Zed Brookes
For over 20 years Zed Brookes has been a singer, songwriter, guitarist/bassist, and most notably a prominent local audio engineer and award winning producer, among other things. He started out in around 1982 as a live sound engineer, and as the frontman and principal songwriter for Step Chant Unit from 1983-1987.
Meanwhile, in 1983 he completed a Diploma in Audio Engineering at Harlequin Studios in Auckland, managed two Waikato branches of Tandys Records between 1984 and 1985, and in the same year Step Chant Unit's single Painting Pictures hit the New Zealand Top 40. Also in 1985 Zed set up Tandys Studios and the record label Just Teasing. He was the manager, in-house engineer and head producer for Tandys Studios and Just Teasing between 1985 and 1992.
During this time (late '80s and early '90s) he continued to focus more so on production work than as a member of bands, however he was at some stage (dates unknown) involved with bands by the names of The Lemmings, Zener and The Diodes; all of whom appear to have gone by and large undocumented.
In 1990 the Just Teasing V1 compilation was released from Tandys/Just Teasing recording artists (recorded between 1987-1989); included were Step Chant Unit's Doesn't Time Fly and a solo track from Zed known as Ugh!! Wipeout??!. In 1991 he played on (as well as producing) Book of Martyrs' Purified Seven Times, and undoubtedly performed as a studio/session musician on numerous other recordings from Tandys Studios throughout this period.
In 1992 he designed and built Zoo Studios, and began working as a producer for both Hark Records and The Rock 93FM. Between '92 and '93 as the manager of the Zoo he transformed the unit from an adjunct to The Rock to become one of the top studios in the Waikato. At this time his production credits included Dead Flowers, Bilge Festival, Knightshade, The Narcs and many others.
From 1993 - 1995 that list extended to include Exploding Poppies, Blackjack, Love and Violence, Bad Jelly, King Biscuit and Tetnus alongside continued work in the producer's chair for Jacqui Keelan Davey, Knightshade, The Narcs and numerous others. In 1993 he received awards for Best Production, Engineer of the Year and Biggest Contribution to Waikato Music at the Waikato Rock Awards. In 1994 he co-wrote the Jacqui Keelan song Parihaka with Keelan and Andrew Newth (produced by Dave Lowndes) which won Waikato's Best Song award, and the same year he once again took out Engineer of the Year, along with Producer of the Year.
In 1995 he once again returned to the stage and studio as a frontman and songwriter for Schrödinger's Cat, produced the award winning Blackjack album Kicasso de'Muse, and began working in composition for TV and film. Between 1995 and 2000 Schrödinger's Cat's Don't Matter spent time in the Top 13 as well as receiving national playlisting on B-net stations, and even appeared in the soundtrack to the TV series Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, while their self-released EP Joe's Brain sold out in one night at the release party at JBCs in the year 2000. During the same timeframe, Zed's soundtrack work included the Thundercats Racing video and numerous independent short films including Stiff by Joe Citizen, whilst continuing to produce local bands throughout the late '90s including Stone Babies, Rumpus Room, Scooter, Moofish, Tweeter and Jhana (featuring Mark Tupuhi of Schrödinger's Cat) to name a handful.
In 2000 Zed performed as a member of Moofish alongside Rhonda Johnson and Chris Johnson, and appears on their album mOoFiSh (which he produced, and which also featured session performances from Grant Brodie and Scott Brodie).
In the same year Schrödinger's Cat underwent a lineup change and became Wonderbug until 2002. This band became increasingly the vehicle for the other main songwriter in the group Mark Tupuhi, and were described by Zed as "nowhere near as good" (!). In 2001 they appeared on TVNZ's Good Morning and recorded an unreleased EP, songs from which later became incorperated into Tupuhi's next band St Lucy (2002 - 2006). Zed continued to play as a member of St Lucy between 2002 and 2004, appearing on the EPs Loyal? and Bio-Psycho-Social.
At an academic level, Zed Brookes' ongoing work in sound and associated media studies as a Researcher, Developer, Designer, Advisor, Senior Lecturer and so forth since the mid '90s up to the present day is vast, and perhaps somewhat beyond the scope of this wiki. Since 2002 he has set up the new audio/production company Brookes Audio Design where production and recording projects have also included Katchafire, Midge Marsden and Bullfrog Rata and many others. In recent years he has played as a member of the bands Bug Unit and DMZ (further info unclear). In 2005 Schrödinger's Cat and Wonderbug reformed briefly for live performances at the Circle Jerk.
