Our Story
This is the story of the transformation of two guys,Jood and Julius. Over the years they have persistently kept on rocking in their little town call Orange Walk (aka Suga City),Belize.
It all started back in the year 1980 when they were in Muffles College.At a Parent night’s function Julius was struggling with his acoustic guitar to a tune called “Mi Viejo” by Piero.While on the same event Jood (on the guitar) along with Joe (Joey) Cantun, Armando (Mandy)Cowo on the drums and Eligio ‘Koshol” Blanco were doing a live performance to some Beatles songs.
That same year after graduation Jood went to the U.S. but came back shortly thereafter.Julius on the other hand got employed at the sugar factory BSI. Hanging out together they decided to form a rock band. In need of a third band member they approached their friends Juan (John) Vargas and Elvis “Fish”Camara. Not knowing how to play an instrument they gave up on the idea. With Jood on the guitar and Julius on bass both started practicing at the La Immaculada Primary School verandah many nights to come.
Renting a place on top of the hill on Sapodilla Street the Duo became K-9 then not long after changed their band name to Black Orchids. They eventually made a loan from the bank to buy some second hand equipment on sale at the time.Needing someone on the drums they brought in Mark Anthony (Jood little brother). He was a fast learner so the road seem easier now for the band.At this point the name changed again once more to Night Light.
With lots of practice and original tunes from Jood, the band was ready to shine on the road.On Wednesday 19th December 1984 their first stop was at Ruben “Chino” Melendez place.As Chino was a rock aficionado he recorded some live takes of the band.The songs however were never published.That same year the band played at the Chateau Splendique in Corozal Town. All songs played were original songs. They also played for a Disco Night at the Baron’s Disco hosted by Jood’s homeroom students of Orange Walk Technical High School.
In 1986 the band teamed up with an American Howard Kolbe who was working with CARE at the time.He had an ovation acoustic/electric guitar. Playing the rhythm guitar Howard became the mover of the band. His opinion of the band’s name was that it was too weak sounding for a rock band. He suggested the name Zero Disciplin.The guys not really worrying where the name came from or what it means adapted it right away.That same year starting on August the 3rd the band went into Hittrax Studio (owned and operated by Elito Urbina Jr) to record their first cassette release-Belize Forever.
Going on the road the band presented themselves along with their cassette release to nearby Mexican audience of Chetumal on Mexican television. They played at many gigs plus a lot of private parties which were setup by Howard “Rock Milpa” Kolbe. Unfortunately Howard time in the country came to an end.Soon the band would turn into a trio.During this time the spelling of the name transformed to “Zro Dcplyn”. Then the inevitable thing happened. The band broke up.
Many years past then on one spree day Jood and Julius decided to go at it again.Theybecame a duo once more.They got a drum machine sponsored by a great English guy named Gary Anson.Jood programmed the drum parts and so the band hit the road again this time with Gilbert “Sahm” Sambula as rhythm guitarist.He was also in charge of the newly fan club..Well known followers of the club were the likes of Marcelo Azueta,Abraham Amaya, Arnulfo,Lizzette Cal just to name a few.Jaime “James” Zul (Joods little brother) came on board to handle the mixing for the group.They experimented with having a manager (1st-“Basco” Vasquez,2nd John Vargas) but it did not work out at all for the band.
On October 2001 the band released their second album “Mindbreaker” on CD.They performed on both Belizean and Mexican Television to promote the album.
Tension grew between Jood and Sahm who eventually call it quits.Zro Dcplyn became a duo yet another time. Later on Danny Duran was introduced to play drums on their live ventures. The band played at several gigs in their hometown, Belize City and Cayo. Somewhere along the way Danny left the band.
In 2006 Zro Dcplyn released their 3rd album “One BIG Family”.It included four Latin tracks.An array of local artist did their “thing” on parts of the album.Eduardo”Melesh” Melendez did a flute solo on the track”Jessie” on which Roman “Dor” Canul also did the vocals.George “Strings” Cadle did a guitar intro on “Cuando no Estas”.All the keyboard parts were done by DJ Master T (Mark Anthony).One of the track lyrics “Eres Demasiado”was written by David Hernan Perez.
In 2020 William joined the band as the front vocalist. His debut concert was at Fort Cairns on the September Celebrations Rock concert on the 17th of September 2022. Previous to that we played at the CDC pig fest as a warm up for the concert. Our repertoire were 13 songs with only 2 originals.
In the pipeline Jood wanted the band to do a Xmas show.It did not came to fruition until the Xmas season of 2023.They got three cover tunes going-Mistletoe,Happy Xmas and Feliz Navidad. They also worked on the original tune written by Jood “Merry Merry Xmas” which was to be released that same year.They organized a Live show for Facebook fans which was scheduled for 16th Dec of that year at 5 pm.Sponsorships were gotten to aid in the show for prizes and execution. Word got out an the OW Town Council invited the band to perform for the Xmas tree Lighting at Central Park.The band performed well with Xmas hats and all.The band was also invited to perform on the RB.s Karaoke show on Facebook.
