THE BOY/GIRL INTERVIEW

Having been a little flippant in my review of Thana Harris’ book, ‘Under The Same Moon – my life with Frank Zappa, Steve Vai, Bob Harris, and a community of other artistic souls’ for T’Mershi Duween (what can I tell ya, Fred caught me unawares; needed whatever I’d got together for the double-issue that was numbers 63 and 64, and wanted it yesterday – so I tossed it off double-quick), I thought I’d try and make amends by conducting a written interview with her. She immediately gave me a little quote on the book, that (surprise, surprise) Fred found he still had time to add to my review, and followed up with this.

IB: Tell me a little about the new album - the inspiration for some of the songs, who plays what, etc.

TH: The album didn't fall out of the sky, but it did come together almost out of the blue in a most amazing way. I've been trying to make a record for years, and it just wasn't in the cards until this year. My book ‘Under The Same Moon’ threw me into whole new head space, and circumstances in my life changed, and suddenly I had the tools I needed to make this album. It was more about musicians than money. I asked Bobby Barth, the lead guitar player of Axe, which my husband Bob Harris is lead singer for, if he'd produce a song on the album called ‘Don't Try To Come Home’. It's a sort of bluesy ballad, and I thought it was right up his alley. When I went in to do the vocals and heard the track, I thought, "This is it, I need to get these guys on as many songs as I can." It had such an organic, gutsy live feel. Bobby played guitar on the song, and bass player Blake Eberhard and new drummer Christian Teele from Axe were on the track. They were all into it, the connection was strong. Since I felt like it was a great privilege to have Bobby Barth produce and play on one song, it took some courage to email him soon after laying down that lead vocal and asking him if he'd play on another tune. At the same time, my husband Bob and I were in digital hell with some new equipment in our home studio; Bob finally suggested I just go to the Axe studio (NEH Studios) and record there. We already had some usable tracks, which we transferred. Christian and Blake ended up playing on most of the songs, which Bob (Harris) produced. The title song ‘Thanatopsis’ is the tying up of a big loose end in my life, same way my book was. There's a bit of history in how I learned about that word….a high school counsellor I was seeing told me about this poem called ‘Thanatopsis’ written by William Cullen Bryant, and although the term means "view of death", it's not morbid by any means. His view was that all things die in order to grow and expand and become something better and greater. And that's my view as well; that we die and come back to life symbolically, over and over again, in big ways and in small ways, and that everything that comes to us in life is simply a chance to improve who we are and why we're here. ‘Fingers’ is the song which was recorded at Steve Vai's first home studio in Sylmar, California in 1983. Steve had asked us to sing on ‘Flex-Able’, and then he gave us some time to record a few of our own tunes. He helped produce ‘Fingers’ along with another friend of ours, John Jones, an Australian cat who's the author of some of the Amityville Horror paperback books. Steve was recording everything on his Fostex 8 track. I'll never forget the night I tracked the lead vocal to ‘Fingers’, it was magic. We had so much fun. After we were finished, Steve stayed up and put the guitar lead on the song, matching it closely to my vocal. He really showed his professionalism and exquisite taste in the way he played with the vocal. I wanted to have a duet with Bob on my album, since so many people relate us to ‘The Boy/Girl Song’ on Vai's ‘Flex-Able’. We decided to do the song ‘White Bird’, a big hit in the late 60s by a band called It's A Beautiful Day. We've always loved that song, so we did it our own way, and it's trippy! Lastly, besides some other very cool tunes which I won't tell you about here, there's a skit with Jimmy Carl Black - the Indian of the group, that original Frank Zappa band member so many of us love. I never dreamed Jimmy would actually say yeah when I asked him if he'd be on my album. He lives in Germany, so it was a task to get his part edited in with my parts, as we did them separately. It was a cool challenge, and I think we pulled it off pretty well! I wanted to deliver something fresh and new to Zappa fans, something off the wall, and Bob and I had a lot of fun writing the skit. It precedes a novelty kind of song called the ‘Cactus Song’. I feel really happy and gratified with this record. My strength is performing live, and I hope that I get to do that if people like ‘Thanatopsis’. I would love to do a tour in Europe - I spent time there once, and fell in love with it.

IB: If you had to choose between Britney Spears and Shania Twain to provide ‘guest vocals’ on your next album, would you bother?

TH: My ten-year-old son would make absolutely sure that I'd bother!

IB: Any my kids would undoubtedly buy it. Are you ever likely to record again with Steve or the Ant-Bee?

TH: I certainly hope so. No plans right now, but everybody knows that I have no problem asking! If we lived a little closer to Billy James (the Ant-Bee), I think we'd be recording together a lot. Billy's really nice to collaborate with. We actually have Steve on another song, which we recorded in 1996, called ‘Slow Down’. It's a really cool fast song about living in the fast lane and missing the point of living. It's definitely a Rantin & Rayven tune.

