Chad Wackerman started playing drums for Zappa in 1981. He can be seen in the Dub Room Special! (1982), Does Humor Belong In Music? (1985), Video From Hell (1987) and The Torture Never Stops (2008) home videos and heard on numerous albums – including Ship Arriving Too Late To Save A Drowning Witch (1982), The Man From Utopia (1983), London Symphony Orchestra Vol. I (1983), Them Or Us (1984), Thing-Fish (1984), Frank Zappa Meets The Mothers Of Prevention (1985), London Symphony Orchestra Vol. II (1987), Broadway The Hard Way (1988), The Best Band You Never Heard In Your Life (1991), Make A Jazz Noise Here (1991), Halloween 81 (2020), Zappa '88: The Last U.S. Show (2021) and the 1985 remixes of We're Only In It For The Money and Cruising With Ruben & The Jets.

    Wackerman also plays alongside Scott Thunes on Dweezil's debut album (produced by Frank), Havin’ A Bad Day (1986).

    Since 1991, Wackerman has released five solo jazz fusion albums and regularly toured and recorded with Allan Holdsworth until his passing in 2017. Chad has also toured with Men At Work, James Taylor, Steven Wilson, It Bites, The Furious Bongos and Banned From Utopia.

    Between 2000 and 2005, he played a series of all-percussion concerts with fellow Zappa drummer Terry Bozzio, billed as D2. The pair also appear in the DrumChannel.com DVD The Drummers Of Frank Zappa (2009), together with Chester Thompson, Ralph Humphrey and Ruth Underwood.

    The Chad Wackerman Trio headlined Zappanale in 2007 and released a live-in-the-studio DVD, Hits, in 2010.

    Just prior to his appearance at Zappanale, a tour with Holdsworth and American jazz pianist Alan Pasqua brought Wackerman to London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall. I approached him about the possibility of an interview and he was happy to oblige – I couldn’t believe how amazingly youthful he still looks.

    I have met him a couple of times since and he really is an incredibly nice man. Indeed, it’s difficult to comprehend how he could have fallen out so badly with Scott Thunes during the 1988 tour.

    Despite asking him to contribute to my Zappa The Hard Way book, he has maintained a dignified silence on the subject.

    Wackerman met his wife, professional actress and singer Naomi Star, while on tour with the rock band Men At Work down under in 1985. They lived together in Australia for ten years, but relocated to California in 2005. Star sadly lost a two and half year battle with cancer in 2015. Their daughter, Sophia James, is a singer/songwriter who appeared on the 18th season of American Idol in 2020.

 

How did you get to audition for Zappa?
I heard about Frank auditioning drummers in 1981. I first thought that it would be pointless, that I wouldn’t get the gig. It wasn’t until I spoke with Jim Cox who said I had to go and audition, because I’d get a funny story out of it. I thought it over and realised that I had nothing to lose.
    I called Frank and spoke to him, telling him that I was a drummer who lived in LA and was interested in auditioning for the band. He said, “Do you read?” I told him I did. Then he said, “Are you a good reader or are you a phenomenal reader?”
    Not knowing quite what to say, I told him I had experience in percussion ensemble music, big band, session work, etcetera, but I hadn’t seen his notation, although the reputation of his music was that it was complicated stuff.
    He gave me his address and asked if I could be there in an hour. I packed up my drums and drove up to Frank’s house. I was let in the gate and the first person I saw and met was Steve Vai. Steve introduced me to the other core members of that tour – Ed Mann and Tommy Mars. I heard a couple of quick drum auditions and then it was my turn.
    The pieces he auditioned on were Alien Orifice, Drowning Witch (the classical interlude part), Mo ‘N Herb’s Vacation (which is arguably the most difficult drum part of his compositions).
    After somehow getting through the music, the next stage of the audition was playing in odd time signatures. We played in 21/16 and 19/8. The other guys in the band were extremely solid on this stuff and we played these grooves for a long period of time. Frank then had me play in just about every style imaginable; heavy metal, swing, funk, New Orleans style rock (he called it a Delta groove), a Weather Report-type feel, Latin styles, swing reggae, straight reggae, ska, punk… then it was combining an odd time and a ska feel or a reggae feel… after this, Frank put on his guitar and played various rock feels, solos, riffs and we began to improvise off of certain feels. This ended day one of my audition.
    Frank had me return for the next two days for more playing – I got to take home some of the music and we basically just did lots and lots of playing.
    At the end of the third day, I went home and got a call that night from Frank saying that he just had a meeting with the band and they had decided to offer me the gig. This meant three months of rehearsal, five to six days a week, eight hours a day. Frank had about eighty songs that we were to memorise and arrangements changed regularly. The tour was three months in the US and Europe. He then asked me if I was interested in the gig! I answered yes, of course.
    I was to go to his house the next morning to pick up a stack of music and entire albums to start memorising, as rehearsals started in two weeks. He then said that I got the gig because he liked my feel.

