'Scott's Frank Zappa audition' (Q&A with Scott Thunes - The Roundhouse, 6th Nov 2010
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- Опубликовано: 29 сен 2024
- Frank Zappa:
A Celebration Of His Life And Music - Marking The 70th Anniversary Of His Birth
An audience with Scott Thunes & Jeff Simmons moderated by official biographer Alan Clayson
6th November 2010
The Roundhouse, Camden
London
My dad showed me "Does Humour belong in music" as a kid, aside from all his metal favourites. I was used to seeing Cliff Burton, Lemmy and other "heavy" personalities on stage. But when I saw that Zappa VHS and Scott and the rest of the guys on stage... they were all just so charismatic... i was in awe of these guys just goofing and having fun, but yet the utmost professionals at the same time. It will stick with me forever. Thank you scott
lt must be just _INSANE_ to be a regular Zappa lover, and _then_ get into his band! l'd be falling over myself for weeks! Way to go Scott!
Yeah cuz he doesn't give a fuck that guy is a bass guitar
When did Scott morph into George Carlin?
give him a hat and he plays bass for Nirvana..
If Chad was a guitarist would he have been named "Pickerman"?
haha clever....
Strummerman. Pluckerman. Twangerman.
Interesting...I always enjoyed the way Thunes and Wackerman played together behind Frank's guitar.
Oh. I also saw him playing bass in FZ's '81 band and the sheer BASS'ness of the low notes literally shook the Northrup Auditorium at the UofMn in a way I've never heard another bassist do before or since. That was during "Envelopes".
I saw him in ‘93 on the ‘Vai’ tour (Devin townsend was singing) and Scott played fantastically...
The closed captioning for this is especially poor.
I guess it's because the audio quality of the recording stinks.
Agreed. In this day and age, not acceptable.
I liked Patrick O'Hearn's and Tom Fowler's playing better.
Alfred Nueman hard to beat Tom Fowler on Inca Roads.
I wished Shuggie Otis had done more work with Frank.
Scott is one of my favorite musicians of 'em all. His bass fills are so damn "on" for me. Blue hair fer sure.
try the speed at .75 it is slightly easier to understand him
He's one hell of a bassist.
I sort of believe Frankie wrote and required people to play things that were virtually impossible at an audition just to see how close they could get and to gauge their reactions to the requests.
I'll say this, saw him today with Mother Hips. Ripped it. Now I have another favorite. Saw him later too. He's intense and passionate. Killer bass player.
One of my favorite bass players of all time - his bass playing on the Zappa stuff is great but he also played a really cool bass line on Western Vacation's "Burning Flame". I get the idea he was a nose to the grindstone practicer and some guys didn't like that type of work ethic. Too bad. You gotta work had to be good.
aliensporebomb
10,000 hours😁👍
I don't think it was the work ethic, they were used to that, it was Scott's attitude and personality which comes across here - very hyper, very on edge, not one to join in with the lads.
@@paulinebutcherbird No wonder I've had such problems with bands, then he reminds me of me talking about a great band I've seen. I get a bit hyper.
He is so hyper, no wonder the other guys in the band had problems with him.
Ah, Scott! An old neighbor of mine. It's interesting (at least to me) how Bozzio and Thunes are both Drake High grads from Marin County (San Anselmo, to be exact). Quite the hotbed of excellent musicians.
I preferred Patrick O'Hearn....
I preferred every other Zappa bassist. Scott tried to act as musical director while in the band and it wasn't appreciated
Love the Thunes ! Thank you Scott, wherever you are.
This would be great if I could understand the guy...he talks too fast, a little mumbly, and the echo doesn't help.
Totally agree. What were they thinking?
I met Scott on this particular weekend at the Roundhouse, he was very drunk, and rude to most of the people that tried to speak with him.
That sort of fits in with the reason why Frank cancelled the 1988 tour - the other guys couldn't get along with him and asked Frank to sack him. Frank refused. I mention this in case there are any people on here who don't know that story.
@@paulinebutcherbird Hi Pauline. I think the main problem was between Thunes and Ed Mann, but in recent years they have performed together. At the Roundhouse, I went up to Scott to say hello and he was jaw droppingly hostile and sarcastic. I am very rarely intimidated by anyone, but he looked like he was wanting to start a fight .
@@thefacts5394 Andrew Greenaway has the full story on the tour in his book, Zappa The Hard Way. As I recall, Ed Mann was one of the guys who did not join in the 'mutiny' against Scott but I would need to check the book again, unless Andrew comes on here and corrects us.
@@paulinebutcherbird Thanks Pauline, all the best.
@@paulinebutcherbird @The Facts has, er, the facts correct.
