Dweezil Zappa is the eldest son of legendary Frank Zappa and really, he needs no further introduction. Currently touring with his musical project Zappa Plays Zappa and a new album out, Music-News’ Claudia A. still managed an in-depth conversation, despite getting lost in the maze that is Victoria Park.

During the course of the interview, it becomes evident that Dweezil is not only an incredibly down-to-earth guy with a warm smile and eyes that have an almost hypnotising effect, but also a passionate musician who takes his craft very seriously.

Music-News:
Dweezil, ‘Zappa Plays Zappa’ is a project meant to introduce your late father’s music to a new generation and younger audience. Why do you think the current generation will find it easier to get Frank’s music known through you?

Dweezil Zappa:
Well, the challenge for getting an interest in the music is certainly huge. You know, there is no easy way to describe what the music is or even what makes it different the way that we present it. People really just have to see it live and that’s something that we constantly work towards. If you see something that’s just written and it says “Oh, that’s a really good band with really good musicians”, well, that doesn’t mean anything to people, you know. They really have to be confronted with it; they have to experience it to really understand what it is. And there is no way that the music is played in the media or on the radio and given the attention it should have. So we really do this just as a grassroots kind of thing but it has been building. The other issues we come across is that people think of it as nostalgia music, but to me, the music is current, it’s very much timeless music. So that’s another angle. It’s hard to explain to people when you’re promoting something or try to get the word out. So really, all we can do is play the music with all the authenticity and respect it deserves, but ultimately let the music speak for itself.

MN:
On one hand, you try to remain as faithful as possible to your father’s compositions while on the other hand, you obviously add your own touch and flair to the numbers. How do you decide to what point your father’s compositions should remain unaltered, and at what point to add your own touch?

DZ:
The answer to that is that Frank’s music is designed in a way where the strict elements of the compositions really have all the rules of the road map written on a page. I give you an example – ‘Inca Roads’ – it has a lot of difficult things to be played at but then, it has wide open solo sections for guitar and for keyboards. And in those moments, it is total freedom. So I can play songs using chords of Frank’s guitar solos and I can fill in all the spaces in between with my own ideas and texture. So that is really the place where whatever people will recognize my own personality comes out more. That’s the great duality of it, the challenge of executing the really hard stuff combined with the total freedom of the improvisations. As a musician, that’s the most fun that you can have.

MN:
Your own musical background is actually more hard rock influenced, for example you quote artists like Eddie Van Halen as one of your main influences. So when you started with the ‘Zappa Plays Zappa’ project, did the many jazz- and classical components in your father’s music cause hurdles for you?

DZ:
You know, all that stuff is again just really written into the music. For example, when we choose a song that we gonna learn, then we say “Ok, let’s do the album version first” and we listen to that and we try to recreate all the timbre of the instrumentation that’s on there. We play the same things that are on that record, with the same sounds. Because to me, the actual production, like the sounds that are used, are part of the composition. So that’s where the real authenticity comes in, you know. Even if I’m heavily influenced by other rock guitar players, there is no reason for me to put that rock sound on top of the music, because it doesn’t fit, you know. So even if I play a guitar solo, I try to play more in context to the way Frank would play the music.

MN:
How do you approach real difficult Frank Zappa tracks like ‘Billy The Mountain’?

DZ:
Well, haha, that’s a good question. At first, I was going to memorize all the text. You know, when Frank wrote that, his band was developing over a period of time and they didn’t have to learn it in one day. So that was like weeks, months, and then it became what it became. But when you actually have to learn it as a final piece, we were surprised that our band was actually able to get it up and running. Everyone did their own homework and stuff, but we got it up and running in three days.
A song like ‘Billy The Mountain’ is a great example of Frank’s ability to take a preposterous idea and extravagate it to the end degree. The fact that the song exists at all is a miracle. I mean, most people, if they’d say, “I got this crazy idea” they wouldn’t follow it through to that degree. Whereas with Frank, it’s “Here is the crazy idea and then here is the music to match, and know I make people to play this.” It takes a lot of force of will to make something like that to happen.

Like, the casual listener thinks they know Frank’s music when they perhaps prefer to listen to numbers like ‘Bobby Brown’ or stuff. If that’s all they ever heard and think they know Zappa’s music, then they’re really wrong because there are over 80 albums. So when they hear songs like ‘Billy…, they put him into a category of novelty music. They think of him as Weird Al Yankovic and they’re like “Oh, he’s the guy with jokey songs and the funny lyrics and the kids with the funny names.” That’s how they start to think about Frank and then people dismiss his music without even giving it a chance. That is particular true of the younger generation who don’t know much about him, and it’s the reason why I started my project.

MN:
Your ensemble is comprised of multi-instrumentalists. Was it a prerequisite that they should have an interest/understanding of Frank’s music before they were hired, or were they hired simply on strength of their musical skills?

DZ:
Well, the thing is that most people that I hired had no previous affiliation with Frank’s music, or any understanding or even familiarity with the music. So it was really based on their principles as people and players because what’s required to do this is a lot of self-discipline. You know, there is a lot of homework, a lot of practice and other things involved. So the auditions that we created were really strenuous and difficult to weed out anybody who was delusional who thought they could just kind of wring it, you know. So the people that I selected are obviously all highly qualified but the good news is that we all get along as people. I mean, another part of the puzzle is to find people who not only have the right skill but the right personality as well. Because you go to work in close corners and it’s a long process of touring and all these things. So even if we weren’t playing, I would want to spend time with these people and not be surrounded by someone with some sort of social defect, you know.

MN:
When you play festivals like this, your sets are obviously shorter than if you were to play your own 2+ hrs shows. How do you decide on the songs played during shorter sets in order to still bring the diversity of Frank’s music across?

DZ:
Oh well, that’s usually a bit of a challenge. First of all, when we have a large crowd with a lot of energy, we try to choose songs that match that particular situation. Sometimes we throw in some obscure things that we think the audience might have never ever heard. Generally speaking, at a festival we try to play stuff that people know. Because for someone who’s never heard the music before… to be into it, it’s usually a good idea to give them things that are more familiar, you know. But we still mix it up to make it enough of the iconic elements that make Frank’s music what it is. I mean, we don’t do a greatest hits type of thing, you know.

MN:
Will ‘Zappa Plays Zappa’ only ever perform Frank Zappa songs, or eventually a combination of Frank as well as Dweezil songs?

DZ:
Well you know, the fans (during my shows and also on my website) tell me all the time that they really would like to see the evolution of the band and see what the band would do if I wrote music that was new. That’s interesting because that is something I was never really thinking of doing when I started this project. But now people are interested in it, so I think that it’s part of the next step. The record we just put out, which is under my name ‘Dweezil Zappa – The Return Of The Son Of…’ as opposed to ‘Zappa Plays Zappa’ is precisely for that reason, namely that the evolution has already started. So if we tour in the future, some of the music under my own name could be part of it.