What were you doing prior to that – playing with the Bill Watrous band?
Yes, Bill’s Refuge West big band, small group and touring with singer Leslie Uggams.

What sort of music was that?
Bill Watrous is a famous jazz trombone player. He has a beautiful French horn type of sound and ridiculous facility. I played in his big band which, at that time, played originals and some arrangements of Chick Corea tunes.
    Leslie Uggams is a singer and a Tony award winning Broadway actress. She toured with a rhythm section and picked up the rest of the big band in each city.
    This was my first road gig.

Can you describe the experience of your first tour with Frank in 1981?
My first tour with Frank was especially exciting. I remember that our first show was at a University in Santa Barbara, CA. I was very nervous, but Frank was so relaxed on stage, it really put me at ease. He was such a great leader.
    By the third week on the road we were playing at the Palladium in NYC during Halloween and being recorded by MTV. We had rehearsed for three months before this so the band was very tight. It was such a change for me going from being a local LA drummer to getting to play with Frank. I’ll never forget what Frank did for me.

What did Frank ask of you when recording the new drum parts for We’re Only In It For The Money and Cruising With Ruben & The Jets? Did you work with Arthur, or separately?
Separately. Also, on Ruben & The Jets, Jay Anderson overdubbed acoustic bass after I had done the drum tracks.

As well as Money and Ruben, you were also called in to overdub tracks from the Studio Tan, Sleep Dirt and You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore Vol. 2 albums; did Frank have a programme of studio work for you, or did he just randomly call you in?
Those overdub sessions were all done in one period. Frank told me he had always dreamed of redoing the drums on those early records – to get a modern, more hi-fi drum sound.
    At first, I felt like we should not be messing with these classic recordings. But then I realised:

1. The originals still exist. The engineers transferred the original master tapes to a new digital tape, so the masters are intact.
2. If I passed on doing the recording, I would disappoint Frank and he’d hire another drummer to do it. And...
3. Frank was the composer and producer on those recordings and it was what he wanted to do.

Anything still unreleased?
I haven’t yet heard the version of Mo ‘N Herb’s Vacation that I recorded in the studio. I had overdubbed to a recording of a small wind ensemble that David Ocker put together for Frank. The recording is a very tight version of Mo ‘N Herb’s. This was done before the London Symphony Orchestra recording.

Do you regret the electronic drums on the 1984 tour?
No, not at all. It was Frank’s idea to use them at the time.
    We experimented and came up with a hybrid kit of a DW kick and snare, real Paiste cymbals and 11 electronic pads. The unit at the time was a modified Simmons SDS7. I had four digital samples on chips per pad, plus a basic analogue synth section per pad and 16 setups programmed for the show.
    I did enjoy the melodic possibilities when I would solo. I still enjoy playing melodically on the drum kit, but now I do it all on an acoustic set.

What was working on young Dweezil’s first album like?
It was fun. Dweezil played great and he was young too, maybe 18 I’m guessing.
    Steve Vai was his teacher and Scott Thunes helped him arrange his tunes, so they had it all planned out arrangement wise before I even heard the music.
    A good time was had.

How did you hook up with Allan Holdsworth?
In 1982, through my old friend and drummer buddy John Ferraro. John played in a band with Ernie Balls’ sons, Sterling, Dave and Sherwood. Dave used to cycle with Allan, so John auditioned, then John called me and said to give Allan a call and brought over the I.O.U. record.
    I auditioned shortly after. Allan had met Frank as well and Frank also mentioned that he thought I’d be a good choice in Allan’s band.
    Allan was Frank’s favourite guitarist.

