Progress

There it is, my very own Grammy, something I never thought I'd have. Ever since Jethro Tull won for best metal album (not to mention the whole Milli Vanilli thing) I never really thought I even wanted one. But like I've said before, this Grammy is really for Frank Zappa, and I'm happy to have been a part of it. Plus now I get to put "Grammy Award Winning Bass Player" in front of my name.
I've been receiving some strange compliments from people after ZPZ shows recently, along the lines of "Wow, your solo tonight was sooooo much better than the one on the DVD." It's kinda hard to focus on the positive side of what they're saying, my brain sometimes thinks "does that mean they thought I sucked on the DVD?" But I realize that considering the DVD was recorded 3 years ago, they must be right in some ways about my improvement. Something would be wrong if I was playing this music every night and somehow getting less proficient on my instrument. But I think the main improvement has come from being onstage with such incredible musicians, and especially from listening to and backing up their solos. From Scheila's way of holding the crowd in the palm of her hand, to Billy essentially composing a new piece every night, to Jamie wrenching every ounce of emotion from his strings, to Joe simply dropping every jaw in the house, I get a serious music lesson every night. And that doesn't even include Dweezil, who plays guitar like no one I've ever heard.
In Gryphon Labs news I've given Glynn a few more nearly final mixes of songs from the full length album, so listen for those if you come to any ZPZ shows soon.
Comin up, 5 weeks with Dream Theater and others on the Progressive Nation tour, which will most likely be another educational experience.

30

Well, it was my 30th birthday on Monday, when we played Amsterdam, so that show also served as a birthday party of sorts. When I was 20, the only thing I wanted to do in life was play bass for a living, regardless of who I was playing for. I had seen bassists like Tony Levin and Chris Chaney play for many different artists, and I envied and desired their ability to hop from gig to gig but always be working, while always sounding like themselves.
Ten years later, I'm in a place that even my wildest dreams couldn't have imagined. Not only do I get to play bass for a living, which includes getting to see a large portion of the planet, but I get to play the music of Frank Zappa, the very artist I spent my teens collecting CDs of. So many different puzzle pieces needed to fall into place for me to get here, from the support of my family, to my move to Los Angeles (and subsequently meeting Joe Travers,) to Dweezil putting the project together to begin with. I'm so very grateful that all those things did in fact come together.
So, now what? Now that I've achieved a 10-year goal of mine, what do I shoot for next? Hopefully, Gryphon Labs. We're very close to the final mixing of the last tunes for the album, and now comes the process of shopping it around to labels, investors, promoters, etc. I don't have any dreams of being a huge pop star, but I'd love to do a small tour soon and just get it out there. So, watch this space, hopefully it won't take another 10 years.

The Hardest Thing I've Ever Had To Do

Here's a picture from the Byron Bay Blues Fest, not of ZPZ, but of funk/ska/punk veterans Fishbone absolutely destroying the Australian audience. Lead singer/sax player Angelo Moore spent as much time crowd surfing (while still singing!) as he did playing, and the rest of the band, including the amazing Norwood Fisher on bass, seriously whipped the crowd into a frenzy. Scheila, Jamie, and myself watched this spectacle from the view seen above, and in between furiously dancing and jumping up and down we were saying to each other "How the hell are we going to follow this?"
So I take a quick peek at our set list and realize, not only do we have to follow them, the first song is Apostrophe, which has a long bass solo (played by Jack Bruce originally) mere seconds after it begins. The already daunting task of following one of the most amazing live shows I've ever seen is that much more nerve-wracking, because the start of the show completely depends on me!
What followed was an intense session of soul searching and self-cheerleading right up until showtime, and then a deep breath. Fortunately I was able to go out and just have fun, confident in the fact that even in our new smaller form, ZPZ is still a damn good band. And the crowd, I think, agreed with me.
What's really funny is that the Youtube videos from that gig clearly show my progression from being mildly sweaty at the beginning of the show to being entirely soaked by the end. And while you're there, check out the promo for the Roxy footage we shot in December.
Oh, and Glynn Wood, our very talented front of house engineer, has been playing a few Gryphon Labs tracks during the pre-show music, as well as Joe's tunes from the AAAFNRAAA FZ Birthday Bundle and a song of Jamie's. Glynn's told me that people have inquired as to what they were listening to, so if you hear an instrumental track you dig before a ZPZ show (and it's not Jeff Beck or the Secret Chiefs) chances are it's one of our tunes.

And the Grammy Goes To...

