Back From Zero – A Rock n Roll Story of Second Chances & Big Triumphs

Back in 2006, the opportunity to play in another band was simply a dream for veteran rock guitarist Austin Collins (far left in photo).

Having just gone through a divorce, and recognizing he had a problem with alcohol that he needed to address, he says, “I had lost a lot in my life, and I moved back to Bay Ridge (Brooklyn) with $37 in my pocket after everything that I’d done. It was rough.”

Thankfully, a good friend was there for him with a place to say. “I had the luckiness of my friend Bruce, who was able to put me up and give me a room, but I had to rebuild everything that I’d lost … so I was at a very low point in my life, and I thought of a name, I said if I ever get a band together – because at that point it was just a dream, it wasn’t an actual thing – I said to myself I’m gonna name it Back From Zero, because I’m coming back, and I’m rebuilding everything.”

The unlikely way finding love led to finding a band 

For Austin, rebuilding his life included quitting drinking, and spending time playing on a plethora of stages in and around New York City. Over the course his career he’d played many of the legendary rock venues, including CBGBs, but it was while he was playing one night at a bar that a chance encounter with a woman named Mary would change his entire world.

“She actually started talking to me after I got off stage,” he remembers, “(and) we hit it off.”

The two started dating, and he says, “It took a little while, but I told her I really wanted to start a band, and she said, ‘Hey, my son is 19, he has a really good voice, what do you think about letting him sing for you?’”

Austin had some reservations about the idea, saying, “I wasn’t sure, but I said you know what, she’s a great woman, and the kid’s really cool, we knew each other this point, and I said hey, let’s try it out.”

Impressed by what he heard, Austin suddenly had a lead singer for his band in Dean Bonsignore, his girlfriend’s son.

Hear the drummer get wicked 

Mary and Dean had another musical surprise up their sleeve for Austin, telling him about a drummer named Erik Samuelsen who Dean had been friends with in high school.

“At first, again, I was, ‘Oh, I don’t know,’” Austin remembers, “because they’re all younger. Here I am, I’m an older guy, I’ve been playing for 25 years, I wonder how they’re gonna be.” With nothing to lose, however, Austin said, “Let’s just try it, let’s see how this goes.”

The chemistry was immediate. “I wound up jamming with Erik three times a week in the afternoons.”

The guitarist-drummer connection is one Austin especially values.

“When you’re a guitar player, and you can get the opportunity to work with just the drummer, it’s fantastic,” he says, “I love it, because your drummer is keeping a beat, he’s doing his thing, he’s moving along, and I don’t have to worry about anybody else. I can make a mistake, I can play, I can keep going, I can do whatever, and I don’t have to worry about sounding bad in the studio, because it’s just me and the drummer. There’s gonna be mistakes, but you can fix ‘em like that {snaps fingers}. So when we finally started doing that, and jamming, it definitely gelled really quick.”

Speaking of connections, and chemistry, Austin and Mary have now been together for nine years.

Previous lessons learned are paving the way for success 

In addition to Dean and Erik, the band added a bassist (Steve), who stayed with them for around three years. They now have Arthur Cognato Jr. on bass. The combination works, in part, because of all the lessons Austin learned from his time in other bands – one of his biggest takeaways being the important roles that personality and attitude play when forming a band.

“You have to be able to get along with people if you want things to really work in life,” he explains, “That’s just a lesson in life, if you want things to move forward you have to learn to live amongst, and with, other people. You can’t have a shitty attitude towards things, and when I was younger that was one of the things I think got in my way. I kind of had a bad attitude when I was a kid, and I think that’s why a lot of things didn’t work out, so one of the things that I’ve learned is that attitude, and this goes for anything in life, attitude, and how you think about things, and how you approach things is probably the #1 factor in whether they’re successful or not in the end.”

Austin continued, adding that when it comes to fellow musicians, “I would rather play with anybody who’s got a really good attitude, even if they’re not (Eric) Clapton status, if they’ve got a great attitude, and they can play, sometimes I’d rather work with somebody like that than a guy who can play a thousand notes a second, but he’s got the major ego, or he’s got that shitty attitude like ‘I’m the reason the your band is successful,’ or something like that. Honestly, as I’ve gotten older I’m just realizing I’d rather work with somebody who is workable than (work with) somebody who’s great just for the sake of saying this guy’s in my band, or this girl’s in my band. It’s like, yeah, but what are you dealing with?”

Signed during a pandemic 

When the coronavirus hit, everything in the music world came to a standstill. This is why an email over the summer from NYC-based record label Bentley Records took the band by surprise.

“Nobody expected anything to be happening with anything,” Austin says, “All the shows were canceled, all the studios were closed. Bentley Records reached out to us, and they were like, ‘We think you’re really good. You have the potential to be great. We’d like to sign you and see what you can do as an artist development platform.’”

The band did their due diligence researching the label, and signed the deal in July. According to Austin, “That’s one of the things that got the fire under out butt to get the next EP recorded, hopefully sooner rather than later.”

The future is looking bright 

When it comes to the EP, Austin says, “We already have the songs, we already know what we want to record,” adding that they’re looking at an early 2021 release for the project.

Before the EP, however, Back From Zero will be releasing a single titled “Severed,” via Sony, with an accompanying music video.

In addition to their recorded projects, the band recently invested in some new equipment, including a DAW (digital audio workstation), that will allow them to create a really nice live streaming set up.

Back From Zero’s live shows have always been a hallmark of the band, and while live streaming from home isn’t exactly the stage at the old CBGBs, you’ll still be able to see the joy emanating from Austin while he shreds on his guitar, as he has completely made it back from zero.

For more Back From Zero, check them out at backfromzeronyc.com, listen to their music on bandcamp, and follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.