VCU music grads' band, One Ring Zero, melds musical styles

One Ring Zero has an robust following for its eclectic music.

The music of One Ring Zero, the pop-rock band founded by Michael Hearst (B.M. '95/A) and Joshua Camp (B.M. '93/A), has been described as part cartoon, part klezmer and part circus. Using oddball instruments such as the claviola, theremin and toy piano, as well as more traditional instruments such as the accordion and banjo, the duo's completely unique sound has earned them a cult following and kept them busy for the past decade.

"I can't believe we've been together for 10 years," Camp says. "It's amazing."

The pair's lasting collaboration is a testament to their chemistry and the band's eclecticism.

"We just had our 10-year anniversary show," Hearst says. "I still enjoy working with Josh, and I can't think of anyone I'd rather work with."

The two constantly work on a variety of projects — from CDs to film soundtracks to dance pieces — and have a kind of shorthand when it comes to creating their music.

"There's just a certain way we work in the studio. We're pretty efficient," Camp says. "When we work together, we're very fast at getting people what they want."

The duo began playing together in the '90s, after graduating from Virginia Commonwealth University and while employed at Hohner Inc., a German instrument company in Glen Allen, Va. Camp worked as an accordion technician and Hearst as a harmonica technician.

"It sounds completely absurd and made up, but it's true," Hearst says.

At Hohner, the two had access to some highly unusual instruments that came across the Atlantic, including the claviola. There were only about 50 to 100 originally made in Germany and, of those, only six made their way to the U.S.

"Both of us were just amazed by this instrument," Hearst says. "We jumped on it immediately."

The two borrowed the claviola and began recording with it. They held weekly jam sessions in the basement of Hearst's Southside house. Hearst says it seemed appropriate to throw in some other strange instruments, and One Ring Zero — with its signature sound — was born. The group put out their first CD, "Tranz Party," and played gigs at Chopstix and other Richmond-area venues.

Two more records followed, and by that time, Hearst and Camp had moved to Brooklyn, N.Y. It was there that One Ring Zero serendipitously fell in with the literary set. Hearst and Camp stumbled upon a tiny store in Park Slope that was actually home to McSweeney's, the publishing company run by acclaimed author Dave Eggers. The duo became the McSweeney's house band.

"We were kind of in the right place at the right time," Hearst says, "and started playing these literary events. Someone would read, and we'd play to kind of break up the evening."

"It was a good way to get our profile out there in New York and get people to pay attention to us," Camp says.

The performances led to introductions to numerous well-known authors, in addition to Eggers. These connections led Hearst and Camp to come up with an unusual concept for their fifth CD, "As Smart as We Are." The pair asked writers Rick Moody, Jonathan Lethem, Paul Auster, A.M. Homes, Neil Gaiman, Margaret Atwood and Daniel Handler, aka Lemony Snicket, to pen lyrics for the CD. One Ring Zero became a darling of the critics and earned a reputation as a "lit-rock" band.

But Hearst and Camp don't like to label themselves as such.

"Our music is all over the map," Hearst says. "The thing that really holds One Ring Zero together is that Joshua and I have done it."

Hearst and Camp both credit their VCU music experience for teaching them to master so many different genres.

"My teacher at the time, Dika Newlin, was really amazing," Hearst says. "She was very much encouraging me to write in what I consider to be the beginning of One Ring Zero: a lot of quirky, sort of offbeat, collaborative ideas."

Camp agrees.

"I definitely attribute all my music skills, my initial bag of tricks to school," he says. "A lot of musicians I work with dropped out of school after a year, but I really enjoyed the whole process. I'm VCU proud!"

Hearst and Camp are looking forward to the next 10 years and are back in the studio for several new One Ring Zero projects, including a live CD, more film and dance company projects and a food-related venture.

"We're working with chefs and recipes," Hearst says cryptically. "I'm going to leave it at that. It's going to be ridiculous and fun."

Which is exactly what One Ring Zero's music is all about.

For more information on One Ring Zero and to listen to the music, visit www.oneringzero.com