sam Hardaker and Henry Binns first met as teenagers, it’s a testament to their durability and friendship that more than 30 years later they are still here, still working and producing music of the highest stripe.


The pair first met in North West London. Having attended an audio engineering college, they both served apprenticeships as tape ops at Mickie Most’s legendary RAK Studios. “We learnt a lot there,” says Sam. “Incredible sessions in the big live room in Studio One. We’d do bands but also string sections, horns and orchestras. It was an amazing, priceless education.” However, a growing need to fiddle about with AKAI samplers led to them leaving RAK and taking a vow of poverty while they tried to hone their sound.


Their first break came via friend and RAK colleague, Nigel Godrich, who offered them a Radiohead remix. The leap from the pair’s ‘Climbing Up The Walls’ mix to debut album Simple Things was not huge, even if the success was completely unexpected.
Simple Things was nominated for a Mercury Music Prize, was certified Platinum in the UK and sold over 1.5 million copies worldwide. It was an amazing achievement for a debut album, but it came with its own pressures. “We had no ambition beyond that record when we made Simple Things,” confesses Henry. “So we were suddenly landed in a weird place.”

Over the ensuing eight years, Zero 7 recorded a further three albums, including Grammy Nominated The Garden, arguably their finest of the quartet. Inevitably, without a regular chart presence, they were quietly released into the wilds after the release of Yeah Ghost in 2009. While none of the subsequent albums matched the sales of their debut, the quality has never faltered (check ‘The Road’ on Yeah Ghost for abundant evidence).


Over the course of the last decade, they have concentrated on releasing a series of brilliant singles and EPs on their own Make Records imprint, among them the divine José Gonzáles ‘Aurora’ and ‘Last Light’, bewitching ‘Swimmers’, featuring Jem Cooke and the brilliant 4 track ‘Shadows’ EP with Lou Stone with accompanying video, directed by Julian House whose artwork adorned Simple Things

Working in an industry that thrives on cheap thrills and expensive habits, sometimes it’s hard to cut through to the things that truly matter. But more than 20 years down the line, Zero 7 are still delivering the goods.