Zappostrophe' at the Fox Cabaret March 12th: an email interview with Blair Fisher

Having announced on Facebook that I have been, for the first time in my life, plunging deeply into the music of Frank Zappa, I began getting earnest recommendations from friends far deeper in the Zappa rabbithole than I - albums to hear, concert recordings to check out and Youtube channels to follow - especially this guy, who walks you through ALL the posthumous Zappa Trust releases in a sort of show-and-tell. I am sure there are other people on my friends list who were like I had been, casual listeners whose interests in Frank amounted to no more than a bi-annual spinning of "Camarillo Brillo" or side one of Joe's Garage Act 1 - but it quickly developed, as I fall deeper and deeper, that I had a half-dozen Zappa obsessives on my hands on Facebook, people who could tell you all the lineups, people with crushes on Ruth Underwood, people who had seen Zappa live multiple times, people who knew Zappa sidemen personally (Jeff Simmons seems over-represented on this count). My friend, photographer Bev Davies - not that far down the rabbithole, in fact - saw the Mothers in 1968 at Kerrisdale for a show that ended up released on CD as Road Tapes Venue 1. There were even people who wanted to argue that "Bobby Brown" is not homophobic, who took umbrage that I occasionally find the misanthropy/ misogyny/ snideness in SOME of Zappa's lyrics to be a bit problematic (which I still feel, to be honest, but only occasionally; it can be risen above...). 

...And while they were definitely not of the same mind on some things, all the local Zappaphiles were unanimous in their enthusiasm when they discovered that the Zappa cover band Zappostrophe' would be playing live at the Fox Cabaret this March 12th. Apparently they are a band I need to see - amazing, spot-on, virtuosic, a great live experience who do justice to Frank's music; I didn't compile their quotes but the Facebook Zappapiliacs of Vancouver were all very, very impressed. 

That show is still upcoming, but Blair Fisher (trumpet/ vocals/ flute) of Zappostrophe' was happy to answer questions about who Zappostrophe' are, how they work, where they stand on some of the more challenging or problematic aspects of Frank Zappa's music, and what they will be doing at the Fox on the 12th. You can also visit the Zappostrophe' official site for other details. What follows is an email interview with Blair - my questions are in italics, and Blair's answers are not.

Allan: How did the band come together? Is there an unchanging core nucleus? 

Blair: The band developed gradually over a number of years. Our drummer, Bob Caldwell and I were both on the music faculty at Douglas College and we put together a number of concerts that had a Zappa theme. The first was actually in the year 2002 and featured a medley of "Run Home Slow" and "Dupree’s Paradise" for trumpet, keys, electronic drums and MIDI sequences. So he and I have been playing the music (off and on) for 20 years! After that we started gradually expanding our instrumentation – many of the players have also been involved in the Douglas College Night Band, which was a Jazz group I led for many years. The original nucleus of Zappostrophe’ as we know it now was Bob Caldwell-drums, Nick Apivor-mallets and percussion, Blair Lewis-guitar, Guenter Schulz-guitar, Mike Simpson-keys, and myself on trumpet flute and vocals. More recent members include LJ Mounteney-vocals and Brent Gubbels-bass Most of these people have played in various groups together over the years, so when we need to find a new member we have a pretty good idea that they would be a good fit for the group. 

Particularly curious: how did you end up with Guenter [formerly of KMFDM!] in the band? What’s his story? I do not know KMFDM well, but they didn’t seem all that Zappalike to me… 

Guenter was also a member of the Douglas College Night Band, and he is a terrific jazz player. We find that he is also an amazing soloist on the rock stuff – which is obviously pretty important for a band playing Zappa’s music. 

Did you have a gateway drug to the music of Frank Zappa? (Mine was “Why Does It Hurt When I Pee?” which I discovered when still in junior high school – the perfect age). 

I actually bought the Frank Zappa song book while in university. I remember doing an arrangement of "Oh No" for one of my classes, and we still play that at many of our shows. But I had listened to a lot of Zappa tunes before I bought the book. Absolutely Free was a favourite album - "Brown Shoes Don't Make It," etc. We still do "America Drinks & Goes Home."

Were there direct points of contact between any of the players and Frank Zappa? (Did any of you play with him? Interact with him? Play with any of his players?). Are some people in Zappostrophe “bigger Frank Zappa fans” than others? (Who is the biggest?). 

Sadly, none of us had the opportunity to play with Zappa. As far as the biggest fan, that honour would have to go to Mike Simpson, our keyboard player. He is extremely knowledgeable about Zappa’s music and has transcribed some very difficult tunes. Brent Gubbels, our bass player, was a big Zappa fan in his late teens/early 20’s, then - as he puts it - "became a hardcore jazz snob for many years and have recently returned to the flock." But I think all of us are fans to different degrees. Frank wrote so much music that we are all still coming across great new songs that we haven’t heard before. 

I am a non-musician, so I don’t necessarily notice things a musician would. What is something you have learned about Frank Zappa’s music by playing it, that might not stand out for someone who hadn’t played it?

