Enmore Theatre, Sydney
Friday February 23, 2018 :
DWEEZIL RIPPED MY FLESH
My introduction to Zappa actually started 45 years ago, when in June 1973, Dweezil Zappa’s father Frank introduced me to the most fantastic music ever recorded. No I’m not kidding as I am a) really that old, and b) actually lived through the whole experience to now write about it. That said I wasn’t the only fossil in attendance as the Enmore was filled with a sea of silver haired grandparents who had come again to hear the wickedly unconventional musical noodlings of Zappa Senior.
While there have been tens of thousands of rock bands that have plied their music over the fifty two years since Frank Zappa first released the Freak Out album, not one of them comes near to this musical genius. Zappa’s music includes so many different aspects not normally seen in more popular music delivered in the 4/4 “common” time signature.
Zappa’s compositions were complex in the way they were written and played, with one of the tracks that Dweezil and band would play this night being on the list of hardest musical works ever recorded. ‘Keep It Greasy’s’ first verse and guitar solo are counted in 19/16 and another part is in 21/16 and they pulled it off perfectly.
Another aspect of Zappa music was that it’s lyrics were often written in comedic fashion. While writing may appear tough to some, writing anything comedic ally is just so much harder than you would ever think. This maestro wrote everything from rock to jazz to symphonies. This combination has lead many prog-rock bands to try and emulate the work of this great composer. Hell, there is so much that has been written about Frank that he now has his own Wikipedia called Zappa Wiki Jawaka.
The name of this tour is called “50 Years of Frank: Dweezil Zappa Plays Whatever the F@%k He Wants — the Cease and Desist Tour”. From this title you can reason that all is not right in the Zappa family when it comes to using Frank’s work. Following the death of Zappa’s mother, Gail, in October 2015, Dweezil’s siblings Ahmet and Diva were given control of the Zappa Family Trust with shares of 30% each, while he and his sister Moon were given smaller shares of 20% each. Since then Dweezil and Ahmet have had quite public battles as to their views on the way the estate should be run.
Dweezil (or Ian Donald Calvin Euclid Zappa as he was christened) has played his father’s music under the Zappa Plays Zappa name since 2006 though Setlist FM.com listed this tour under Dweezil Zappa. In that time he has played around 200 different songs and apart from a few covers all are either tunes from his father or The Mothers of Invention. Dweezil and his band mates could almost be called the “Others of Invention” as he has played with former members of Frank’s band as well as a dozen others in that time.
On the night when the lights dimmed about ten past eight, no-one would be prepared for an onslaught of some 27 anthems over the next three and a bit hours. These covered the entire gamut of Frank’s career from the Mothers of Invention until his later works. In case you don’t know, Frank Vincent Zappa released some 62 albums across his career with another 49 being released posthumously by his estate, a total of 111.
The show opened to the familiar sounds of ‘Zomby Woof’ with Dweezil ably assisted on vocals by a pair of female singers – Cian Coey and Scheila Gonzalez. Coey had those funny voices down pat with Gonzalez and the other members of the band also joining in with the hilarity. While I won’t go through a blow by blow of each song it was a great way to ease into the night with a range of material that I was familiar with. ‘Suzy Creamcheese’ and ‘Call Any Vegetable’ followed and for me it was like old “Mothers” home week.
The first half of the concert featured twelve songs with everything from the exceedingly comical ‘The Illinois Enema Bandit’ to the downright brilliant ‘Pound for a Brown’ (that father Frank first wrote in the late fifties). Prior to the break Zappa the younger told the assembled throng that the venue had informed him that there would be an intermission – it was said in a way that made me think that it was about to ruin the momentum that the band had built up so far.
All re-emerged with plenty of vim and vigour after the break and immediately broke into the comical ‘You’re Probably Wondering Why I’m Here’. Bass player Kurt Morgan got right into the gist of things in his cut-off shorts and black rimmed glasses singing “So am I, so am I” in shoo op style. With the bit between their teeth the band steamed through another trio of songs before Ryan Brown limbered up on his DW drum kit and broke into ‘The Black Page Part 1’ with a drum solo. In his “Rash” (made to resemble the popular Rush pink logo on black) T-Shirt he slowly went around his kit sampling the different toms and roto toms before giving his big old China a good thrashing. Finally the whole band broke into ‘The Black Page Part 2’, an extremely complex piece of music to pull off but none the less played brilliantly.
We saw more of Frank’s gems being covered – everything from the bizarre ‘Cheepnis’ – a song about the effect on the world that C Grade horror movies have had to the excellent ‘More Trouble Everyday’. The playing on this track in particular was amazing with Dweezil strumming his Gibson SG every bit as good as his daddy and Brown’s drumming also proving to being exceptional. Mention should also be made of keyboardist, Chris Newton who provided swirling soundscapes on his electric piano and synths across this broad range of tunes.
Special mention must be made of Australian musician, Kendal Cuneo, who joined Dweezil’s merry band of players for this series of concerts across Australia and New Zealand. The little lady has played trumpet in the local Zappa Tribute band, Petulant Frenzy, and finally made it to the big time. Looking at her Facebook page she is one of Frank’s biggest fans and while she was only on stage for around half the songs she added her voice and trumpet to some of the composer’s most popular ditties.
As the players filed off stage at the end of the second set, everyone stood up from their seats cheering, clapping and wanting more. This rousing reception was finally met with the members of the band returning for a three song encore that again featured all the brilliance of Frank’s original playing. Certainly this concert will live in my memory for a very long time to come
Set 1
Zomby Woof
Suzy Creamcheese
Call Any Vegetable
Lemme Take You to the Beach
Who Needs the Peace Corps?
What Will This Evening Bring Me This Morning
She Painted Up Her Face
Inca Roads
I’m So Cute
The Illinois Enema Bandit
Watermelon in Easter Hay
Keep It Greasey
Pound for a Brown
Set 2
You’re Probably Wondering Why I’m Here
Harry, You’re a Beast
The Orange County Lumber Truck
Flower Punk
The Black Page Drum Solo
The Black Page #2
Teen-Age Wind
Cletus Awreetus-Awrightus
Cheepnis
Son of Orange County
More Trouble Everyday
Encore
Sofa No. 1
Po-Jama People
Florentine Pogen
Reviewer and Photographer : Jon Van Daal
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