Authority Zero - Ollie Ollie Oxen Free (2021)

Authority Zero has never been called “negative.” Even during a pandemic, they kept their collective chin up, put their heads down and wrote a new album. Due in June, Authority Zero’s album “Ollie Ollie Oxen Free” takes a line from hide and seek to encourage fans to leave the COVID-19 depression behind and celebrate life. During the pandemic, singer Jason DeVore saw families torn apart by political views and COVID-19. Now that the divide has somewhat subsided, it’s time to come out and be yourself again.

“The phrasing in the title track stems from the idea of ‘come out, come out, wherever you are,’” says DeVore, who co-writes with bassist Michael Spero. “It keeps the positive side of 2020 in mind. People have been trapped within themselves, depressed, inside of their houses. We’re separated, politically, between the left and right. It’s a matter of come out, feel free and feel a sense of no fear in some regard.”

The title track rattles those cages with DeVore’s encouraging lyrics, the frenetic blur of Christopher Dalley’s urgent drumming and Spero’s bass, coupled with new guitarist Eric Walsh’s muscular licks. Authority Zero brought along a few friends for the ride—Iagri Shuhei from Japan’s HEY-SMITH on “Ear to Ear,” while Pennywise’s Jim Lindberg guests on “Don’t Tear Me Down.”

With its updated sound, “Ollie Ollie Oxen Free” fits in with Authority Zero’s catalog, DeVore says. “It’s more of the times of 2020,” he says. “We really tried to focus more on the positive side of things that came from the pandemic, rather than the negative that came out of it. We inflect lyrics and music in an uplifting manner. We wanted to shine a light at the end of the tunnel.”