The Zincs are a 4-piece band based in Chicago, despite being originally from London. The Zincs were set up by English singer/songwriter James Elkington in 2000 to play the songs that had been cramping up his 4-track since his move to Chicago the year before. His first album, Moth and Marriage, was released by the Ohio Gold label in 2001 and was performed by Elkington alone, but a band was formed to play the subsequent shows and the Zincs proper was born.
The current line-up features Elkington's voice and guitar, Nathaniel Braddock on guitar (Ancient Greeks, Edith Frost and, of course, the OBDBI), Nick Macri on bass (Bobby Conn, Euphone, Mark Eitzel and co-runs the Ohio Gold label) and Jason Toth (Edith Frost, Manieshevitz and just about whatever's going).
2002 saw the release of an EP, 40 Winks With The Zincs, but the full band did not record together until the album Dimmer, which was released by Chicago's own Thrill Jockey in 2005. As well as the regular group, the singing was sweetened by Janet Bean from Freakwater, the strings bowed by Fred Lonberg-Holm and Susan Voelz, and the recording handled by Mark Greenberg and Barry Phipps between their respective studios.
After spending most of 2006 touring the U.S.A. and Europe, The Zincs convened to record their third album, Black Pompadour, with John McEntire (Tortoise and lots of things) at Soma EMS. Featuring some very nice singing from Edith Frost, Thrill Jockey will be unleashing this on an unsuspecting public on March 20th 2007 with touring to follow.