You probably would not realize how rhythmically complex some of the music is. Although Zappa wrote some straight ahead tunes, some of if is in very challenging time signatures.

There are many sides to Zappa. I am wondering what areas you choose to avoid and choose to emphasize in assembling a setlist. Seeing you, how much of the following should people expect? a) The “crowd pleasers?” (And if so, is there a limit? Do you do “Valley Girl” for instance?) 

I don’t think we will ever do "Valley Girl" – although that was his biggest hit by far. However we do play quite a few ‘crowd pleasers’…a funny story about that: We called the group Zappostrophe’ because we liked the name – but when we first played Frankie’s Jazz Club somebody came up after the show and asked why we didn’t include anything from the Apostrophe(‘) album. Fair point! We now do a suite that includes "Don’t Eat the Yellow Snow," "Nanook Rubs It," "St Alfonzo’s Pancake Breakfast" and "Father O’Blivion" – it’s fun to play and very challenging! 

What do you do about songs that greatly emphasize Frank’s voice? (I am not sure I need to hear anyone OTHER than Frank sing “Dancin’ Fool” tho' I am not unwilling to give it a shot) 

Well, if you leave out everything that feature’s Frank’s voice you would have to leave out some of his funniest and most popular songs. We think we do a pretty good job of those tunes – not necessarily Frank’s exact inflection, but hopefully capturing the humour… 

Is there much of his doo-wop side in your set - stuff from Cruising with Ruben and the Jets? 

Yes! We just added a Ruben and the Jets tune – and the band is enjoying it…we plan to do a few more.

 

What about the noisier/ more aggressively experimental side of Zappa – the sort of Weasels-Ripped-my-Flesh side…? 

We do have some short excursions into the AAAFNRA side of Zappa (Anything, Anytime, Anywhere, For No Reason At all) – but a little of that goes a long way. 

What about the orchestral/ classical Zappa? Do you get into “Yellow Shark” territory? 

Nick, our mallet player, really wants us to do "Regyptian Strut" again…we have played that one before and I promised him that we would get it onto a show soon.  

 ...And long fusiony jammy explorations? (“Inca Roads?”) 

Yes – "A Pound for a Brown," "Big Swifty," and "King Kong" are staples…and we are working on "Inca Roads."

How about audience participation? 

Oh yes…can’t give too much away here – come to the show and find out! 

What do you do about songs that are now kind of politically COMPLICATED, at the very least...? I don’t actually know how well Thing-Fish has aged politically but I suspect it might ruffle feathers among the highly earnest, for instance. Or, say, “Punky’s Whips,” etc. 

You have to carefully curate Zappa’s stuff, in my opinion. There are some songs we won’t do, some that we update for various reasons. It’s a fine line. I’m not really interested in doing songs about groupies…the Flo and Eddie years don’t hold up that well, in my opinion. But “Fine Girl”?...still makes me laugh every time I hear it. I don’t think of it as a misogynistic song – it is such a caricature that I think it mocks the male character more than the female. Plus it’s a great groove, melody and intricate choral parts…hope to add it to the set before long. However, many of his social and political observations are still very relevant – for example, Zappa was registering voters at his live shows. He didn’t tell people who to vote for, but he told them they should vote, and he did something about it. With the ongoing issues with the Residential Schools and the Catholic Church today, people can still relate to “Father O’Blivion”. Also, listen to “Dumb All Over” – a totally relevant take on religious intolerance even today. 

How about songs that are and always were just puerile, juvenile, silly. Will anyone get a dog doo snow cone rubbed in their eyes? 

YES – a dog doo snow cone is guaranteed. I don’t know about you, but I think ‘silly’ can be a good thing…and puerile and juvenile? Well, some of that can be funny as well. 

Are there particular albums you mostly draw from for performances, or does that change from concert to concert? Do you have your own favourite period of Zappa – or your favourite touring band? Is there a touring band that Zappostrophe is closest in spirit to? 

We really draw from the whole repertoire. Some of us like the Roxy band, as a trumpet player I enjoy the 80’s touring band with the big horn section. But there is great stuff all the way back to Hot Rats, Ruben and the Jets and even Freak Out! 

Does the performance this time have any specific occasion, theme, etc? Anything you want to say about this specific concert? 

Be in our video! Yes, boys and girls, our rockin’ teenage combo is finally making a video…be a part of Z’ history! Also, Nick and I have been interviewed by Ian Gregson, and he will be putting that on his House of Prog radio show on March 11th. 

Very cool. Last question. What is the greatest compliment you (or other members) have received from a Zappaphile? 

After the last show at the Fox somebody came up to me and told me the show had ‘saved his life’…not sure exactly what his situation was, but if we can share our music and help lighten peoples’ loads for a few hours it is worth it for us.

At press time, tickets are still available for Zappostrophe' at the Fox Cabaret, here. And like the man says, there will be video shot that night!