Authority Zero: punk rock veterans continue to keep it real after 30 years

EP REVIEW | Authority Zero – Thirty Years: Speaking To The Youth

Arizona’s Authority Zero have hit a major milestone in 2024 – they’re celebrating being a band for 30 years, something they started whilst in high school. Although they’ve never achieved the same level of popularity as some of their peers like NOFX, The Offspring or Rise Against, Authority Zero’s fire burns just as bright, from their 2002 debut album ‘A Passage In Time’ to 2021’s post-pandemic ‘Ollie Ollie Oxen Free’ – they’ve curated a sound that’s all their own with their mix of punk, melodic hardcore and ska. ‘Thirty Years: Speaking To The Youth‘ finds them just as relevant as ever and musically firing on all cylinders.

While they have toured this year to celebrate (throwback to Manchester right here!), Authority Zero have took a different tack to commemorate this milestone – rather than issue a re-release of one of their album’s (‘Andiamo’ turns 20 this year, for example), they’ve decided to release an EP consisting of six brand new songs. As frontman Jason DeVore puts it, the EP is “essentially about believing in yourself and fighting for what you believe in”.

Opener ‘A Change In The Tide’ is a quintessential sounding Authority Zero song, with a great guitar riff throughout, gang vocals in places and very profound lyrics on how no matter how good things are, it can turn on a dime. The next couple of songs take on a ska edge – ‘Lights Out’ is a little more skacore with a superb bassline while ‘Ways To Wage A War’ has a more reggae-tinged flavour, with lyrics focussing on how difficult it can sometimes be to fight for what you believe in (“There ain’t no way out when you believe in what you’re fighting for”).

‘Long Way To Go’ points out just that, with DeVore saying about the track “We’ve all been striving for a better day. Unfortunately, that doesn’t magically happen; It’s about realising if you change nothing, then nothing changes, so why would you not expect the same result time after time?; It will all just keep repeating itself until you start to recognise that a different approach is necessary. Even then, you’ve got a long way to go”. Closing out the EP are ‘Second Chances‘, which is an excellent melodic track on not regretting things (“I don’t wanna live my life starting again”) which gets super fast at times while the title track, ‘Speaking To The Youth’ is a ska punk track that speaks to future generations, as well as towards the band themselves when they were kids.

Overall, the EP itself is a perfect distillation on what Authority Zero are all about, featuring their signature sound of punk and ska whilst tackling hard hitting topics such as facing the future, recognising when things aren’t going great and making a better life for ourselves. While it’s not a greatest hits collection, it does find Authority Zero (rounded out with guitarist Brandon Landelius, bass player Mike Spero and drummer Chris Dalley) at the top of their game and ‘Speaking To The Youth’ will surely please longtime fans as well as being a good place to start for newcomers.

Thirty Years: Speaking To The Youth releases on November 1st via Operation Records.