In the world of early 70's glam, where bands went out of their way to devise outlandishly bad outfits and dream up ludicrous stage persona, Zolar X had a commitment to their particular "vision" (ie we are 50's drive-in movie aliens) that placed them in a league of their own. Unlike their contemporaries who'd drop the "I am space emperor Doofus from Dimension X" act once they got off stage, these guys were NEVER out of character in public. When not performing, they would often wander the streets of LA in full space regalia (see picture) talking in a nonsense alien language, and playing Echoplex sound effects on miniature tape recorders... Yep, they were complete wankers alright...
But they also churned out some pretty stomping glam metal with a big Detroit guitar sound, wonderfully loony lyrics (sample song titles: "I Pulled My Helmet Off (I'm Going To Love Her)" and "Plutonian Elf Song"), and occasional moments of unhinged prog excess. All good overblown fun, in other words!...
And now the best stuff from Planet Zolar has been released on a single CD by Jello Biafra's Alternative Tentacles label. (Apparently, Zolar X was one of the bands that Jello most hated when he was a young punk... That disdain, however, was based merely on their appearance; when he finally heard them, it was a different matter altogether.) The disc can naturally be purchased from the AT site, where you can also download four mp3s: Timeless, Jetstar 19, I Pulled My Helmet Off and Silver Shapes.