Provocative, compelling, innovative - Vitamin Z, on Rites Of Passage, their debut album for Geffen Records, have fashioned a fresh and fully realized sound far ahead of its time. It's an accomplishment all the more impressive given the fact that Vitamin Z is a brand new musical entity, a creative collaboration that catches and holds with assurance and aggression far beyond their years. Simply put, Vitamin Z may well be among the most important new English arrivals in recent memory. Remember, you heard it here first. Vitamin Z founders Geoff Barradale and Nick Lockwood, both just 25 years old, were born and raised in the industrial wastelands of Northern England's Sheffield, a city whose pop heritage includes such notables as Dave Berry and Joe Cocker, as well as, more recently, Human League and Cabaret Voltaire. The group originally took shape around a loose-knit collection of local musicians who came together in a common rehearsal space. Barradale and Lockwood, recognizing early their mutual affinity for melodic evocative modern music, began developing material together, eventually forming a group that performed for increasingly enthusiastic crowds in and around their home town. Prior to their signing to Geffen Records, the band cut some sides for PolyGram, meanwhile building a solid and growing reputation as a galvanic live unit.