Background
It all started in 2007 when a group of young men from Stockholm's Music Gymnasium discovered the genre of barbershop and went to the Nordic barbershop convention to explore further. There they met international barbershop quartet champion Doug Harrington, an American now living in Sweden, and after a few meetings and discussions Zero8 was formed. The ambition was to create a men's choir that not only performed barbershop on a high level, but also to bring that perfection of sound and showmanship element that barbershop is known for into many other genres. The choir also has roots in classical choral singing as many members studies or studied at Stockholms Music Gymnasium.
Doug Harrington founded, led and directed the choir until late 2015 when versatile musician Rasmus Krigström took over. Rasmus is a director, arranger, composer, singer and international barbershop championship gold medalist in 2012 with Ringmasters.
Barbershop
Zero8 first participated in the Nordic Barbershop Championships (SNOBS) in 2008 and has won the gold every year since then. The same is true for the European Barbershop Championships, which is held every four years with the latest being in 2022. In 2019 Zero8 participated at the International Barbershop Championships and won a 3rd place bronze medal with an astounding score of 95,6%, the choir's best achievement in the competition to date. Former achievements at the international competition are 4th place in Portland 2012 and 5th place in Las Vegas 2014.
Classical music
In 2015, the choir started to go back to its classical roots beginning with participation in the Rimini International Choral Competition in Italy. It was one of the proudest moments of Zero8's history when the choir first won the sub-category for folk music and then ended up winning the Grand Prix. This marked a shift in the choir's direction who has since participated in music festivals such as the European Festival of Youth Choirs Basel in Switzerland, the Moscow Easter Festival in Russia and the Karuizawa International Choral Festival in Japan, after which the choir went on a tour and had concerts all around the country. In April 2023 Zero8 competed in the highly esteemed Gallus - Maribor International Choral Competition where Zero8 managed to win the Grand Prix in steep competition with fantastic international co-competitors. The win in Maribor qualified Zero8 to compete in the EGP final in Varna, Bulgaria where Zero8 won and gained the title of European Grand Prix 2024 Winner!
International friendships
Traveling around the world, Zero8 has made many international friends. The Georgian male choir Mdzlevari is one of those friends. The two choirs met in Moscow and were instantly impressed by each other’s different styles. This led to Zero8 visiting Mdzlevari in Tbilisi for a joint concert and musical exchange in the fall of 2017. Zero8 learned some of Mdzlevari’s repertoire and Mdzlevari some of Zero8’s. The trip brought the two choirs even closer and hopefully another collaboration between the two will take place in the future.
Albums
Zero8 has recorded six studio albums. The first four consisted mostly of barbershop and pop songs with a few elements of classical Swedish men’s choir. Inspired by the success in classical music, an exclusively classical album was recorded and named Mes Très Chers Frères, meaning “my dearest brothers”, a line from the tenor solo introducing the fourth movement of Francis Poulenc’s Quatre Petites Prières. It was another very proud moment when the album received a Contemporary A Cappella Recording Award (CARA) by CASA.