Joined: 10 Sep 2004 Posts: 2783 Location: Chino, CA
Posted: Fri Feb 11, 2005 2:11 am Post subject: Zappa In Guthrie's Eyes
The latest high-profile "celebrity" guitar player wanting to check out the Guthrie DVDs is Dweezil Zappa. Dweezil was apparently very impressed with the clips on the TM site, but when he saw the video footage of the Jan 19 show, he found it all "pretty amazing" (especially how comfortably Guthrie traverses different styles), according to his words. And we all know how Guthrie is obsessed with all things Zappa-related, so I was eager to hook the two up. Well, they are now in touch with each other and will hopefully do something together in the future.
I wasn't aware of it, but Dweezil is working on an album that is called "What In The Hell Was I Thinking?" that has some 40 different players on one continuous piece of ever morphing music that is 75 minutes long. Dweezil describes it as an "audio movie". Some of the players that are already on it are Edward Van Halen (playing through his old Marshall and Phase 90) Angus and Malcolm young, Steve Vai, Yngwie Malmsteen, Joe Walsh, Steve Morse, Albert Lee, Brian May, Brian Setzer, Eric Johnson, and a host of others. Dweezil is supposed to record Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page soon. And then Dweezil went onto say that he thinks Guthrie would fit in nicely amongst those guys!
And as mentioned in another thread, Dweezil is also in the process of putting together a band that will perform his father's music in the future, so that's another possible avenue for Guthrie to be involved. Guthrie is naturally quite excited about this development as he mentioned that he first heard Dweezil's guitar playing on FZ's "Them Or Us" 20 years ago! Being that Dweezil and Guthrie are both in their early-30's and that they are both so down-to-earth nice guys, I see a great friendship developing here as well. Dweezil, now apprently quite a fan, said that he'll do his part to spread Guthrie's name. Ah, the world finally seems to be opening up for Guthrie to explore and utilize his stunning talent to the fullest! _________________ Ed Yoon
Certified Guthrie Fan-atic
BOING Music LLC - Managing Partner
.strandberg* Guitars USA
Ed Yoon Consulting & Management
Guitar Center Inc.
wow, that is awesome news. What Dweezil is working on sounds like one monstrous project....can't wait to see how that one turns out
For a while there, I thought Dweezil has gotten soft and lazy as a musician ever since he's been with Lisa Loeb....lol.
Things are really on the up for Guthrie so this is going to be one hell of a year for him Now it's just only a matter of time until every guitarist becomes aware of his immense talent.
Joined: 10 Sep 2004 Posts: 2783 Location: Chino, CA
Posted: Fri Feb 11, 2005 4:52 am Post subject:
Yep, it seems this is the year that Guthrie finally breaks out. The buzz generated from the NAMM week concerts has been incredible. The GG clinic video clips page on the TM site is getting over a hundred unique visitor hits per day. People are badgering me to no end about when the video footage will be available, etc. Local guys who saw him play here come on over and hang out for hours just talking about him, etc. It's almost silly, actually.
Dweezil seems like he's really getting back into the guitar/music side of his multi-faceted career, which is cool. The guy is an amazing guitarist in his own right and just really talented all around as a musician. It'd be a cool thing for him to really get back into it and focus on the music for awhile. The idea of him putting together a band to perform his father's music is as exciting as the magnum guitar opus of an album that he's putting together. In fact, Dweezil is putting together a really unique and monstrous rack system and I'll be taking a bunch of pedals and gizmos up to the famous Utility Muffin Research Kitchen studio in Hollywood Hills for him to try and perhaps incorporate into his new rack. I'm really looking foward to meeting Dweezil, getting to know the guy, and also help him build his rig. He seems like a really down-to-earth nice guy who's also very professional and punctual, etc. (i.e., the guy has his act together).
Dweezil seems genuinely taken aback by Guthrie's playing and music. I mean, Dweezil has seen them all since he was a tiny little boy, having taken lessons and observed his Dad and Vai, Keanelly, and all kinds of other monster musicians and guitarists, etc., and I doubt he'd get impressed very easily. But after seeing the Guthrie video he said something like, "Guthrie is so articulate that it's bizarre." And Guthrie, in his little time off during the tour, took the time to send me a short note about how getting in touch with Dweezil really made his day. Fun stuff! _________________ Ed Yoon
Certified Guthrie Fan-atic
BOING Music LLC - Managing Partner
.strandberg* Guitars USA
Ed Yoon Consulting & Management
Guitar Center Inc.
