Zappa Early Renaissance Orchestra

The Zappa Early Renaissance Orchestra is based in the Seattle area and was formed in 2012 as a result of a joke and a challenge between two old Squirrels involving Frank's music and the ukulele. The first gig was booked before the band had a name. (Just the idea of this particular music being performed on the ukulele that seems to make people start to laugh.) The membership of Z.E.R.O. is variable, ranging from a live trio to a virtual 17 piece band in the studio. The instrumentation is an ongoing experiment. Z.E.R.O.'s primary mission is experimentation and entertainment.

Alumni to date: Kevin Crosby - founder, myriad things with strings, digital widgets, balloons, narration, production etc. // Rupert Kettle - many stringed instruments // Prairie Prince - drums // Ted Clifford - keyboards // Alli Bach - Vox, vibes, percussion, tap dancing // Joe Trump - drums // Reign King - electric and upright bass // Sean Jensen - clarinet, tenor sax // Clayton Seward - beat poetry // Rob Mitchell - audio rendering // Kurt Silver - brass // Rob Morgan - vox, kazoo // Baby Cheevers - vox // Juliana Brandon - vox, kazoo, human theremin // Michael Wansley - vox // Bruce Laven - piano // Jimmy Thomas - electric guitar // Mick Zeuner (European Division) - 6 and 12 string guitar // Matt Fox - Electric Guitar // Andrew Greenaway (U.K. Division) - voiceovers /// Conrad Uno - engineering and guru audio // Chris von Sneidern - engineering // Steve Turnidge - engineering // Drew Bristow (U.K. Division) - L'expert des arts graphiques // Martin Taylor - (Irish Division) Focus Group // and counting...

The instrumentation so far has included ukulele, clarinet, electric guitar, tenor guitar, tenor sax, dobro, upright bass, acoustic bass guitar, electric bass, lap steel, trombone, piano, vocals, kazoo, beat poet, cow cans, digital widgets, acoustic guitar and a talking cabbage patch doll. The exploration continues, it looks like we're going to have a musical Turkey Baster on the next CD...