Frank Zappa Hologram Tour Interviews
The Zappa Family Trust has partnered with Eyellusion to get Frank's former bandmates back out on the road to play alongside computer-generated, three-dimensional holographic projections of multimedia elements, including Frank himself. They'll be performing brand new songs and the Frank hologram will also be adding unreleased guitar solos to songs we already know and love.
For this special video, we've gotten Ahmet Zappa (Frank's son), Mike Keneally (former guitarist for Frank and music director for the tour), Steve Vai (former guitarist for Frank), and Morgan Ågren (former drummer for Frank) to share their thoughts on this exciting opportunity.
Special thanks to:
Ed Heisler at Mad Hatter Guitar Products
James and Melissa Sarrett
Stephanie Shorter
Interview Transcript
Ahmet: I think that everyone’s reactions are going to be: What the fuck is going on right now? This is bananas.
Anthony: Frank Zappa died in 1993 when I was a child, so I never got a chance to see him perform live. I spent a lot of time as a kid listening to my dad’s record collection and then exploring more on my own as a teenager buying the Rykodisc releases. As an adult, I’ve been able to catch a few of the incredible Zappa Plays Zappa shows and have enjoyed the high definition releases in recent years, like the awesome Roxy & Elsewhere blu-ray. And then there’s all the live footage on YouTube! These modern experiences and products have given me a great sense of what it would have been like to see Frank perform live when he was alive.
In recent years, Frank’s son Ahmet has been working on a truly 21st-century Zappa concert experience. Partnering with a hologram production company called Eyellusion, he is bringing an entirely new presentation of his father’s creativity on the road. The show is called The Bizarre World of Frank Zappa and meets its first audiences in late April 2019. It features a live band accompanied by a computer-generated three-dimensional holographic projection of many entertaining multimedia elements, including Frank himself performing new unreleased songs and guitar solos.
And this live band isn’t just any live band, either. It’s several of Frank’s former bandmates. These guys are some of the most dedicated and talented musicians who ever played with him. They’re all incredibly passionate about Frank’s music and I am super-excited at the possibilities of these guys playing together.
Frank was always pushing the boundaries of politics, music, art, humor, technology, animation, and media. The Bizarre World of Frank Zappa brings Frank into 21st-century technology, beliefs, and expectations. I have a feeling things are going to get very, very weird.
What the heck is this “hologram tour” all about anyway?
Mike: “It’s a totally different type of entertainment from a standard concert. People shouldn’t come expecting a replication of an experience that they had 30 years ago when they went to see a Frank Zappa concert. This is utilizing a lot of techniques that have never been utilized before in quite this way in an attempt to create a very different kind of experience live.”
Ahmet: My mother would pull me in and no one was thinking outside of the box. I would say that it probably would have happened sooner, while my mother was alive, if other companies were willing to go to these creative places that we’re going to now. There just wasn’t a company out there willing to do it. But after becoming close with Jeff [Pezzuti, CEO of Eyellusion] and really saying, “Here’s the deal: This isn’t just about projecting someone back on stage. We want to do something different and explore new ways of storytelling in ways that my dad did.”
Mike: It’s hard to discuss, almost, because there’s no frame of reference for what it’s going to be like. So, I guess I can understand why some people are reflexively responding negatively just because all they have to imagine what it’s like is a very limited scope based on whatever they’ve seen or experienced or what they think they know about what a hologram show is. And anything that’s been done with that technology up until now does not represent what can be done with the technology and I think this show represents a step towards how far out and how crazy we can get with this stuff. And ideally it’s going to result in an incredibly powerful and really peculiar night of entertainment with live musicians doing what they do in the midst of it. It’s going to be a multi-level thing and a lot of unreleased Frank performances and we’re playing some unreleased Frank compositions. It’s a very layered evening of stuff. There’s going to be something there for everyone who’s into Frank. I’m super-jazzed about it. I think it’s going to be really cool.
Steve: Well, it’s so interesting because holographic technology--I remember many years ago when Disney decided to put this holographic technology of these heads, these haunted heads, in their haunted house. That was big news at the time and I went and saw it. I knew, I just instinctively felt that this technology was going to evolve into something beyond our wildest imaginations at some point. Have we gotten there? No we’re far from it. Far from it. Somebody is going to wake up and say, “This holographic technology can be really powerful and can be used for a certain convenience and quality of life experience that’s beyond where the technology’s at right now.” For instance, I’m looking for the day where I can go and sit in my room and have a conference with people in Japan as if they’re sitting in the room with me, or I’m sitting in their room. And this has the potential to completely change home entertainment as we know it. So much more. But the technology is slowly evolving because it’s expensive and to develop it takes a lot of courage and expense, but it’s happening. When holographic technology was being used to reproduce people for concerts and stuff, or for performances, it was still very limiting, but it was amazing in a sense because you get to see Mariah Carey singing something in ten different countries and it’s as if you’re there, but it still is just a hologram of somebody. So, as more people come along to improve this technology and the experience of it, we’re going to start seeing some really cool things, and that’s what my expectations are of this Zappa hologram tour.
