BRATTLEBORO-Banned from Utopia, a Frank Zappa tribute band featuring more of the late musician's former band members than any other group currently touring, will roll into the Stone Church for a throwdown on Saturday, Aug. 3.
"I know of another four Zappa tribute acts - they are all over the place," Scott Thunes, Zappa's longest-tenured bassist who served from 1981 to 1988, said in a recent phone call with The Commons.
Thunes, a trusted member of the band, held the prestigious title of "Clonemeister," serving as music director in Zappa's absence.
"Which meant: Frank didn't need a music director like Mariah Carey or Paul McCartney would," Thunes says. "Basically, Frank stayed up all night composing, so he'd sleep until the show. So I was just wagging a baton up and down, I'm writing out charts, making sure people have their parts, reviewing stuff - just simple stuff."
Robert Martin, also in the band from 1981 to 1988, provided keys, sax, and high vocals on many of Zappa's classic albums, in addition to working with Stevie Nicks, Etta James, and Paul McCartney.
Ray White, who performed with Zappa from 1976 to 1984, served as co-lead vocalist on many tours and albums, lending his voice to such classics as "Doreen" and his backing vocals to countless others.
Rounding out the band is Jamie Kime (Zappa Plays Zappa), Robbie Seahag Mangano (Project Object, the Grandmothers), and Joel Taylor (Al Di Meola).
Today, Thunes, Martin, and White perform as Banned from Utopia, a pun that references the name of Zappa's 1982 album, Man from Utopia.
The Commons spoke recently with Thunes. Here's an excerpt of their conversation:
V.C.: I heard Zappa threw in a few doo-wop songs from time to time. Is that true?
S.T.: In fact, that was one of the things he loved: doo-wop. From 1981 to '88 and on, he brought one of his favorite doo-wop songs, "Man from Utopia [Meets Mary Lou]," which is not a song he did.
We did the Allman Brothers "Whipping Post," and in 1988, we did a Beatles medley. We often ended the show with Ravel's "Bolero."
V.C.: When did Zappa's legacy really begin?
S.T.: Frank's legacy started the second he put out the first album or stood on stage for the first time.
He has over the course of years generated hundreds of thousands of individuals across the globe who have found his flavor of music and intellectual discourse appealing for their sensibilities.
It's almost self-fulfilling: The parents play it for the kids; their older siblings present it to them. The freaks and weirdoes play it for them at school. There are more Zappa tribute bands than ever before.
He's a classical musician who plays rock and roll, rather than a rock and roller who plays classical music.
V.C.: How did you get introduced to Zappa?
S.T.: My brother turned me on to him when I was very young. I played jazz fusion music and new wave music and played in a band with my brother. Frank hired me in 1981, when I was 21 years old.
V.C.: Zappa grew up in the California desert?
S.T.: Frank is from Baltimore but raised northeast of Los Angeles near Lancaster and Palmdale. His dad worked at a military chemical facility.
Frank got into composition when he was 12 and he wrote "Mice," a piece for snare drum. He then discovered the Edgard Varèse avant-garde music. It was a reflection of stuff that he loved and stuff that was around him at the time.
V.C.: Did you see Zappa live?
S.T.: I saw Frank in Winterland in 1975 and at Berkeley Community Theater, when I told my brother that I didn't like the concert - and the next year I was hired by him!
V.C.: You've lived in Marin County for the last 30 years. What were your early music tastes?
S.T.: At Junior College of Marin I fell in love with 1900–1950 classical music of Webern, Schoenberg, Bartók, and Stravinsky. I like it noisy. I like big textures.
V.C.: Do you play acoustic bass and electric bass?
S.T.: Only electric. I don't play any jazz-oriented numbers. I've been playing since I was 10.
V.C.: Any closing thoughts?
S.T.: I want to be left alone before the show.
I want to be appreciated on my own for my art rather than as Frank's bass player. I am my own musician and present my own music to the world.
Keep coming to the concerts and keep turning other people on to it.
* * *
"We Love Zappa," by Banned from Utopia, with the Paul Green Rock Academy, an audition-only music school for students aged 12-18, will take place at the Stone Church, 210 Main St., in Brattleboro, on Saturday, Aug. 3 at 8 p.m. Doors open at 7 p.m.The students will play a 90-minute set, followed by a 70-minute set from Banned from Utopia, "and then we do a combined set with the kids," Thune says. "It's three hours of pure mayhem."PGRA has spent the last five years touring, alternating as the backing band for Jon Anderson, formerly of Yes, and Gibby Haynes, lead singer of the Butthole Surfers.
For more information and to buy tickets, visit stonechurchvt.com/events.
For more information on Banned from Utopia, visit bannedfromutopia.com
Victoria Chertok covers arts and entertainment in Vermont for The Commons. She is a classically trained harpist and received a B.A. in music at Bucknell University.
This Arts item by Victoria Chertok was written for The Commons.