IB: Are there any more gems like ‘The Boy/Girl Song’ and ‘You Didn’t Break It’ lurking in the vaults? In your book you mention a song called ‘Two Jewels’. Will you and Bob do an entire album together - perhaps including your ‘audition’ song for Frank, ‘I Love You More Today Than Yesterday’?

TH: It's in our plans to do a Rantin & Rayven album, the name we called ourselves when we sang on ‘Flex-Able’. We have lots of songs, older and newer, too. Besides ‘Slow Down’, there's ‘Two Jewels’ and some others. We're independent, so it takes longer to complete projects. But we'll get to it.

IB: Reading ‘Under The Same Moon’, it sounds like you did the ‘Hunchentoot’ vocals in one day - was anything else recorded that wasn’t used? Or were there any songs on the tape that Frank gave you that weren’t even attempted? 

TH: I'm almost positive I did some background parts for ‘Thing-Fish’, but I'm not in the credits. I'm not making claims; I'd have to listen to it again to be sure. The tape he gave me only had the songs I had to learn.

IB: Personally, I’d keep quiet about any involvement in that particular album! Now that you’ve written your story, is Bob going to write about his on the road/in studio experiences with FZ?

TH: I've asked him about it. That guy is so busy, I think for now he'd rather make music than write, so I told him if he'll put it all on tape I'll put it together for him. We've got so many projects lined up, but who knows....?

IB: Sorry for being an ‘anorak’, but did you know you omitted Bob’s contribution to Frank’s ‘You Can’t Do That On Stage Anymore Vol. 6’ from the discography at the back of the book?

TH: Are you thinking of Bob Harris #1, who passed away recently? What year was that? My Bob (Harris #2) started with Frank in 1980.

IB: Disc One has 6 songs from November/December 80. Strangely, though, your Bob’s not credited on ‘Lisa’s Life Story’ on Disc Two. What can people find on your website, and what goodies can we expect to see on offer in your online boutique?

TH: Besides ‘Thanatopsis’ and my book ‘Under The Same Moon’, I decided I wanted to have a community where projects by my friends could be featured, some of it being recordings which I've sung on. Zappa's ‘Sleep Dirt’, ‘Flex-Able’ and ‘Flex-Able Leftovers’ are there. Also, Ant-Bee's two main releases which are really cool and trippy, and my friend Greg Russo's books about Zappa and Jethro Tull. I've got Mike Keneally's most recent CD ‘Nonkertompf’. The section of the store with stuff from India is because I love India, and I have friends who go there and buy lots of stuff right out of the local wholesale markets. I thought it would be fun to have that vibe in my store and share it with people, especially if they can't get it where they live.

IB: Using only 5 words, describe Steve Vai.

TH: Baba Cool Guy Natural Boy

IB: Mark Pinske?

TH: Can fix anything, anytime, anywhere.

IB: Ike Willis?

TH: At one with Ray White

IB: Ray White?

TH: At one with Ike Willis

IB: Jimmy Carl Black?

TH: "It's me sugar, I'm back!"

IB: Frank Zappa?

TH: Patient, wise, a musical scientist.

IB: Bob Harris?

TH: Pro musician, Master pancake flipper.

IB: Incidentally, how did you meet up with Jimmy Carl Black?

TH: In 1996, we got back in touch with our friend the Ant-Bee, who we hadn't talked to in a long time (my book - ha ha! - explains the series of events that took us away from people for a few years). We were so happy to hear from him, and he told us about Jimmy and that Jimmy was living in Germany. Bob's band Axe was getting ready to go tour in Germany so Bob called J.C. up and we talked. Unfortunately they couldn't hook up in Germany. We still haven't seen the guy in the flesh, but we hope to this summer while the Grandmothers are on tour. Anyway, I called Jimmy a few months ago and asked him if he'd record the lines to a skit Bob and I wrote, send it to us and then we'd fly it in with all the rest of the parts, so he could be a guest on my album. He said sure, so that's how that happened. I admire Jimmy; he's a strong soul. I also know he loves spinach salad.

IB: Okay, final question: who won the FA Cup in 1997, and should they have been playing Chesterfield?

TH: I wouldn't know, I'm a Denver Bronco's fan! But since you asked...Chelsea won over Middlesborough on May 17...about Chesterfield, as you know they went into overtime against Middlesborough on April 13th but still tied (3-3) while Chelsea beat Wimbledon. So Middlesborough and Chesterfield had to replay on April 22 and Middlesborough won...but they lost to Chelsea in the finals (3-0); since I wasn't there to actually see it, I wonder about your concern over Chesterfield being in the finals.

IB: Er, actually, Chelsea beat Middlesborough 2-0, but I digress. “The same team as this year”, and “Probably” would have sufficed!

***

A fredited version of this interview will appear in a future issue of T’Mershi Duween. Photo of Thana (right), with Nigey Lennon (left) and Candy Zappa (centre), taken backstage at Zappanale #13 by Eric Weaver.

And, yes – that final exchange was for real!

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