WHHS is a creative outlet for many of its students. That is why WHHS students Russ Mamedov and Dennis Abate decided to form a new band called Zero Distance. Mamedov, a junior, and Abate, a senior, formed the band with fellow musicians Lucas Wroblewski and Jake Mazza. Mamedov (vocalist/guitarist), Abate (guitarist), Wroblewski (drummer), and Mazza (bassist) formed the band in 2014 after Abate talked to Wroblewski on an online music website were musicians go to find each other.

Wroblewski noticed that Abate lives in Wayne, about 15 mins from Butler NJ and Wroblewski then contacted Abate asking to start a band. Originally, Wroblewski was to play bass, but by the time they actually met, they had agreed on him playing drums. They then started playing together. Noticing they had a good sound together, they looked for others to play with them, they then found guitarist Mamedov who went to the same school as Abate.

They later decided to have Mamedov sing as well. After playing two shows without a bassist, they finally found Mazza who had played with Abate at the music school where they had taken lessons. They played their first full set as a full band in March 2015 at Jigg’s Corner in Butler NJ. According to Abate, the band plays progressive metal with death metal and rock influences such as Megadeth, Wintersun, Led Zeppelin, Darkthrone and more.

“We plan to tour for the whole summer. We just want to make music. We want to make music that’s modern while maintaining vintage influences.” said Senior Abate. They have currently released three original songs on Youtube and are playing their next show on June 3, at the Blue Room in Secaucus NJ.