Ahmet: I’m lucky in this sense: There’s so much audio and video of Frank, and because he was so opinionated and so smart and he was a futurist, a lot of the decisions I make are really because he’s talked about them or he’s shown an interest in them. Like the hologram show, it was something that he talked to me about dozens of times. So it kind of blows my mind when people are like, “Gah, Frank would never do this.” And I’m like, “Well, how much of a fan are you? Because he writes about it in his book, The Real Frank Zappa Book, Chapter 18,” which I can say til I’m blue in the face. And they’re like, “Nah. Nah. Nope.” And I’m just like, “All right, well, look. I’m trying to make an experience happen that does a couple of things. One, I know my dad was really interested in it. And two, I get to creatively flex my muscles in terms of putting the show together.” I had to come up with the storylines, the visuals. All of this is emotional for me in the sense that the conversations I had with him over the very short period of time I got to have him in my life, he inspired me in so many ways: things he showed me, things we watched on TV, movies that we saw, sounds he exposed me to. It’s as much about a love letter from me to my father and to my mother as much as it is to the fans. There’s no other way if you want to go see and hear Frank play his music. This is the only way to do that. Other people can go play his music, sure, but if you want to hear his lines, hear his vocals with his live band--that’s the great part about technology now. We can try to do something--this is an experience. Something that I hope people really enjoy. You don’t have to be a Zappa fan and you can come to this show and have your mind blown. And that’s the other thing I tried to set out to do. And because there’s so much technology involved in making this happen, I think we have hopefully a good shot at having different people discover Frank’s music. Because I think we will get fans and hopefully the goal is to make new fans. And because there’s so much music that Frank recorded, if people like what we’re doing, we can keep adding to it and change it up, so I’m pretty excited about the Bizarre World.
What’s exciting about a hologram tour?
Steve: I’m very excited about it because, first of all, it’s Frank and for Frank fans like myself, his music is a treasure. It’s a life treasure. And for any opportunity to see it being performed, be it Dweezil performing it or another band or a hologram tour, I can’t imagine why anybody that’s as moved and touched in their life by Zappa, as myself, would not attend something like that.
Mike: There’s various levels to it that are exciting. At its base, I’ve been talking to Joe Travers for years, “We gotta play some Zappa together.” And we wanted to get Scott Thunes. That would be great. And who else would we play with? Finally, Joe told me one night, “It’s gonna happen. Ahmet’s into it.” Because for various reasons connected to the fact that Joe Travers’ full time gig is working for the Zappa Family Trust maintaining the vault and doing the Vaultmeister gig. For him to get a band together playing Zappa music, it helps in a lot of ways for it to be a Zappa Family Trust-involved project. So we were just kind of waiting, because I wanted to do it with Joe, and we were just waiting to see if Ahmet wanted to do something at some point with Frank’s music in a live format. And then one night, Travers said, “We’re doing it. Ahmet’s ready. We’re doing a Frank Zappa band.” And I was like, “All right, that’s great. Right on.” And then he says, “Hologram tour.” And my initial thought was, “People are going to freak out,” which is true. People are freaking out, but then you start thinking about, “Well what does this mean? I can’t imagine a Frank Zappa hologram tour that’s just Frank Zappa standing on stage being a hologram. It would have to be something more interesting than that because you want it to be something Frank would be interested in. That’s always been part of what’s guided me whenever I choose to do some Zappa-related thing. I’m hopeful there’s something there that would have at least been entertaining and hopefully stimulating and amusing for Frank. Ahmet’s vision for the holographic material in the show is so insane and so wide-ranging that I know if Frank saw this show, he would be sitting there going, “Heh heh heh,” doing the Frank laugh for a large swath of this show. I don’t think he’d be as interested in looking at himself, but that’s also a Frank-like thing. Frank was not into being the venerated or lionized. He swore, and I think that’s largely true, that he had zero interest in his legacy or what anybody thought about him after he was gone. So I think he would dig that this show is visually focused on concepts and characters and just being inspired by the music in a much more free-wheeling way. And the appearances that Frank himself makes as the hologram during the show are almost like cameos, or like a character in the whole tapestry. What it actually reminds me of is a few years ago, they did a 200 Motels live in Los Angeles and London, I believe. They put out an album from the Los Angeles show called 200 Motels the Suites, which was this really spectacular album, but Frank himself is a character in this thing in the same way that Frank was a rarely-seen characters in 200 Motels itself. But when they went through his manuscripts to play unreleased material for 200 Motels the Suites, he had written a lot more narration for himself. So they hired a guy to deliver this narration at the show and to me there was nothing weird or disrespectful about that. And that’s the same to me as the holographic representation of Frank in this show. It’s a character, it’s undeniably a part of the bizarre world of Frank Zappa. Who Frank Zappa was, how iconic he was visually, that’s a part of the world, but the way that world is represented visually is bonkers. It’s all over the place. It’s really fun.
Morgan: People are already watching Frank on screens at home. Unfortunately he’s not around and now this thing’s going to happen and you get to see some unperformed and unreleased music. It’s done with the right people and the best equipment available at 2019 standards. I can’t see why you wouldn’t like to go see it. I’m sure it’s going to be great, so I support it totally.
What about the band?
