History

Jyro Xahn and Jerome Fontamillas are the creative and artistic forces behind some of the most cutting edge Christian music of this decade. This musical team has been creating new and innovative music since their teens and has continued to produce quality music ever since.
Their first known project together was a band called Mortal Wish, the name was later changed to Mortal. In 1988 Mortal Wish released a 6 song demo EP, called Wish 15, under a small label called Blue Genius Music. By 1992, Jyro and Jerome had been experimenting with different musical styles. In early 1992 they released a techno dance album called Jyradelix.

Their band Mortal was signed by Intense Records and their debut album, Lusis, was released in 1992. Lusis was one of the very first Christian industrial albums ever released which set Mortal apart from many other bands. The following year Mortal released its second full length album, Fathom. This album had a decidedly more metal sound to it, with elements of industrial still present. Jyro liked to call this new hybrid style, 'Hypersoul'. Mortal followed up their second album by releasing a 6 song Live album, which featured songs from both Lusis and Fathom, and a metal version of a song called 'Lift', which was originally a techno dance song off of the Jyradelix album. The album also contained a U2 cover and Amy Grant/Michael W. Smith cover. Jyro also made a guest appearance in the song 'crawl' by the Prayer Chain, which was released in 1993 on the Prayer Chain's Shawl album.

In 1994, Mortal released their Wake album. Wake was a departure from their hard industrial/metal style and followed a more alternative/pop rock path. The album received a mixed response, with the fans of their harder music being disappointed by the change in style. The band felt that they needed to change their style, but realized they could not do it as Mortal without further disappointing their fans. Added to this was growing tension between the band and the record label. In light of this the band decided that God was calling them to move on and disband Mortal.

During the time after the decision to disband Mortal, Jerome and Jyro began work on their next project called, Fold Zandura (pronounced Zan-Joo-ra). Fold Zandura's music was a big departure from their earlier projects, and was characterized as much more emotional melodic pop rock, combined with space age synthesizers and alternative rock guitars. Jyro also went on tour with a band called Starflyer 59 as their temporary bass player, and Jerome played drums at a convert in Alaska for a group called the Echoing Green. .

The Jyro and Jerome was still under contract to create one more Mortal album with Intense Records. Their last album with Intense Records was called Mortal Presents: Pura, it was released in 1995. This time the band went with an ambient techno sound, with only a few songs on the album having lyrics. Also in 1995 Jyro was involved with a project created by Scott Albert of Circle of Dust called Argyle Park. This project combined some of the most talented hard rock and industrial artists around, including Jeff Bellew (of CHATTERbOX and Stavesacre), Klank (of Circle of Dust, and Klank), Marc Salomon (of The Crucified, Stavesacre and Outer Circle) and many others. That same year Jyro and Jerome independently released the first Fold Zandura album.

In 1996 the band signed with Sublime Records, and re-released most of the songs from the original Fold Zandura album, along with two new songs, on their Return album. Also that same year, Jyro and Jerome decided to release another Mortal album, this time under a different label and as strictly a studio project.

The release of Fold Zandura's Ultraforever album in 1997, was one of the bands most ambitious projects. The following year the final Mortal album, A 'best of' album called Godspeed, was released.

1999 marks the release of the latest Fold Zandura project, an EP called King Planet, which is only available at fold Zandura shows or by order their the Fold Zandura website. Jyro has also been involved in producing albums for such bands as Starflyer 59 and Spoken.

After reading this history, I hope that you have a better understanding and appreciation of the musical accomplishments of Jyro and Jerome. They have proven themselves as some of the most innovative and creative artists in Christian music.

Home | History | Discography | Pictures | Links