Zappas: Dweezil on Frank
Zut boF
Published: 4 hours ago
Perhaps the biggest mistake one can make when talking about Zappa
Plays Zappa is to dismiss the group as a tribute band, according to
Dweezil Zappa. There's clearly a big difference in his book.
http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/arts/story.html?id=0b5f2b7a-0b30-4c9a-824c-d6fef13307a2
"The bloodline is part of it," explained Frank Zappa's son, who keeps
his father's music alive - and live. "There's a level of detail that I
go into in terms of how to present this music that other people who
are not related wouldn't bother with," he said. "I understand a lot of
elements about the music - from having grown up with my father and
watching how he did stuff - that other people who might think they
know couldn't possibly know."
Dweezil Zappa mostly refers to his father, who died in 1993, by his
first name, as if he were more a friend than an authority figure. He
slipped into that habit frequently during a recent telephone
interview, notably when he elaborated on what he learned from watching
the senior Zappa work.
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Dweezil Zappa and band performed in 2006 at the Metropolis.
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Font:****Frank Zappa insisted on his bands moving beyond the mere
technical ability to play his notoriously difficult music. Dweezil
Zappa said he picked up on that idea and concluded that playing his
father's music properly also has a lot to do with the intent and
attitude behind the notes being played.
"Frank had a phrase that related to the execution of ideas: 'You have
to put the eyebrows on it.' A lot of people might think they're doing
it right, but they don't have the eyebrows on it. We work hard to put
the eyebrows on it," he said.
That work ethic can be traced back to 2004 - two years before Dweezil
Zappa first brought the band on the road. Weaned on more conventional
guitar heroes like Randy Rhoads, Eddie Van Halen and Billy Gibbons,
Zappa decided the time had come to confront the seeming impossibility
of playing his father's music.
To keep the process honest, he decided to tackle the hardest part of
the demanding instrumental The Black Page, a percussion piece that was
not even originally written to be played on guitar.
"I felt like if I was able to play that particular part, then I would
be able to succeed in any of the other things that I wanted to
eventually learn," he said. "It took me six or seven months months of
playing this one part of The Black Page over and over, maybe six,
seven, eight hours a day, until it became playable - and the part I'm
talking about goes by in under two seconds."
That kind of intense labour has continued to drive the group, which is
made up of seven core members, including Zappa. Ray White, an alumnus
from Frank's 1976-84 lineups, is billed as a special guest star. "The
band was definitely ready for prime time in '06, but now we've
surpassed our abilities 10-, 20-fold since then," Zappa said, dropping
a nugget of info that is sure to excite Zappaphiles: the epic Billy
the Mountain has been added to the repertoire.
When Zappa Plays Zappa returns to Montreal Friday and Saturday, it
might not be unreasonable to expect a sizeable representation of the
younger demographic. Zappa said he noticed it when the band first
played here at the Metropolis in 2006. The youth component of the
audiences has grown steadily over the past two years, he said.
"On that first tour, we were expecting to see mostly the older fans,
which we pretty much did in most places," he said. "But the places
that stood out on that tour were Montreal and Oslo, Norway, which had
the biggest amount of young people, and really rabid, enthusiastic,
loud, cheering fans.
"Frank's music, really, was never on the radio," Zappa said, adding
that unresolved legal issues have also kept it off iTunes. "The only
way it got passed down to people was through family participation, for
the most part. It's very encouraging when people find it on their own.
That's why Montreal was so surprising to us. It's like: 'What's in the
water here?' "
The elder Zappa's cynical, some might say prescient, views on U.S.
politics might account for some of the enduring interest. In 1986, for
example, he famously said America was becoming a fascist theocracy.
"He was definitely almost like Nostradamus when it came to his ability
to predict what would happen, particularly with the United States
government and the social ramifications of certain types of people
getting into power," Zappa said. "It's really unfortunate that we
don't have Frank's wisdom and ability to speak on all these topics in
this day and age."
Wisdom aside, the idea of a man composing oddball opuses about trend-
mongering peccaries or naughty eskimos in the home studio while the
children play merrily outside doesn't lend itself to the notion of a
conventional dad. Yet Dweezil Zappa was quick to point out that he and
his siblings - sister Moon Unit and brother Ahmet - had both parents
at home all the time when Frank was not on the road. And, he said, the
Zappa kids have never been involved in drugs or alcohol, unlike other
show-business progeny.
"That's what the common folklore would tell you: 'A crazy rock-star
guy who has kids with crazy names and he has music that's so crazy and
his fans are so crazy. Those kids are going to be so f---ed up," he
said, his sarcasm-inflected speaking voice sounding uncannily like his
father's. "But none of us have ever been arrested. None of us have
ever been involved in any of that kind of stuff. Nobody's ever gone
into rehab - not even for lunch."
Zappa Plays Zappa perform Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. at Gesù -
Centre de créativité. Tickets cost $115 to $145. The Friday show is
sold out. For details on the Saturday concert, call 514-790-1245 or go
to www.admission.com.