After 35 years apart, the original voice and guitar firepower of Shotgun Messiah have quietly reunited — and the result is anything but a trip down memory lane. Zinny Zan and Harry Cody are back with a brand-new project simply called Zan and Cody, delivering raw, modern hard rock that proves the spark never died. Their first single and official lyric video, “Sever,” is out now, taken from the upcoming full-length album Beautiful ‘N Damned, set for release on July 24, 2026 via Frontiers Music Srl. In an exclusive conversation with AMFM Magazine’s Paul Salfen, the duo opens up about the surprise reunion, the songs that sealed the deal, and why they’re focused firmly on the future.
The reunion almost didn’t happen the way fans might expect. Living on opposite sides of the Atlantic — Zinny in Sweden, Harry in the United States — the two had stayed in occasional contact over the years. Zinny initially reached out asking if Harry would consider adding guitar to one of his tracks. Harry’s reply was simple: send it over and he’d see. Zinny quickly reconsidered.
“I rethought that thought,” Zinny told Paul, “and I thought, like, hey, who am I to ask Harry to play on something that I’m gonna release? We should do it on equal ground.”
Harry agreed. They began trading ideas. What started as a cautious experiment quickly became an album. “We start sending each other some stuff and… all of a sudden we thought like this is working out pretty good and whoops there you go and there’s an album,” Zinny said.
Both men light up when talking about specific tracks. Harry immediately pointed to “Suffer City.”
“It was such a raw lyric for Zinny to write, and I just… I think that’s when it sounded like, yeah, this is serious, we could actually make something happen with this.”
Zinny returned the compliment about Harry’s contribution to that song, then named his own standout: “Sever.” When Harry sent the track over, Zinny’s reaction was instant. “I was like, alright, this is getting serious.”
The pair made a deliberate choice not to lean on their Shotgun Messiah past. “We felt like we had something new to offer,” Harry explained. “We figured that we weren’t going to try to do the nostalgia trip. We have some really fresh ideas on this album.” Zinny echoed the sentiment: “We’ve never been people looking back. It’s more like, okay, what’s in front of us? What can we do? What’s the future like?”
That forward focus hasn’t stopped them from hitting the stage. They recently played Sweden Rock Festival — before the album was even out — and are already mapping the road ahead. A short Scandinavian run begins in October, with clubs and theaters as the immediate targets. Full festival seasons are aimed at 2027. Interest from the United States is growing, though Harry and Zinny are realistic about the costs of work permits and the need for proper touring support.
When asked what advice they would give to young musicians trying to break through today, both kept it practical. Harry’s advice was blunt and modern: “Just put it out there. Shoot yourself on video, put it on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube… if it’s good, you will find your audience.” Zinny agreed completely and added the hard truth he learned the long way: “If you don’t believe in yourself and your music, no one else will either… There is no shortcuts.”
Looking back on their own “Hail Mary” moments, Harry still sounds almost incredulous. Going from “a bratty kid in the boonies in Sweden” to a Hollywood record deal felt like pure luck mixed with relentless work. Zinny, who joined the band slightly later, stressed the same combination: total belief in the songs, zero expectation of favors, and the willingness to keep showing up until opportunity finally knocked.
For both men, the personal side of the reunion has been just as powerful as the music. Zinny described getting “the long-lost brother again.” After only a few hours together in Sweden for the festival, it felt like no time had passed. Harry felt the same on stage: “It was like meeting your long-lost brother… Felt like we belonged up there together.”
They kept the entire project under wraps until the music was real, refusing to risk the “worst shit” of premature hype followed by silence. When the spark proved to still be there — that dangerous edge, that refusal to get comfortable — they knew they had something worth sharing.
Beautiful ‘N Damned arrives July 24, 2026. “Sever” is available now. Zan and Cody are not here to remind anyone of the past. They’re here to prove the future still has teeth.