I'll be taking a bunch of pedals and gizmos up to the famous Utility Muffin Research Kitchen studio in Hollywood Hills for him to try and perhaps incorporate into his new rack.
I think the origin of the Utility Muffin Research Kitchen is on the last track of Joe's Garage... where the hero spends his days arrogantly squirting green icing onto muffins.. you'll make a muffin better, with a green rosetta.
I still think you're kind of an L. Ron Hoover character from the same album just cos you hook up guys with wierd electric appliances to help them achieve tonal nirvana
I think it really is excellent that you're a catalyst in the stuff happening for Guthrie. This new venture sounds excellent _________________ Fabulous powers were revealed to me the day I held my magic Suhr(d) aloft and said "by the power of great scale!"
hahaha muffin man! i was listening to that yesterday:
'The muffin man is seated at the table in the laboratory of the utility muffin
Research kitchen... reaching for an oversized chrome spoon he gathers an
Intimate quantity of dried muffin remnants and brushing his scapular aside
Procceds to dump these inside of his shirt...
He turns to us and speaks:
Some people like cupcakes better. I for one care less for them!
Arrogantly twisting the sterile canvas snoot of a fully charged icing
Anointment utensil he puts forth a quarter-ounce green rosette (oh ah yuk
Yuk... let’s try that again...!) he puts forth a quarter-ounce green rosette
Near the summit of a dense but radiant muffin of his own design.
Later he says:
Some people... some people like cupcakes exclusively, while myself, I say
There is naught nor ought there be nothing so exalted on the face of god’s grey
Earth as that prince of foods... the muffin!
Girl you thought he was a man
But he was a muffin
He hung around till you found
That he didn’t know nuthin’
Girl you thought he was a man
But he only was a-puffin’
No cries is heard in the night
As a result of him stuffin’
'
anyone who has no idea what that is, go find out! musical gold.
as for dweezil, i'm am massively excited on guthrie's part... this is portentous indeed. This is just the kind of link he needs.... and think sir, it was all because of you ed!
Joined: 19 Sep 2004 Posts: 125 Location: Over Here
Posted: Fri Feb 11, 2005 9:50 pm Post subject:
I read about "What The Hell.." years ago and thought it had been abandoned. Great news to hear that it's still gonna happen - especially if Guthrie gets to join in!
Joined: 10 Sep 2004 Posts: 2783 Location: Chino, CA
Posted: Tue Feb 15, 2005 9:11 am Post subject:
I hung out with Dweezil Zappa on Saturday at the famed Utility Muffin Research Kitchen studio of his late father's in his home to have him check out a bunch of pedals for a massive rig that he's building. Dweezil is putting together a band to perform Frank Zappa's music in the future and is putting the finishing touches on what is definitely the most complex rig I've ever seen: two big racks with trays of 30 pedals or so, three Bradshaw RS10 floorboards (one slaved in the rack) switching all the gadgets in and out, etc., the usual high-tech rack processors (TC2290, Rocktron, Digitech, etc.), and all kinds of other obscure peripherals to make them all work together and sound good.
As mentioned earlier, I got in touch with Dweezil because he contacted me about getting the Guthrie DVDs. And he decided while he's at it, he'd also check out a bunch of pedals as well. I spent the whole afternoon at the studio and it was a really cool experience to see Frank's old guitars, a Strat that Jimi gave Frank back in the 60's and stuff like that. Gave me the goose bumps to be in a place where so much musical history was made. So we spent a lot of time checking out the pedals in the various locations of the system, tweaking it, etc., and the funny thing was that we probably spent a third of the time talking about Guthrie. Dweezil was so blown away by this video and he's now totally fascinated with Guthrie and wants to work on projects with him.
