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 You might not realize how prolific Dweezil Zappa is, at least not by his record releases. But between his recent release in 2000 (Automatic) and the previous one in 1991 (Confessions), Dweezil has hosted television shows, such as MTV, acted in movies and on television, provided voices for cartoons (Ajax on the Duckman series), and composed theme songs for TV shows. With Automatic, however, Dweezil not only shows his technical proficiency on guitar, but his sense of humor as well. While some cuts, such as the title track and “Fwakstension,” evince a killer metal approach, complete with fingerboard tapping and varied histrionics, others are more introspective and experimental, like “12 String Thing” or “Secret Hedges.” Also included on the release are a cover of the “Hawaii Five-O” theme song and “You're a Mean One, Mister Grinch,” featuring brother Ahmet on vocals. Dweezil recently spent a few minutes talking with NY Rock freelancer Bill Ribas about the release, the current state of musicianship, and his golf handicap. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
NYROCK: |
I guess we can start with the latest album. You haven't put out anything on your own for about a decade or so, and now you've come out with a pretty strong guitar album here. Why'd you wait so long? | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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DWEEZIL: |
As far as solo records, there's ten years between it. As far as other releases, there's, I don't know, four or five years between it. But the main absence really is a combination of just the change in the musical climate. Like the style of guitar playing, that I was inspired to learn how to play and want to do, is a very unpopular style of guitar playing. In fact, musicianship is at an all time low, so anybody who's actually good at their instrument is probably unpopular at this particular moment. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
NYROCK: |
Why do you think there's a shift away from musicianship, just popular tastes? | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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DWEEZIL: |
Well, I think it's just what people have access to. The music that is played on the radio all the time or written about in magazines has nothing to do with musicianship. I mean, no offense, but I don't really see why, like guitar players from Creed, or something like that, are on the cover of guitar magazines. Almost anybody can sit down and learn to play those songs. But I think what happens is because something sells a lot of records, people think, "Oh, it must be good." There's no difference in a lot of people's minds between good musicians and popular musicians. I don't think you can get a typical 12 or 13 year old who's just starting to check out music right now and play them Billy Corgan or Eddie Van Halen and have them be able to tell you why one's better than the other. Just because they're not exposed to the background of where music comes from. You have plenty of examples of people who will sample songs and stuff like that, and kids will be like, when they hear the original, "that original version sucks," or "that version sucks, I like Puffy's version." I think it's just all based on what people are fed. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
NYROCK: |
So a guitarist is probably your target audience? | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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DWEEZIL: |
Oh, I would imagine that's really the main person who is going to enjoy it, you know, either that or someone who is fanatical about Christmas. They might seek to enjoy the Grinch as often as possible. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
NYROCK: |
Did you do that for the movie? | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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DWEEZIL: |
It was supposed to be on the soundtrack, but the "powers that be" didn't quite get it. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
NYROCK: |
Now you also did a cover of "Hawaii Five-0," and I listened to that today and it's all guitars. That's pretty wild. I was thinking that it was keyboards or horns, but it's all guitars. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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DWEEZIL: |
It's all guitars. Hence, having to actually specify that in the liner notes, because people tend to hear it and go, "Ah, he's just playing the lead melody." | ||||||||||||||||||||||
NYROCK: |
Some of the cuts are really strong. I've been listening to "12 String Thing" over and over. That's very nice. And "Secret Hedges" is pretty interesting stuff too. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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DWEEZIL: |
Oh, good. You know, the thing about this record, that I allowed myself to do that I hadn't done before, was just really do some improvisational things, and "Secret Hedges" is one of those kinds of things. It was spontaneously composed as I was playing it. And then I added a couple of other overdub textures on top of it after the fact. But it's one of those things where I wouldn't be able to sit down and specifically write that. That's just what came out. So that kind of thing is fun and for what Michael Hedges did. He was just a crazy master guitar player. There are only a few people that are able to take guitar to the next level. He was certainly one of those guys where you hear it and you see it, but even if you're an accomplished guitar player, you go, "Okay, can't do it, what the hell." | ||||||||||||||||||||||
NYROCK: |
Growing up, you had some pretty good exposure to some phenomenal guitar players. Would you, not necessarily get lessons, but how would that work, would you just kind of hang with them? | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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DWEEZIL: |
Well, Steve Vai joined my dad's band right around the time when I actually started playing guitar. So he gave me a couple of lessons on fundamentals, and gave me some scales and practice things to work on. But I pretty much learned everything by ear. And, you know, my dad would show me some things sometimes, but the best things that I got to do were to actually see really good players play up close. That gives you an idea of fingering and technique and what not. So it opens up a lot of doors. I mean, I got to see Edward Van Halen up close early on too. And it really does let you see. Basically, it opens the door to the next level for you, when you can see something up close as opposed to just listening to it and trying to figure it out yourself. When you see it you go, "Oh, that's how it works." | ||||||||||||||||||||||
NYROCK: |
For some reason, it used to be verse verse chorus verse, guitar solo, and now that guitar solo is even gone.... | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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DWEEZIL: |
