Simon Music Center, C047
Paul Mahern is visiting lecturer in music in general studies at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.
A producer, engineer, and performer with more than four decades of professional experience, Mahern has worked with John Mellencamp, Neil Young, Willie Nelson, Iggy Pop, The Fray, and many others, accumulating credits on 11 Recording Industry Association of America-certified gold or platinum albums. He is also the founder and frontman of the Zero Boys, the Indianapolis hardcore band whose 1982 debut, Vicious Circle, remains a landmark recording in American punk.
At IU, Mahern teaches courses rooted in the broader tradition of American vernacular music: the “History of Rock and Roll,” “History of Music Production,” and “History of Punk Rock,” tracing their shared origins in blues, gospel, and rhythm and blues through many transformations and into the present.
In 2017, the Indianapolis Star named Mahern one of the 25 most influential musicians of all time from Indiana, a list that also includes Joshua Bell, Hoagy Carmichael, Michael Jackson, and John Mellencamp. A feature profile of his life and work appeared in the May/June 2016 issue of TapeOp magazine.