Out of all the many,many talented people I saw live.years ago,Frank Zappa,and his musicians,I sadly never saw, I think he was arguably the most talented musician/composers of our age,sadly missed,( though certainly not by certain Politicians,who he rightly cynically abused!)
I agree, Frank was just one of those people who are just capable and competent of anything musical. He was the BEST🤔👍
most wrecthed ZAPPA story i've heard an ex-band member relate...he's unlikeable, braggidocio, and a tiny bit prima donna-ish. I wsure as hell wouldn't want him running my rehearsals...
Sounds like Scott got in easy.
No he worked really hard and Frank sat with him through the hardest stuff which he thought was simple and could not play it to the point of Tears easy ? no way that gig was anywhere easy.. Frank made Scott the musical director because he knew the material so good.
His audition was RECORDING Cocaine Decisions!?? HOLY @#$%.
Is that what he said!
I met a cousin of Scott’s on a Boise city bus, I was already a huge fan of FZ. It made me begin to realize all the rock stars are just people, same as all the programmer heroes or political personalities or whatever, just a human like you or I.
Jeremy Anderson Scott is a great musician. No arguments here from this lifelong FZ fan even tho I dislike most of the 80’s stuff. My bone to pick with you so to speak is that once in awhile, someone like Jimi Hendrix appears. Jimi was not 100% human. I swear he wasn’t
If you want to see the human side of Frank Zappa, why not read, 'Freak Out! My Life with Frank Zappa. It covers 1967 to 1972 when Frank was first famous. I met Frank in London in 1967 and ended up living and working in his log cabin in Laurel Canyon. If you've read some of the biographies, this one zooms in on Frank at home and his day-to-day life.
and may I add that Zappa's best bands would invariably lead to small stages occupied by too many big heads. We then are left with some of the best music some never heard in their life.
Read Mike Keneally's web pages, he has a pretty good take on the politics of being in Zappa's employ. Frank was just as guilty as everyone. Frank was human and self-absorbed but his mastery and image makes it difficult to see the flaws. He had 'em, we all do.
I looked on his page and I couldn't see anything about being in Zappa's band. Do you have a direct URL to it?
@@paulinebutcherbird It was a while back so dont have a link. He mentioned my childhood pal who went on to work for Frank as stage and studio sound guy. His name is Marque Coy, was he mentioned? I wonder if Mike had to remove Zappa comments for some legal issue. It would be odd but the Zappas werent like other people.
@@cravinbob I don't think anyone can tell you what you can write or not write on your FB page, so that would not be an explanation. More likely it's scrolled down too far.
I read an interview that Kenneally did with Thunes, nd Thunes came off as being rather rude sand obnoxious...hopefully he's mellowed out with time
@@kaymullins228 There are many anecdotes of similar vein from many sources. For his own sake, I hope you are right that he has now mellowed.
why do people hate this guy? he's hilarious and one hell of a bass player
Because Frank cancelled the final 1988 tour half way through because the other guys refused to play with Scott and wanted him replaced. Frank cancelled the lot.
@@paulinebutcherbird Yeah, whilst Frank claimed other guys in the band were targetting Scott and bullying him, the band members say he was being incredibly difficult and Hitler-like in his role as temporary band leader in Frank's absence.
@@FreeBrunoPowroznik I'm not sure I agree with all you say. As I understand it from Andrew Greenaway's book, Scott was the band leader, ie he was not temporary, but the permanent person to rehearse the band and make sure they played the pieces correctly and together.
@@paulinebutcherbird Yes, you've probably got that more accurate than me. I was going from my memory of Mike Keneally's quote in Barry Miles book: "He's very abrasive. He's very honest. He's brutal. He's blunt. And when he was in charge of running the rehearsals in Frank's absence, all these qualities came to the fore..."
However, just checking the book, Barry also says: "Scott Thunes was given the difficult job of running the band and conducting rehearsals."
That does tend to suggest his position as bandleader was more permanent than temporary, at least within the context of the '88 tour.
@@FreeBrunoPowroznik Indeed. Thank you for your correction.
Like Scott’s playing more than any of other Zappa’s great bassist, and this makes him best of the best!:)
On the late 80s albums the bass plays like almost half of the music you hear
Who is the bass player he mentions with tendinitis ??? John…Whitehall??? Can’t make out the last name for sure.
Btw. Saw Scott with the Zappa Band and he was a MONSTER. What a great musician.
lol... what a spaz.
Never got to see Scott Thunes with Zappa, but I did get to see him with Steve Vai in 1993. Great Show.
You are one lucky sonova gun to have been able to see Frank live.😁👍
Do you mean 1983?
