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From the moment they formed in 2003, New Haven, Connecticut quintet Mile Marker Zero have taken a slightly off-kilter, multi-tiered approach towards rock music that bordered on duality. Their songs are epic and ambitious, filled with unconventional arrangements and challenging rhythms yet they also flow with powerful melodies and memorable choruses. Even their name is a dichotomy.

“If you take a physical object, like the Mile Marker Zero down in Key West, it’s either the beginning of a journey or the end of a journey,” says vocalist Dave Alley. “We really believe in bringing things full circle, and the music features a lot of elements that simultaneously express two sides of a thought or idea.”

Such sonic chemistry usually doesn’t come without training. Every member of Mile Marker Zero has a solid background in music theory and classical performance, which he vigorously applies to songs such as “A Thousand Nights,” which combines the atmospherics of Pink Floyd with the dramatic tension of A Perfect Circle, and “The Reaping Tide” a faster, more turbulent track that sounds like a hybrid of Metallica and Dream Theater. Alley, Tim Rykoski (bass) and Mark Focarile (keyboards) have honed their chops together for years before they met guitarist John Tuohy, where they were all attending Western Connecticut University’s school of music. Interestingly their fields of study didn’t directly correlate to their roles in Mile Marker Zero. Tuohy earned his degree in jazz guitar and Alley actually majored in percussion.

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