'Treacherous Cretins' is not just a captivating guitar solo / composition by Frank Zappa, it's also the name of a U.K. Frank Zappa tribute band.
An excellent U.K. Frank Zappa tribute band.
And they will be returning to Zappa Town Bad Dobaran for the Zappanale festival that will kick off next week.
They'll be headlining the festival and their line-up will feature Robert Martin on keyboards, sax, and vocals.
Reason enough for a short chat with Treacherous Cretins' drummer (and nice chap) John Parkinson.
UniMuta: Hi John, Let’s kick off by telling everyone that Snarky Puppy is the best band around at the moment, before we get to the more serious stuff.
Kidding aside, I do think that Snarky Puppy is sensational. We hesitated to attend the Utrecht recording session earlier this year. It just didn’t fit in…
So, Treacherous Cretins will be performing the music of Frank Zappa at Zappanale. As headliner. Saturday evening. I can imagine that you’re looking forward to it.
John Parkinson: The performance by Snarky Puppy and Metropole Orkest was a masterclass in musicianship. It was absolutely fantastic. I think there’s a real kinship between their approach and what Zappa championed: music that’s full of different genres and complex but sounds great! Sitting in the middle of that atmosphere whilst they recorded their session felt like being in the band! I can't wait to see the finished product when it comes out in September. I hate to say it Peter, but you missed a terrific show.
(John, Jen & Michael League)
As we gear up for Zappanale, I’m hoping we can carry some of that energy into our own set. Being up there again, playing the music we adore, with Robert on stage beside us, in front of the beloved Zappa community… it’s another dream come true, and yes; we are all really looking forward to it. If the stars align, it's going to be a dynamite show.
UniMuta: You played at Zappanale in 2019. In the meantime, you’ve toured the U.K. twice with Robert Martin as your special guest. (We caught you in London in April 2024 and that was a great show.) How was it to tour with Robert?
John Parkinson: It’s an absolute privilege—sometimes I still have to pinch myself! I first discovered Zappa thanks to my dad, watching Does Humor Belong in Music? on video. That was my gateway into the world of complex arrangements, biting wit, and FZ's fearless originality. And to think that all these years later, I get to perform that music onstage with Robert, someone who lived it—that’s just surreal.
Beyond his legendary status, Robert’s become a friend and mentor to us all. He’s got a treasure trove of stories, and he’s generous enough to share them—whether it’s tales from working with Frank, or gems about Stevie Nicks and Etta James. I actually pieced together a YouTube video recently highlighting some of his incredible career moments from our time chatting in the tour bus on the recent run. Any Zappa fan should give it a watch—these stories need to be shared!
UniMuta: I also found these great clips on YouTube and Bandcamp. Songs that you did with Ray White, Craig ‘Twister’ Steward, Martin Henneck and Robert Martin. How did that come about? And how did you do it, technically speaking?
John Parkinson: It started in the most unexpected way—just sitting at home during Covid, not doing much, trying to keep busy. 2020 was the year Frank would’ve turned 80, so we thought, wouldn’t it be cool to honour him with a virtual show? And from there, the idea bloomed. We decided to turn it into a charity event to raise money for prostate cancer, with people donating whatever they felt they could.
We wanted to make it special, so we reached out to some of the Zappa alumni and other great musicians we've met along the way — and to our surprise, they all said yes. It was a labour of love from start to finish. Sam would create a skeleton track and send it out to each musician. Everyone recorded their parts at home, sent the audio back to Sam for mixing, and filmed themselves performing. Those videos came to me, and I edited everything together. It took hours! But we had nothing much else to do. No rehearsing; no shows. We were mixing and editing right up to the day of the virtual show. The video is on our YouTube channel:
I’m so glad we did it. Not only did we get to know Robert better—something that eventually led to touring with him—but we also kept spirits up, stayed musically active, and got to celebrate the music we love with people around the world during such a difficult time; and raise a few quid for charity.
UniMuta: Beautiful. Thank you.
With Ray White being present at the festival, might there be a chance that he will do a song with you?
John Parkinson: Well nothing is planned, but the magic of Zappanale is such that you never know what might happen! We recorded with Ray for the Zappa 80th virtual show... so who knows!
UniMuta: Thank you for taking your time to answer these questions, John.
Have a safe trip and see you soon.
Treacherous Cretins, featuring Robert Martin, will be performing on the Zappanale main stage on Saturday, 19/07, at 21h00.
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