nested and stuff. He had some of the hardest stuff on the stand. He had “Mo ‘n Herb’s Vacation,” he had “Alien Orifice” — the hard section — and “The Black Page.”
DH: Had you ever seen music like that
before?
CW: Not that way, where you’d have
an 11, followed after a 12, followed after
a 15, followed after a 17. The thing was
that it sounded really good. It wasn’t just
mathematical sounding ‘cause he actually
wrote from his head. I found that out later
on. He wasn’t just trying to be clever. He
actually heard music that way. So I didn’t
get lost in the chart and I think he thought,
“Well, maybe there’s potential here.” Then
on riot shields instead of heads, and all of it coming out of an amp. I ended up really getting into it because the designs got a bit better, a bit more creative. Originally it was the most basic kind of analog synth with not many parameters you could change. Then they eventually added a module that had an analog section plus a digital chip, so you’d have a sample. Then I got that modified on mine so there would be four sample chips on each module. I could go from the four different digital source sounds, or an analog source, or mixing the analog into the digital source. I really got into it at the time because I could play melodic things. I liked that part of it. You didn’t necessarily need to be a drummer anymore.
Choice Cuts
it was playing certain rock beats. While I
was playing, Ed Mann was there playing
mallets, and Tommy Mars was playing keys.
Frank isn’t playing yet, but now he says,
“Okay, play some reggae, swing reggae and
then straight reggae, then reggae in 11,” just
randomly throwing stuff to see how far he
could get before I’d mess up. Then the odd
time stuff, a pattern of 19, a pattern of 21. I
could play those because when I was fairly
young I’d heard Don Ellis’ band, and listened
to those records and practiced with them.
Then it was every style he could think of.
Just real straight rock, then we did a bunch
of Latin styles, we did fast bebop, then he’d
throw odd times into those different kind of
styles. The last stage of the first day of the
audition [it was a three
day audition], he put his
guitar on and then it was
like power trio, just bass,
drums, and he’d solo for a
long time. I just got chills
when he played.
DH: What do you miss most about Zappa? CW: His whole thing. His world was so different, it was just jumping into this other little empire that he had. Because he was able to write whatever he wanted musically and lyrically and put it out and people would buy it. It wouldn’t get on the radio, but it didn’t matter. He owned the record company. He had the first mail order business. And I was pushed, absolutely pushed. Frank pushed everybody, he pushed everybody in the band, he pushed his manager. It was an amazing experience.
DH: What was there between you two that worked out so well? CW: I’m not sure. I think he liked the fact that he had a lot of characters in the band, and I wasn’t so much of a character. [Plus] he knew I was going to put in the time. I was determined to do it.
DH: How long were you with Frank before you started playing with Allan Holdsworth? CW: About a year. [It was] through Frank I ended up meeting Allan. When I wasn’t touring with Frank I’d do Allan tours. There was another great drummer, Gary Husband, and we would just trade off, juggle Allan’s tours between the two of us.
DH: How did you feel
about Frank having you
use Simmons (synth)
drums?
CW: I was a bit nervous
about it at first. It was
just so foreign, playing
DH: Did you feel a mutual sensibility with
Allan right off the bat?
CW: I did the first time I heard [him]. Those
amazing harmonies, the lushness of the
chords, the soloing like nobody else. I was
a big fan of Tony Williams so that Believe
It record was huge for me. That’s [Allan],
for me the concept of [Tony’s] band kind of
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