Zephyra: the band from Borås

This page is written by fans. Zephyra.se is an independent blog about Swedish metal and is not the band's website. You can find the band's own music on Zephyra's Bandcamp page.

Zephyra: the band and the music

Zephyra was formed in 2009 by Åsa Netterbrant and Tony Netterbrant in Borås, Sweden, as a fun project. The two are married and have been together since 2006. In an interview with RockEra Magazine, Åsa joked that Tony had listened to her hum and sing at home long before they formed the group. In the beginning the duo played cover songs and a few songs of their own. Their first demo, Behave, has six heavy metal songs. Åsa was the lead vocalist and Tony played drums, with Daniel Nilsson on bass and Henrik Willman on guitar.

That first demo gave fans a first glimpse of Åsa's passion for metal. The other members provided a solid foundation for songs such as "I Know", "Stay Forever" and "Sore of Duty". A noteworthy song on the demo is "No Limit Obsession", which features death growls from Åsa at several points. "Russian Roulette" is a cover of a song originally recorded by Rihanna, given the metal treatment you would expect. The cover also showed that the band was not afraid of different influences. But what is the story behind the name?

Is the band name taken from the Zephyranthes plant? No!

Zephyranthes is a plant native to South America, Central America and the south-eastern United States. It is often called the rain lily because it blooms after rain. The plants are good for filling bare spaces in a garden, since they weave gently through other plants. But this is not where the band's name comes from.

According to Åsa, the couple had a dog called Zaphyra. When they needed a band name she simply rewrote the dog's name, and it stuck. The name is often linked to the Greek Zephyrus, the god of the west wind, and is sometimes given to girls.

A first for Åsa

Zephyra was Åsa's first band, while Tony had played in bands since he was a teenager, among them Justified, on guitar and vocals, and Thrash A.D., on drums. Tony's oldest brother introduced him to hard rock and metal, and the interest grew from there.

Tony wrote most of Zephyra's songs, both melodies and lyrics, and also worked on the vocal pre-production. The rest of the band added their personal touch to the music. Later members included Kujtim Gashi on drums, who joined in 2014, and Alfonso Rinaldo on bass, who joined in 2018. Alfonso later co-founded the group Sailor Hunter.

Albums, tours and a sad goodbye

Zephyra made its mark on the Swedish metal scene. The band released the First Blood EP in 2012, Kämpaglöd in 2013 and the full-length album Mental Absolution in 2014. In 2016 came another full-length album, As the World Collapses, followed by the single "Darkest Black" in 2017. The last album was Fall. Rise. Conquer. in 2019. The band played at venues and events such as Briggen, The Rock Bar in Karlstad, The Puzzled Scream Festival, House of Metal and Brygghuset in Sweden, and abroad at Eidskog Rockeklubb in Norway, Cult-Art Shop in the Netherlands, Route 44 in the United Kingdom and Ponorka in the Czech Republic, among others.

On Sunday 8 December 2019, Åsa, Tony, Kutte and Al pinned a post on the band's Facebook page saying that Zephyra "will no longer be active" and that they did not know if they would ever come back together. Their last show was at ÖHK, Öregrunds Hårdrocksklubb, on 28 December 2019. Zephyra is remembered as a hard-working, professional band on the Swedish scene, and Åsa Netterbrant's growls are missed. We hope they will be back one day.

Read more about the wider scene on our page about metal bands from Sweden.