ZAPPA PLAYS ZAPPA!
Yep, we won, or more specifically, Frank's composition Peaches En Regalia won for Best Rock Instrumental. We all certainly did our homework, but the true and most deserving winner of this award is Mr. Frank Zappa. That being said, having my name be a footnote to helping Frank win that award is truly an honor. While I thanked "everybody" at the ceremony, that's only a small portion of my gratitude to both the Zappa family for making this whole thing happen, and to the Zappa fans for the exact same reason, as well as my family and friends for their unending support.
The Grammy Awards show itself was quite a circus, having to sit through 97 awards out of 100 before they reached our category was quite the buildup, fortunately it paid off. But, it was cool to see bands like The Mars Volta and Bela Fleck and the Flecktones get their due as well.
Luckily for you, 2009 is looking like there will be many opportunities to see the Grammy Award Winning Zappa Plays Zappa in concert all over the world. Our Japan and Australia dates have already been announced, and there are also Europe and US dates being worked on as we speak.
And, as evidence of all the work I've been putting into the Gryphon Labs record, I've posted a new tune, "Unafraid" on the Myspace page. Check it out, hook up some good speakers or headphones cuz it's got some ROCK to it, and let me know what you think!

Grammy Nominated!

As you may have heard, Zappa Plays Zappa has been nominated for a Grammy! We're in the Best Rock Instrumental category for our live performance of "Peaches En Regalia." Seeing as how I've always felt this song was three and half minutes of compositional genius, and that we painstakingly dissected the original recording to reproduce it live, I think we may have a decent chance of winning (over David Gilmour, Nine Inch Nails, Rush, and Metallica).
The Roxy shows were a total blast, over 12 hours of Zappa music in 4 nights! Hopefully the footage we filmed on Friday will turn out well, it'll be interesting to see it in comparison to the footage of Frank at the same venue 35 years earlier.
Soon it'll be New Year's, playing in San Francisco on the same bill as the legendary bass innovator Les Claypool, and then more You Can't Fit Onstage Anymore touring into 2009, including possibly going back to Japan and Australia.

VOLTO!

Well, the You Can't Fit Onstage Anymore tour certainly lived up to its name, but the diminutive size of the venues didn't stop the shows from being incredibly fun. I wasn't sure how Billy the Mountain was going to be received, but after our first performance of it my worries went away. Seeing people singing along to nearly every line of a 25 minute "song" only further proved the amazing dedication of the Zappa fans we play for.
And then there's the recordings...it's a little daunting to think about each show being recorded and released, and even more so since the sound quality is going to be far better than a bootleg. So, if you hear any of my mistakes on your show I sincerely apologize...
As the flyer above points out, I'll be playing with the amazing VOLTO! at the Baked Potato on December 5th. I'm still pretty blown away to be invited to share the stage with Danny Carey from Tool and Kirk Covington from Tribal Tech, as well as my good friend John Z. If you're planning on going you should call ahead and reserve a table, VOLTO! almost always sells out the Potato.
Then ZPZ plays the Roxy here in Los Angeles four nights in a row, December 10-13, 35 years to the day of the recording of the Roxy and Elsewhere album. Wow. There are still a few tickets left, but they're going fast.

What I Do When I'm Not On Stage...

After a short but exhausting tour that included a brutal schedule through Europe it's good to be back home. It didn't help that I was violently ill for most of the Europe trip, or that we'd get off stage at 12:30 am (00:30 over there) and then have to be in the lobby to get to the airport at 6 am, but I survived. The picture above is from the Palau de Musica in Barcelona, one of the most gorgeous venues we've been to yet. It's nice to see a beautiful building like this, with stained glass, statues and other architectural details usually associated with churches or cathedrals, and have its sole purpose to be the presentation of music.
So, while waiting to begin rehearsals for the You Can't Fit On Stage Anymore tour I'm still busy working on the Gryphon Labs stuff, from recording new tunes to booking gigs. We'll be at...
The Baked Potato
Wed. Sept 10th
9:30 and 11 pm
We've got some new tunes, Paul Barrere will join us again in the first set, and some other guests may be showing up.
In the meantime, I'm starting to review the 60+ Zappa tunes we've learned over the last two and a half years, as well as learning some epic new ones. Also, my Norwegian composer friend Jono El Grande has written me a piece entitled "Shut Up and Play Your Inca Bass in Berlin," which is obviously a nod to FZ, and in true FZ fashion it's immensely difficult. His music is pretty amazing, check it out!