Well, Steve.... maybe you`d be short on a little humour if you were dying of the Big C
@CloudsBeyond You have some issues there. Try getting those taken care of before you bother posting anything about music.
too much echo
i read yesterday that this guy is currently a bouncer for a nightclub in his hometown. that just bends my head. although he points out that he can't find any band/situation which resembles the quality of music that FZ put out - so, why bother? i can respect that, but i fucking LOVED his playing when i saw the '88 tour...
As I have said elsewhere in this thread, when I met Scott he was drunk, hostile and behaving like he wanted to start a fight.
@@thefacts5394 and, i think, you've made your point about that. why do you want to repeat it on my comment? are all the bouncers you've met drunk and hostile and wanting to fight you? that must be shit!
@@pipeandslippersman No, it was a very unusual situation and all four of the people I was with were absolutely gobsmacked.
@@pipeandslippersman He added a bit of colour to this story.
Saw him in 88 with Frank. Great!!
Their last tour. Lucky.
A talented and complex man
According to an interview with Frank it was Ed Mann, not Scott, who broke up the band.
never heard that ... would love to hear that interview. maybe you are confusing the story with drummer Chad W Chad hated Scott
According to Andrew Greenaway's book, Zappa the Hard Way, it was Scott's behaviour that brought things to a head. I would like to read/see that interview you speak of.
@@paulinebutcherbird There's a video of Zappa doing a radio interview with Flo and Eddie where he mentions cancelling his tour because the band had personal issues with the bass player, so in Zappa's own words it's been confirmed. If you're interested the video is titled "Flo & Eddie Talk To Frank Zappa 1989
" and they speak about this issue around the 3 minute mark..
For what it's worth Zappa says he liked the bassist despite the rest of the band's disdain.
is the dude on speed or running short on time? cant understand half the things he said lol
This was Scott as he was and it was this aspect of his character that made it so difficult for the rest of the guys to get along with. He was a loner, and in a band, that makes for problems and as we all know, rather than sack Scott, Frank cancelled the tour.
@@paulinebutcherbird yeah i get it, not trying to trash talk the dude or anything, just saying the video would be more enjoyable if he talked a bit slower
@@Vkxable I totally agree. I could understand less than half what he said. I'm amazed the audience could.
People hate him? Who, what's their address?
This guy came to one of my gigs on the late 90's. He was a schmuck. Lol
He looks like a different person
5:32 - This is a very ballsy way to interview job candidates. Leave it to Frank Zappa.
He played bass rockin the sun glasses right ? Damn, time goes by stupid quick. God love ya. I love ya too for that matter.
Question, not Zappa related: Are you THE Stuart Morrow? From NMA's early days?
Okay... Odd. Hard to hate someone like this if you ask me!
That must have been the second show at Berkeley I was at the first show and the transition was smooth as far as I can remember. cool that we saw the same night.
Yes, the mistake he mentioned was in the second show, "Beauty Knows No Pain" (not "Beautiful Guy")
Ha ha, there's no doubt he would!
Were they short on time for this, or was Scott told to wrap it up? Because his story telling was really hard to understand and annoying.
Totally agree. Why didn't they stop and check the mike within the first 30 seconds.
Why hate him?
The impression I've gotten is that he has even less tolerance for fools than Frank did, and is even more willing to tell them exactly what he thinks of them. That doesn't make someone easy to get along with. He's also very intense and not exactly friendly with anybody. But the real trouble came when FZ gave him the job of "clonemeister", and put him in charge of rehearsing the '88 band - while Ed and the others could tolerate working with him, as a supervisor he was too much.
more like a standup~cool insight
I doppm
He busted up Franks last band.
Frank did. Frank had the choice of continuing with a replacement.
Who hates him?
Fans because Frank cancelled the tour because of him.
Met Scott when he played with FEAR. Cool guy
Who cares
This is they guy who destroyed Zappa's 1988 tour and led to its cancellation. Thanks a lot, Scott.
+retrorex Wrong. It was the rest of the band being childish, and assuming Frank would replace Scott when they voted him out of the band.
Kerry Maxwell
You've got that right. It amazes me when people blame Scott, or, worse yet, say that Frank should have found another bass player. First of all, it was Frank's band. He could do whatever he wanted with his band. Second, do people really think that Frank could hire a pickup bassist to play THAT gig, one of the most difficult in rock and pop? Whatever.
There's an interview with Frank, where he explains that it was Ed Mann who had issues with Scott. And it was Ed Mann who got the band to turn on him.
It's Mr. Mann you should be 'thanking.'
Totally wrong. This is the guy Frank chose as his proxy to run band rehearsals and the band didn't like that.
Ed Mann didn't like it, because he thought he was more deserving.