I figured that Dweezil was somewhat impressed by Guthrie, but I was taken aback by just how impressed he was. I mean, Dweezil has been around some of the most incredible players constantly since he was a little tot, having taken lessons from and having observed the likes of Vai, Keanelly, and a host of other monster players and musicians associated with his father, etc. Dweezil went onto say that he hasn't been this excited by a new player since EVH! Of course, that's just personal taste, but that's how enamored he is with Guthrie, which I found surprising and not so surprising at the same time. Guthrie has been having that sort of an effect on a lot of people lately after his performances here during NAMM week. Some of the local guys who attended come over and hang out for hours talking about those shows. It's literally a mania that's kind of silly but also fun and cool to observe at the same time. The first 100 copies of this DVD sold out within days and I've got more coming. Guthrie now seems well on his way to getting the recognition he deserves. _________________ Ed Yoon
Certified Guthrie Fan-atic
BOING Music LLC - Managing Partner
.strandberg* Guitars USA
Ed Yoon Consulting & Management
Guitar Center Inc.
Joined: 10 Sep 2004 Posts: 2783 Location: Chino, CA
Posted: Tue Feb 22, 2005 3:46 am Post subject:
I asked Dweezil if Steve Vai had heard of Guthrie and he initially advised me that he didn't know. A little later Dweezil advised me that he just spoke to Steve and that Steve had never heard of him. So Dweezil guided Steve to the video clips page on the TM site so I'm figuring that Steve has seen most of the clips by now. I'm going to send Dweezil some extra copies of the DVDs so a set can get into Steve's hands. Perhaps Guthrie in G3 could happen sooner than we imagined!
BTW, I forgot to mention that Dweezil played various sections of that mega project music for me in the control room and it was pretty awesome. EVH's section is a good 2~3 minutes long. It's the longest studio solo recording of EVH's that I've ever heard. He's playing his old Marshall with a Phase 90 for that good ole early-EVH sound and he's playing little snippets and licks from all of his famous tunes and mixing them up. Really cool... Dweezil said that he wanted Eddie to sound and play in a way that made him who he is. So there are little things from "Ain't Talkin' About Love", "Unchained", "Panama", "Mean Streets", "Eruption" (of course!), and some others all rolled into a solo over a modern rock groove and it's really cool. Some people will find this worthy of the price of admission alone. I also heard snippets by Albert Lee, Brian May, Lukather, Dweezil himself, Tim Pierce, and Eric Johnson. The section by EJ was awesome, some of his best playing I've heard on record. It seemed that Dweezil was pretty eager to finally get this thing finished. Hopefully, this album can bring interest in great guitar playing of all sorts back into the mainstream again... _________________ Ed Yoon
Certified Guthrie Fan-atic
BOING Music LLC - Managing Partner
.strandberg* Guitars USA
Ed Yoon Consulting & Management
Guitar Center Inc.
I'm going to send Dweezil some extra copies of the DVDs so a set can get into Steve's hands. Perhaps Guthrie in G3 could happen sooner than we imagined!
if the dvd reaches Satch....maybe it can happen even sooner
Bumble foot already jammed with Satch.....now it's Guthrie's turn
Sorry to pull at such an old 'thread'... (see what i did there? I'm not even sure if that made sense, but well, i'm knackared so I'm allowed to make no sense.)
Though I'm not sure about when this article was published, I was quite interested to see that there was a mention of a collaboration with Guthrie from Dweezil! So with the speed of a puma, I came straight onto the forums, only to find that this project had been in the pipeline for many years and everyone seems to know about it already! ANYWAY (i'm mumbling on a bit again...) I was just wondering if anyone had any more word on this project and if Guthrie has indeed been working on it?
Cheers,
Iain
P.S Check out the clip of Dweezil's 'air sculptures' solo from the ZPZ version of Zomby Woof. (it's pretty darrrrrrrrrn good)
I'm going to send Dweezil some extra copies of the DVDs so a set can get into Steve's hands. Perhaps Guthrie in G3 could happen sooner than we imagined!
Got my fingers crossed. Satch, Vai & Guthrie would be the ultimate G3. Maybe add Paul Gilbert and make it G4... _________________ Orlando's best rock/blues/folk/country: http://www.zeyerband.comhttp://myspace.com/zeyerband
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Now it's just only a matter of time until every guitarist becomes aware of his immense talent.
just cos you hook up guys with wierd electric appliances to help them achieve tonal nirvana 
So with the speed of a puma, I came straight onto the forums, only to find that this project had been in the pipeline for many years and everyone seems to know about it already! ANYWAY (i'm mumbling on a bit again...) I was just wondering if anyone had any more word on this project and if Guthrie has indeed been working on it?