The View From Bonnaroo

Here's what I got to see from the stage at Bonnaroo, and all those raised arms are an example of what an amazing crowd it was. The whole Bonnaroo experience was a blast, from watching Little Feat play an incredible set, to meeting the guys from Mastodon who happen to be huge Zappa fans, to watching Pearl Jam play while hanging with our friends from Umphrey's McGee. Even the artist cafeteria tent was a trip, eating at the same table as several of my musical idols. So, yeah, it was fun.
Now that I'm home for a short break from ZPZ tour, I can get more work done on Gryphon Labs, including announcing that the Blinded EP is now available on iTunes, Emusic, and other online music retailers. So, tell all your friends who haven't already gotten it that it's even easier to purchase now, and reviews are always appreciated.
Bryan Beller has reviewed the Blinded EP in the July 2008 issue of Bass Player Magazine, a publication I have spent many hours poring over so I'm quite honored to have my name appear in it. The issue is on shelves now so pick it up. A quote: "The tunes float between fusion, electronica, and acid jazz/rock, employing killer vintage keyboard tones and modern drum-loop grooves in inventive and unexpected ways." Thanks, Bryan!
And for those of you who already have the EP, the Gryphon Labs Myspace page has a brand new song, Spectral Evidence, posted for your listening pleasure, a little taste of what's to come.
And finally, I've begun posting excerpts on YouTube from the last Gryphon Labs gig at the Baked Potato, here's the first one:

Motley Crue, the Doobie Bros., Linkin Park, and Zappa Plays Zappa...

...is not the lineup of one of the many festivals we're playing this year (although I think we might be on the same bill as Linkin Park in the Netherlands). Those are the bands that were sharing the rehearsal facility with us for the past few days, although it certainly would've made an interesting marquee.
We're getting on the bus in a few days, all giddy and excited to get back out there and especially looking forward to playing for all the festival crowds. A large part of Dweezil's vision for this band was to bring his father's music to a new audience, and what better way to do that than at a festival like Bonnaroo which had a crowd of 90,000 last year. At that particular show we play right between progressive metal band Mastodon and Icelandic ambient rockers Sigur Ros (one of my current favorite bands), and I think Zappa music certainly could appeal to fans of either of those groups. And that's just one of several fests we're playing this summer, all over North America and Europe. Not to be a name-dropper, but to be included in the same sentence as all of the bands I've listed in this post is an honor, and certainly nothing I could have ever predicted.
Be sure to check out zappaplayszappa.com for info, and look for me jumping around (my bass rig is all wireless now) on stage at a festival near you. And don't forget about GryphonLabs.org for all the updates about my band.