The band was founded by Bang Tango guitarist Drew Fortier, who after demoing songs for what was intended to be Bang Tango's next studio album, decided that the songs would be better fit for a whole different project; which led to Fortier forming the group with Kik Tracee vocalist Stephen Shareaux, then recruiting bassist Chip Z'Nuff, drummer Mike Heller, guitarist Brynn Arens, and pianist Kate Catalina to complete the line up. In early 2016, the band met in Chicago, Illinois for a photo shoot as well as a music video shoot resulting in videos for the tracks New Leaf, Aflame, and Downtown. Currently New Leaf has been the only video released.
Recording
Recording of the band's debut album began in October 2015. Due to the fact that everyone in the band resides in different parts of the country, each member would self produce and record their parts at their respective home studios. Recording for the album was finished in the Summer of 2017. As of October 2017 the album, The Ultra Head Frequency, has been in the process of being mixed and mastered by Richard Easterling for a TBA 2018 release date.
Live
Although the full band has yet to make its live debut, Zen From Mars co-founders Stephen Shareaux and Drew Fortier began performing acoustic shows around the country with a setlist made up of material from Shareaux's former band Kik Tracee, Shareaux's solo albumGolden as well as stripped down renditions of Zen From Mars songs. Some notable appearances include performing multiple sets at the grand opening of Megadeth bassist David Ellefson's Ellefson Coffee Co. in Jackson, Minnesota, as well as opening for Mark Slaughter's solo band at Dingbatz in Clifton, New Jersey, and performing a co-headlining set at Herman's Hideaway in Denver, Colorado with the now late ex-Faith No More vocalist Chuck Mosley, with whom Fortier was also guitarist for, and is currently doing a film on.
Releases
August 2016, while in the midst of recording, the band released a video snippet titled Who Is ZFM? hinting the identities of the band members. Days later the band was announced and a music video was released for a Matt Wallace mix of an early version of the track New Leaf. September 2016, a teaser of the song Aflame was released. August 2017, with the announcement of their debut album in the mixing stage; the band's producer/mixer Richard Easterling shared a snippet of the track Inner Mission on his social media page.
