Dave Kossy – guitar / vocals
Kirk Brower – guitar / vocals
Pete Kaplan – bass
Stu Leviton – drums

This single by Zendik shows a promising direction for hard rock in 1970, like the MC5, It’s All Meat or even some early Alice Cooper. Zendik’s “Is There No Peace” and “Aesop” share these bands’ punk, anti-establishment attitude, without succumbing to the dull trends of boogie, soul or progressive pretensions of the time. Music with that kind of edge nearly disappeared from radio in the early 1970s, but is getting the attention it deserves now.

The band is really together on both songs, with lead guitar like a siren on “Is There No Peace” and cutting on “Aesop”, backed with rolling drums and aggressive bass runs. The singing is confident, and the lyrics pointed:

Is there no peace in this world?
Well you hide your fine hate and bigotry.
What does it all mean to me,
I just cannot see what’s the purpose of it all.

Old dress, depress, fornicators, people … [?]
In that desert only sick and [?] to pretend to be high.
But they just can’t win,
Never overcoming this situation that they’re in.

Is there no peace in this world?
Each day birds fly, men die, women cry, it ain’t right.
Why must people fight and die, never knowing why,
Guess we’ll never know the answer.

Do you think you would like to find a way out of here?
Do you think you’d like to look at your mind through a kaleidoscope mirror?
Well it just might be the answer even though you’ll die faster here,
‘Cause God was dead a long long time ago.

God is dead, God is dead, GOD IS DEAD

Dave Kossy wrote “Is There No Peace” and Kirk Brower wrote “Aesop”.

They were from the suburbs of Chicago and not a part of Wulf Zendik’s Farm in Austin, Texas.

The mastering number “TM 4274” indicates Ter-Mar Studios manufacturing plant in Chicago, owned by Chess Records.

As the label states, these songs were “Recorded in America” and released on Pslhrtz (I can’t figure out the pun there) in 1970. Bob Ambos and Mike Lima produced it, with publishing originally with Into Now Unlimited, BMI, though both songs are now registered with Tim Brophy and Kilkenny Music of Sussex, Wisconsin, outside of Milwaukee. I tried to reach Tim by phone but the number was out of date.

There was very little info about the band out there until I posted this article and heard from Dave Kossy.

There were at least two other songs recorded during the same session as the single. “Mom’s Apple Pie Boy” is so good it definitely could have been the A-side, and “Pink Grapefruit” is fine too. In my opinion these deserve to be released, and I would try to finance a 45 release if the band would agree to it (and the masters or transfers were good quality).

Anyone have a photo of the group?