You originally made a guest appearance with the Band From Utopia, then subsequently played on the whole Banned album… any more plans to record or tour with any of those guys?
The Fowler Brothers got a call from a festival in Stuttgart to play a set of Zappa music. This became the Banned From Utopia. I was called at the last minute to be a guest, so I played a couple of tunes with them at the festival.
    We then went into the studio and recorded various Zappa tunes and originals over a five year period and the result was the CD, So Yuh Don’t Like Modern Art.

So, do you think you'll work with Banned From Utopia or the Fowlers again?
I sure hope so. They are such wonderful players. Bruce and Walt are very busy orchestrating music for film, so Banned From Utopia has been put on hold.

Tell me about your work with Ed Mann on his solo CDs.
Ed and I connected from the first tour that I did with Frank. Ed is also a drummer and I found his influences very interesting – he was into all sorts of ethnic music and various urban dance styles. Ed got a record deal with the German art label, CMP Records. I played on two of Ed’s CD’s: Get Up and Perfect World.

CMP also released some of your solo albums – do you have any deal or plans for more solo records?
I have four solo project CDs: Forty Reasons; The View; Scream; and Legs Eleven. I've recorded a live performance of my band in Sydney – I need to mix and master it before putting it out.
    I also am working on a wild studio CD with Allan Holdsworth and Jimmy Johnson – all trio stuff.

And what about the Bozzio duo tours – obviously Terry’s a good friend; any more plans to work together?
We are looking at possibilities now, but nothing is confirmed. Japan is interested, as is the US. I love to play with Terry in duet format. We have a very strong musical connection.

What was working with Barbra Streisand like – did that effect your playing at all?
It was actually really fun. She was very serious about the gig. We rehearsed in a recording studio in LA.  It was also a small eight-piece band, so it was nice to work in that environment. More connection than with a large orchestra.
    It was one live show, which was made into an HBO special, Video/DVD and CD. ^[1]
    We rehearsed for a week and played one gig, so I can't say that it affected my playing. It was at a very professional level and she sounded amazing.

What was the move to Australia all about?
My wife is Australian and when we had our first child we were looking at options – living outside of Los Angeles. Sydney looked like a great option because it’s a great place to raise a child; it's a beautiful city, very cosmopolitan.

Your brothers, John and Brooks, are also drummers – all taught by your father?
My father started us, but after a while we all took lessons from Murray Spivack and Chuck Flores. Murray also happened to be the recording engineer on 200 Motels, as well as The Sound Of Music, Hello, Dolly!, etcetera.
    Murray was the first person who made me aware of Frank, when I was 13 years old.

I've been trying to find out more about the cancelled dates on the 1988 Broadway The Hard Way tour - were you ever provided with an intended itinerary?
I'll save you some time on researching this. Nothing was booked beyond the dates that we played. It was an idea to possibly add more, so nothing was cancelled. ^[2]

Okay, finally: would you like to say anything about Kurt McGettrick? ^[3]
I was shocked to hear the news that Kurt had passed away. I had such a great time working with him. We got to stretch and improvise together quite a lot on the Banned From Utopia tour of the US some years ago. He played with a huge sound and was very interesting rhythmically as an improviser. Because of the way he played when he improvised, he left space and enjoyed lots of interaction. He was a monster of the baritone sax and all the low woodwinds.
    I'll miss him and his music.

 

Interview conducted on Saturday 26th May 2007. The complete interview can be found in my book Frank Talk: The Inside Stories Of Zappa's Other People (Wymer UK, 2017). Photo of Chad by Sergio ‘Milo’ Albonico, taken from our book FZ88: A Visual Documentary Of Zappa's Final Tour (Wymer UK, 2019).

 

^[1] One Voice (1987), which includes renditions of Happy Days Are Here Again and America The Beautiful, songs would that feature on Zappa's Broadway The Hard Way tour in 1988.
^[2] A member of Zappa's horn section on the 1988 tour, who died on 6th May 2007.
^[3] This exchange actually took place via email on 11th August 2015.