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Freakapuss is the band name given to the collective of musicians and
friends brought together by singer songwriter Zarjaz.
Zarjaz is no stranger to the music industry, putting out his first record,
Favorite Girls by Tronics at the age of 16, in late 1979.
Since then Zarjaz has released a string of innovative, influential and
sometimes controversial records. These include Wild Cat Rock (Red Rhino
Records), Tranzister Sister (Press), Love Backed By Force (Alien Records),
One Charmyng Nyte (Clockwork Orange style synthesised classical music,
described as the weirdest record on Creation Records) and Inter Block Rock
(Kaleidoscope Sound).
Supernatural High by Freakapuss is the latest release from Zarjaz and
comprises of 13 live recorded, extensively acoustic beat flavoured tracks
embellished with ethnic tribal bongos, d'jembe and 21st Century lyrics.
Supernatural High has recieved high acclaim and has been described as dreamy and futuristic. The album includes the tracks Inter Block Rock, Night Dreams, Chrome Droid and Six Inches High And Rising.
Zarjaz is a music legend in his own right. Zarjaz history stretches from
the sublime to the outright bizarre, from Rockabilly and Proto Cyber Punk
to Baroquabilly. He has been known for eccentric behaviour, often dressing
up in eighteenth Century fashion and purveying classical music as pop music
long before the likes of Paul McCartney and so on. Zarjaz was also once
the singer of Sigue Sigue Sputnik. He left the position but not before the
band adopted many of his ideas and styles.
Freakapuss are currently giging around Great Britain and Europe. Band
members include legendary percussionist Mike Bynoe. Freakapuss are also
recording a new album, the details of which at this time remain closely
guarded and secretive. |
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YATS Magazine article
THE FREAKIEST SHOW
By Morgan Nash
Freakapuss is a collective of musicians, fronted by and the brainchild of Zarjaz. Recently Basilica Records released an album by Freakapuss called Supernatural High. This album is highly acclaimed by YATS and is described by Basilica as non conventional acoustic bongo madness.
From research and from Zarjaz showing me photographs and press reviews I managed to put together the history of a popular music legend that sits on the music scene like a bomb waiting to go off.
Zarjaz made his first record, favorite Girls by The Tronics, at the age of sixteen. Since then he has released a catalogue of items, including some on Alien and Creation, all of them highly collectable. He has emerged with some influential images ranging from Bolanesque Hip Hop to Psychadelic Sci-Fi Psycorama and synthesized Baroque Clockwork Orange music.
The album, Supernatural High is a fine mix of ethnic and tribal tabla and d'jembe with Hip Hop, Blues, Rock and Roll and stylish 21st century lyrics. This is not your conventional every day album and needs an open mind to hear it.
Melody Maker described Zarjaz as a man who releases a record every now and again just when you least expect it. This for the most part seems to be true and is an insight to the existence of Zarjaz in the industry.
I have been on some strange interview assignments for magazines and fanzines but this one has by far been the strangest. When I was asked by YATS to conduct this interview I had no idea. It was not so much that weird carnival type things were happening all the time, although the setting and scene was weird enough, but it was more Zarjaz himself. He has a very strange quality about him. You just know that he is, lets say, set apart from other artists and that you are in the presence of something unique.
I am greeted on the street, by a girl who introduces herself as Jemima. I am then led into a building that seems to have trendy young people of different nationalities all over the place. I wondered if I had been brought into the United Nations Youth HQ as a joke. Eventually I was led into a room and I met the man who I had come to see.
There are two Chinese girls fondling each other on a couch behind Zarjaz and I couldn't resist asking him as my first question what all that was about.
Don't ask me, ask them. I don't even know who they are really. They kind of picked on me in a club and have been around ever since.
Do you get a lot of this sort of thing?
All the time. I always have. I seem to be a magnet for eccentricity.
Zarjaz then proceeded to say something to the girls in Chinese but the scene didnt change. The girls kept on going and Zarjaz looked at me waiting for the next question.
Do you speak Chinese?
I communicate.
At this point or there abouts I thought I had better ask a serious music related question.
Would it be right to say there is a Hip Hop influence in your music?
Hip Hop is all about strength. Inner strength. It comes out of repression and prejudice from the system, you know that. These are things I personally have to face and deal with a great deal. Most of us do, so there's a kind of frequencey in Hip Hop music that we are naturally in tune with. Hip Hop and rap has this feeling in the sound. Its not necessarily because people want to hear about sex and Gs.
Your songs are also very Bolan influenced making a kind of Bolan Hip Hop. Is that intentional?
Not so much intentional. I don't remember ever not being into Marc Bolan. I don't ever intentionally sit down and say I want to sound like this or that, it just comes out. I have always thought Marc Bolan had Hip Hop elements and rhythms but then thats all it is, rhythms and music.
It has been said that you stick your neck out when you make a record and do things people are generally too frightened to do. Do you agree with that?
I suppose to a great extent I do. But there are a lot of others who do that too, look at praxis or Marilyn Manson. They're pretty far out. But I believe an artist should do that. It is the worst thing to be complacent with convention.
What do you yourself think it is that makes you so individual?
I don't think I have ever been what some might call normal but sometimes I avoid it. If you want to be different you have to seperate yourself from the norm. for instance don't do things that will condition you by setting an environment where you are naturally a voyeur with an opinion of somebody else's business and so drawing you to a group opinion or way of life. I have never hung out as part of a scene. I just live differently so I think that's why I mught be considered different. Anyway whose to say what is normal. But you got to be careful or you end up coming from a place no one knows with a language no one understands but yourself. That's exactly what happened with the Clockwork Orange Baroquabilly thing. It went right over some peoples heads even though it was copied all over the industry. The classical music as pop music thing is just coming into its own. Paul McCartney is just doing it. He is saying all the things I used to say.
What was the main idea behind Supernatural High?
I've been experimenting with live recording for some time. I think at least a long time before the recent live no overdubs trend. Live music has always been the music I prefer. I would always prefer the live tour recordings to the studio albums, so I drifted over to it. But then with Supernatural High, I've got this thing that if you take a song and strip it down of all its production props and crutches, if it doesnt stand up on its own as a great song, its no good. I think I succeeded with Supernatural High. For me its a great pleasure to see a strong song.
According to the formidable sleeve note to Supernatural High, you are sliced bread and the best thing since.
Yes the famous sleeve notes. But thats going too far. Yeah, some people have a problem with the sleeve notes and they say no one ever reads them. The reason I do not have a problem with them is because everything they say is true. Mind you we tried to have some fun with some of it. There was one bit where we said that some people don't believe I exist, which is true, there is. We where thinking of putting that there are some people who wished I didn't. But that's the prejudice thing again. All the publicity we put out is true. I make a point of it. But some people don't like to see you doing anything. Instead of being pleased they prefer to diss you and put you down. I think its incredible and sad how much people are motivated by jealousy.
What do you mean, some people don't believe you exist?
I have only recently put my own picture on my records. Because of that, some people told me they thought that I was a different person on some records and Zarjaz didn't relly exist.
Can you talk about the supernatural connection?
Someone put this magnetomiter thing up to me once and it was going crazy. The needle was going wild, back and forth, off the scale. They came to check out the flat I had where it all started getting attention from the outside. They kind of had this machine and ran around looking for cold spots and things around the flat shrieking with excitement.
What was the outcome?
I never saw them again.
The brilliant Freakapuss album Supernatural High is out now on Basilica Records. apparently the cover is one of those optical illusions and if you stare at it for long enough the cats face turns into your face. |
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Location:
London, Great Britain
Freakapuss Website
zarjaz@dircon.co.uk
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