Sunday, May 24, 2015

CAPTAIN CHEESE-BEARD - SYMPHONY FOR AUTO HORNS

It must have been early 2007 when I went to see Cpt. Cheese-Beard & The 7 Sisters Of Prevention in concert for the first time. I guess it was one of their first gigs. The band, fronted by Johan 'Cpt. Cheese-Beard' De Coninck performed classic Zappa seventies material.
In the meantime, I have seen the band live quite a number of times. They combine a laid-back attitude with a tight performance. I had fun each and every time.

Highlights might include the band's appearance at the Zappanale festival in 2009 and their contribution to the Arf Arf Arf festival in Antwerp, with special guest Robert Martin (vocals, keyboards, sax, horn,... in Frank Zappa's band from 1981 until 1984).

When Johan told me that he had started working on an album of original material, I was quite surprised and very curious to hear what the end result would sound like.
We're one year later now and "Symphony For Auto Horns" has been released on the Mottow Soundz label.

One word. Superb.
Notwithstanding the fact that these are all original compositions, this is as zappa-esque as it gets.
Great Zappa flavoured compositions, absurd tongue-in-cheek humour, and impressive musicianship.

Johan De Coninck on guitar and vocals, Pascal Houben on bass, Didier DeMeestere on drums, Vanessa Spay on lead vocals (!!), Todor Stefanov on keyboards and rhodes, Pierre Chevalier (Univers Zero, Present, Aranis) on keyboards and piano, Bart Quartier (Muze Jazz Orchestra) on marimba and vibes, Maayan Smith (Sinister Sister) on tenor sax, Mo Franken on trumpet, and Edouard Walleyn on trombone.
As a special treat, former Zappa vocalist Robert Martin sings the lead on 'Tash And A Guitar'.

Love it.

Get your copy at :
http://www.mottowsoundz.com/cs-symphone-for-autohorns


There aren't many musicians / composers who are able to pull this off.
Stefan Signer (Infrasteff) comes to mind. Or Marc Guillermont with his "Zappostrophe" album, and Sandro Oliva...

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