JOE TRAVERS
As the Zappa Family Trust's Vaultmeister,
Joe Travers has assembled nearly 40 'new' releases from the archives since
1996, including the 'Corsaga' series of discs.[i]
Travers was Dweezil's drummer for 20 years, appearing with him on the
albums Shampoohorn
(1993), Music For Pets (1995), Automatic (2000), Go With What You Know (2006), Zappa
Plays Zappa (2008), Return Of The Son
Of... (2010), Live - 'In The Moment' (2012), F.O.H.
(2012) and F.O.H. III - Out Of Obscurity
(2012).
He finally tired of touring with ZPZ
in 2013. That year, Gail claimed he had 'saved her ass' after Frank passed away
by encouraging her to listen again to her late husband's work.
Travers has also toured and recorded
with Mike Keneally, who recommended him to Dweezil,
and his detailed knowledge and interest in Zappa’s music landed him the dream
job with the family.
I first contacted him about an
interview after
the trailer for ‘The Roxy Performances’ appeared at www.zappa.com
in December 2000. I thought he might
be able to shed some light on what the hell was going
on with the new releases – at that time, the last nugget from the Vault was Everything Is Healing Nicely, over a
year earlier.
I also had a few things I wanted to
ask him about Dweezil and “Z”.
Sadly, in 2017 the Vaultmeister asked that our
interview be consigned to the poop chute of history.
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Caricature by Antero Valério.