And if they do put it back, it's usually just a noise solo, because people don't know how to play. There are certain bands out there that have pretty decent players, but even they have to "dumb it down" for today's current climate. It's just lame. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
NYROCK: |
So when you're on the production side, is it just as frustrating, or is there a little less pressure if what you're doing is something more popular? | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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DWEEZIL: |
Well, I haven't been doing that much work with other people per se. I started doing more of that. I'm working still a bit on Lisa Loeb's new record, and that's going to be a great record when it finally gets a chance to come out. But I've done some soundtrack things with my brother for stuff, and I'm hoping to get into actual scoring. That's really where I'd like to end up. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
NYROCK: |
So you're doing the production for Lisa Loeb's album. How does something like that come about? Does it help that your last name is Zappa? | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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DWEEZIL: |
Well, that was something where we just became friends and started working together. You know, people don't necessarily think of her in the rock music context per se. And these days production stuff takes things to other levels because everything is computerized and stuff, and all that can make a great song or some good records. But the reality is when you write a song, you should be able to strip away all the instruments and just have a song right there with an acoustic guitar and a voice, and the song should be good. There are a lot of singer/songwriters that get stuck in a bad situation with today's musical climate, because nobody listens for the song on that level. They all listen for the production. So working with Lisa, all of her songs stand alone just her singing and playing an acoustic guitar. And the embellishments, it's traditional background arrangements. She's got good players on the record. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
NYROCK: |
Are you working with anyone else now, or planning to? | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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DWEEZIL: |
Well, I have a lot of things going on. I have this one instrumental record that I'm waiting to finish, that I've been working on for eleven years. It's called What the Hell Was I Thinking and it's a continuous piece of music that's 75 minutes long, and it has 40 different guitar players on it at this point. It's got Edward Van Halen, Eric Johnson, Brian May, Angus and Malcolm Young, Steve Vai, Steve Morse, Brian Setzer, you know, just a bunch of different people. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
NYROCK: |
Wow, all the heavy hitters. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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DWEEZIL: |
...Yngwie Malmsteen... | ||||||||||||||||||||||
NYROCK: |
Are you touring Automatic at all? | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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DWEEZIL: |
I'm not going to be doing any touring. About the only thing that I'll probably end up doing is I made this amplifier with Peavey. It's in the manufacturing stages right now, and there are a lot of orders that we just got for it. It's called Wiggy, and it's a cool amp. Typically, there are only a few amps that give you a lot of options for sound, and this one -- without being one of those Line 6-style modeling amps -- gives you a lot of variations of sound that you can make. The clean sounds are anywhere between a Fender-style amp and a Vox, and when the distortion channels are in, you can create a lot of different things, but the main lead sound is more like a Fuzzface style, almost Eric Johnson meets Billy Gibbons kind of thing. It's pretty cool. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
NYROCK: |
How many watts is that? | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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DWEEZIL: |
It's 100-watt head, but it's not a tube amp, and that's why people freak out when they hear it. The thing is you don't really need tubes. Just because something has tubes doesn't mean it's the best. I mean, tubes are obviously good, but the circuit of this thing is designed well and it sounds good. And it's got a cool look to it, so people will definitely see it and go, "Oh, I got to check that thing out." | ||||||||||||||||||||||
NYROCK: |
So whom do you listen to lately? | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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DWEEZIL: |
Well, you know, I sort of became a non-consumer a while ago, so it's hard to find anything inspiring guitar wise. I pretty much still listen to the same records I've always listened to. When I want to start thinking about playing and stuff like that, I'll just throw on like Van Halen's Fair Warning, and go, yeah, now that's good. My friend Blues Saraceno has a good band called Transmission Okay, and they just put a record out, and that's probably the best thing I've heard that's new | ||||||||||||||||||||||
NYROCK: |
He had a nice solo on "Automatic." | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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DWEEZIL: |
Yeah. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
NYROCK: |
Besides scoring, anything else you'd like to do? | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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DWEEZIL: |
Trying to get my handicap down to a one or two or even scratch if I can golf wise. That's about the only other thing. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
NYROCK: |
Play a lot of golf? | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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DWEEZIL: |
Starting to play some more, yeah. But that's something I like to do to keep me sane, really. Music can be so disturbing and frustrating. I mean the business side of it. The actual making music part is fun, but the business side of it is just so out of control, has nothing to do with anything. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
NYROCK: |
Just one curious question: Do you think you're the only guy named Dweezil on the planet? | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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DWEEZIL: |
Well, I'm certainly the first. I've heard other people have named their kids that, but I'm sure they probably change it as soon as they could. I know my name gets used illegally all the time all over the internet. You know, it is a trademarked name, so it will be something that we always have to deal with. I never needed to change it. It was always fine with me. It is a strange name; that's for sure. March 2001 Send this page to a friend • Mailing List • More Interviews • Current Stories 
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