Z'EV (born Stefan Joel Weisser, February 8, 1951 – December 16, 2017)[1] was an American poet,[2][3] percussionist,[4][5] and sound artist.

[6][7] After studying various world music traditions at CalArts, he began creating his own percussion sounds out of industrial materials for a variety of record labels.

After auditioning for Frank Zappa's Bizarre Records, the band ceased activities and both he and Stone began attending the California Institute of the Arts.

A primary reason for this move was his association with the San Francisco alternative exhibition space La Mamelle, run by Carl Loeffler and Nancy Evans.

[12] In 1978 he began developing an idiosyncratic performance technique utilizing self-developed instruments formed from industrial materials such as stainless steel, titanium, and PVC plastics.

[11][12] In November and December 1980, Z'EV opened a series of UK and European concerts in the first headlining tour of the British group Bauhaus.

Critic Jason Pettigrew (current editor-in-chief of Alternative Press magazine) attests to Z'EV's pioneering use of metal found object as percussion, writing: "Consider your music collection.

After 1984, he concentrated on performing in a more traditional mallet-percussion style, albeit with highly idiosyncratic and "extended" mallet percussion techniques and his self-made or adapted instruments.

[19] Afterwards, Z'EV traveled to Europe and was an artist in residence at the Porto-based sound lab Sonoscopia, where he built a number of percussion instruments.