Steve: The band is incredible. It’s elements of the best band that Frank ever had. We all know Mike Keneally. And for those of you who don’t, just imagine a musician whose expression is effortless and perpetually inspired. That’s Mike Keneally. Fearless and completely inspired. He’s a freak. I’m so inspired by him, through the years too. And Frank had said to him once that his ears are the best ears on any guitar player he’s ever had in the band. So that tells you how Frank felt about him, you know? And he’s headlining this band. And the other members of the band are obviously forming a really powerful Zappa unit. And the thing that they have that’s so important is that love and respect for Frank. That transcends a job. So you know that the quality is going to be fantastic. But what about the technology? I don’t know, but I do know this. Ahmet is focusing on expanding the technology and doing things with it that are unexpected. I believe, just from some of the stuff that he’s sent me, that people don’t know what this really is going to be.
Ahmet: All I could do was explain the ideas that I had in my head and ask them to go on this leap of faith with me and so much of it--none of it had been figured out. There’s no roadmap. We’re inventing something. This doesn’t happen. We’re the only… Eyellusion--the company, a gentleman by the name of Jeff Pezzuti [CEO], who’s become a real good friend of mine--his desire to preserve music or create new experiences, he didn’t come from this background. He quit his job and was like, “I believe in this!” I gotta say I’m a sucker for anyone who’s--[Anthony: Skin in the game.] Yeah! And trying to do something different.
What about AAAFNRAA (Anything Anytime Anywhere For No Reason At All)?
Anthony: Frank had a motto of “Anything Anytime Anywhere For No Reason At All.” This long, unpronouncable acronym represented a spirit of improvisation and unpredictability that fans came to expect from Frank’s shows. The set list was different at every show, the solos were never pre-written, and the each song could be performed in various ways. Frank used hand signals like "piddling with a Rasta braid on the right side of my head -- that means: Play reggae. If I pretend to twirl braids on both sides of my head, it means: Play ska. If I want something played heavy metal, I put both hands near my crotch and do Big Balls." These are some of the elements that made Frank such a great entertainer and so engaging for audiences. So, how is the band going to bring this ethos into a show where they’re playing along with pre-recorded tracks?
Mike: While we’re accompanying pre-recorded tracks, there is ostensibly less spontaneity because we have to stay attached to this grid, but within that there’s a lot of room for expression. There’s a lot of room for things to change up from night to night because most of the songs that we’re accompanying tracks have long guitar solos and they’re unreleased guitar solos of Frank’s. So the act of accompanying these long unreleased solos--even though I’ve been listening to them for a couple of weeks--I’m still reacting to them very improvisationally as though Frank was on stage and we were just being musicians accompanying Frank as he plays a guitar solo. During those moments of the soloing, it feels very real. It feels very spontaneous. And then we have these chunks during the night where we’re literally untethered and we can kind of do what we want. And then there’s the moments that are highly structured and we’re playing arrangements that are written to be played a certain way, but that was exactly the same way as it was before with Frank. We might as well have been on a grid while we were playing specific composed sections because they’re meant to be done a certain way. But all these years later to be playing these songs again and with these people, it really does a number on you emotionally. There’s a lot going on here. It’s fantastic. I feel privileged to be here.
Ending
Steve: I just feel, being a Zappa fan, I don’t want to miss this event. I don’t want to miss it when Dweezil’s playing, I don’t want to miss it when Ahmet’s doing it, I don’t want to miss it if quality musicians are playing Frank’s music. And the added bonus is the technology.
Morgan: There has been a lot of bands playing his music already like Zappa Plays Zappa, Banned from Utopia, Grandmothers of Invention. This would be the first time that you get to see his own musicians playing with him, with Frank on screen. Nobody is trying to say that Frank will be there in person, but he will be on the screen. It’s his music. I mean, just go and see it.
Outro
Anthony: If you have an opportunity to see a show this tour, I’m definitely jealous of you right now! Seeing this show will means you get to support great music played by great musicians with a guaranteed memorable evening that will shatter all kinds of expectations. Everyone working on this tour is putting a lot on the line to make this happen and that’s the kind of thing that I think are worth paying for and featuring here on Make Weird Music. I’m so glad this band has an opportunity to get paid to play this music out on the road, and even some of it alongside Frank’s actual tracks and performing new music we’ve never heard before. There’s no opportunity to hear that anywhere else. I am also glad to see a tour that tries to capture the spirit of Frank as a futurist, a technologist, an animation enthusiast, a live musician, a composer, a filmmaker, a producer, a storyteller. We will likely not see another Frank Zappa in our lifetimes, so let’s support and experience the creative visionary who’s touched so many of our lives while we still have an opportunity to see and hear his art in a live setting. And for people like me who--I was never old enough to see him perform, this is such a cool opportunity because Frank’s music and all of the technology that’s available today are coming together into a modern experience that is truly unlike anything else out there and I think that’s what Frank stood for, pushing the boundaries. So I’m really excited to see how this turns out. If you go to any of the shows, please let me know. I’d love to chat with you about it. Leave a comment or find me on social media. I’d love to chat. Thanks for checking this out. I hope you enjoyed it.
