Zappostrophe'

Frank Zappa Tribute from Vancouver BC

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About

Zappostrophe'

Blair Fisher - vocals / trumpet / flute / keys

Blair has been involved with Frank Zappa’s music since his formative musical years. A dog-eared version of the Frank Zappa Songbook from 1973 remains a cherished resource. In many ways, Zappostrophe’ represents a culmination of his experience – the wide range of musical styles, intricate and complex arrangements, combined with zany humour make Zappostrohe’ a challenging and fun project.

Blair has a wide range of musical experience, as a performer, educator, and technologist. He holds a B.Mus. (Victoria) and M.Mus. (Miami) both in trumpet performance.Professional performances include solo performances and work with orchestras, jazz and rock groups throughout Canada, the US and Europe. Although he was trained as a trumpet player, he also performs professionally on vocals, keyboards and flute. An ‘early adopter’ of music technology, Blair has been involved in recording and creating computer-based music for many years. As an educator, he has directed award-winning jazz and concert bands and developed and Coordinated the Douglas College Music Technology Diploma.

Blair Lewis – guitar / synths / vocals

Blair Lewis has been playing the guitar for a really long time, and is mostly self-taught. He took playing the classical guitar pretty seriously for a couple of decades (though he still sucks at sightreading) and managed to study with Ralph Towner (of the band Oregon) in the nineties; this led to his forming and leading the group Out of the Woods, to play some of Ralph's beautifully lyrical and harmonically gnarly tunes. His major rhythmic influence is the sound of several hundred antique clocks his father used to restore and dutifully kept wound, ticking and bonging in polyrhythmic precision. He really enjoys some fairly weird music, and being able to dip into what Nick calls the “deep well” of Zappa like this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. (Where else do you get to comp in 11/16 and play the rubber chicken?) Playing in Zappostrophe led him to explore the possibilities of guitar synthesizer, which he says “opened up a whole new world of weird and wonderful noises. And it turns out the trombone patch on it is pretty good, so I get to pretend I’m Bruce Fowler.”In Blair's non-music time he likes to walk uphill, find out new things, and read these things called 'books'.

LJ Mounteney – vocals

LJ Mounteney is an in-demand Canadian singer, performer and songwriter known for her soulful, bluesy twists on inspired classic tunes as well as her own catchy originals. Her current album, Mama Danced, was produced by Canadian blues legend Jack Lavin and is an upbeat album of 13 blues and roots songs. Mama Danced has received favourable reviews as well as radio and internet airplay worldwide.

Mounteney studied under jazz singer Jennifer Scott at Vancouver Community College in the Commercial and Jazz Music program and also with vocal coach Cecile Larochelle. In addition to her studies, Mounteney has spent the past several years working in various pop, R&B and jazz ensembles. She loves the soulful side of Zappa and likes to delight audiences with her gospel, funk and blues infused tones on songs like Sofa, Andy, Montana, Zombie Woof and more! She is delighted to be part of a group that navigates and plays the wonderful and challenging music of Frank Zappa!

Guenter Schulz – guitar

Guenter Schulz is an accomplished guitarist mastering a variety of styles. Equally at home in Jazz, Electronica, Country, Rock and Pop. His love for handmade live music clearly shows in every performance.Educated at the Blankeneser Konservatorium and the Universitaet Hamburg (both in Germany), Guenter Schulz's study of classical guitar and influence of Carl Orff and Stravinsky is apparent upon hearing his musical finesse. This training lends a cultured edge to his playing, and combined with the more contemporary influences of John McLaughlin, Goldie and Einstürzende Neubauten, unquestionably contributed to the success of KMFDM, the industrial rock group with which he was main guitarist, co-producer and songwriter in the 90s. With KMFDM, he recorded 9 full length CDs and recorded soundtrack work for Mortal Kombat, Johnny Mnemonic and Bad Boys, all the while touring extensively throughout the USA and Europe. In addition to this work, Schulz has remixed music for Rammstein, Skinny Puppy, Dink, Front 242, Pig, Die Krupps, as well as produced remakes of songs by Smashing Pumpkins, Led Zeppelin, NIN, AC/DC, and Van Halen. He participated in location sound recording and soundtrack composition for the documentary "So Good, So Far", shot on location in Ghana, Africa, and has had his photographs published in entertainment magazines, including Spin Magazine, Max and various others. In all, Schulz is credited on over 20 albums. Furthermore, over the last few years, he has produced 3 albums and toured with his band Slick Idiot, participated in the North American tour of "supergroup" Pigface, created various remixes for international bands, and has produced and recorded for a multitude of other bands. Furthermore Schulz was invited three times to tour Japan with his group.

Cole Tinney – keyboards

Vancouver musician and pianist Cole Tinney has played and performed extensively throughout Canada and the United States. Tinney’s versatility shines through multiple genres, including vintage forties, funk, blues and jazz but his virtuosity is powered by his excellent classical training. A soulful musician, he belies an old soul musical wisdom and his energy and talents fuel his performances in high level groups such as the freak out group History of Gunpowder, Vancouver’s Frank Zappa inspired band Zappostrophe’, and the award-winning Canadian singer Krystle Dos Santos. In addition to performing, Cole is a dedicated educator and piano instructor as well as the Director at Coja Music, a North Vancouver based private music school.

Brent Gubbels – bass

Brent Gubbels has been a Vancouver based professional musician and teacher for nearly twenty years. In that time he’s worked with a number of local musicians and ensembles including the Hard Rubber Orchestra, Gypsalero, Rumba Calzada, John Reischman, the Vince Mai Project, Jesse Zubot, Dal Richards, Lee Aaron and Dee Daniels.Since 1992, he has toured North America and Europe extensively and played a variety of international jazz and folk festivals. Brent can be heard on recordings by Oscar Lopez, Gypsalero, Juno nominees Susan Crowe and Compadres, Juno winner James Keelaghan, and others.

Jason Overy – drums

Jason divides his time between performing, teaching and composing in the world of drums and percussion. He has served as Musical Director of Uzume Taiko Drum Group since 2004 and holds a BMus from UVic. Notable drum set acts over the years include Vancouver’s Zappostrophe’, big bands the Bruce James Orchestra, Urbana Big Band, crooner Michael Buble, Klezmer/jazz fusion sensation OLAM, Punk legend’s D.O.A., and their front man Joe Keithley (Duo), Kenny ‘Blues Boss’ Wayne, Ray Carroll (the Platters), West Coast Chicago, Son of James, Ska band the Hounds of Buskerville, funk all-stars Just The Funk and Dynamic Tension, indie rock bands BlueDirtGirl and The Sons of Kain, as well as, many well known touring theatre shows including the Rocky Horror Show, Urinetown, the Wiz, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Oklahoma, Oliver, Cabaret, and including original work with Fringe festival legend TJ Dawe and many other collaborations. A life-long prog rock and Frank Zappa fan, it is truly a dream to get to play this incredible music with these incredible musicians.

Nick Apivor – percussion / vocals

I have been playing all manner of percussion for over 40+years. As a professional musician I have played and enjoyed classical music, rock, jazz, theatrical, and many other styles. Probably one of the reasons I love playing the music of Frank Zappa. So many styles of music are in his compositions, and so many skills are required: reading, improvising, knowledge ofwidely varying genres, etc. and humour! Because humour DOES belong in music! I received my BMus degree from UVic in 1986. I generally travel once a year to study and get inspired; whether that is trips to NY to hear the world's best jazz musicians, or studying with Brazilian masters at Cazadero Brazil camp. But honestly, everyday playing Frank's music is a learning experience. Music is Best

Pop/Rock/Indie Tribute/Cover

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