It wouldn't be accurate to say that Zolar-X were "ahead of their time", because that phrase would imply that the rest of the world caught up to them at some point. Better to say they were outside their time, sounding not quite like any band before or since, with a mix of glam, bubblegum pop, sci-fi prog, and punk that Jello Biafra called the "missing link between Chrome and The Stooges". They never put out an album during their peak -- issuing only one posthumous LP years after their breakup. Biafra's label, Alternative Tentacles, recently reissued that LP, Timeless, and, twenty five years after their breakup, it's the first opportunity many people have ever had to hear them.
Zolar-X formed in Los Angeles in 1972. They spent the decade as a fixture on the L.A. scene, becoming legendary for their alien costumes and invented personal language, but, perhaps because they didn't fit comfortably into any one niche, they never found a solid record deal, and eventually dissolved. One loyal fan named Chuck Nolan, however, kept track of them, and his efforts eventually paid off in the reissue and recent reunion gigs for the band, who hadn't played together in all those intervening years. I spoke with guitarist Ygarr Ygarrist, who's now had to assume frontman duties while original vocalist Zory Zenith serves the rest of a jail sentence stemming from a fight in 2003:
Keith Daniels: Zory was, at the time, upset with you for releasing the Zolar-X LP that you put out in 1982. What would have happened if you hadn't?
Ygarr Ygarrist: Well, if we hadn't, then Zolar-X's music would probably still be in a box in my trunk collecting dust, and I just couldn't stand that thought.
KD: Why was it so important to you?
YY: That's my life, music. I knew the songs were really, really good, and I can't help it if people say, "Well, their music was ahead of their time," or something like that. I don't know about that. That's just somebody's opinion. Everybody back then just kind of looked at us, and never listened. Plus, in 1980, when we recorded the last session in San Francisco, by that time I had went through Rock Bottom & The Spys, and learned techniques of, basically, punk rock, to add an extra flavor inside of Zolar-X. I just kind of added them in to "Jet Star 19" and "Timeless", those two songs.
KD: "Jet Star 19" is one of my favorite songs on the record. I was actually going to ask you if it would have sounded the same if you had recorded it earlier. Did that reflect what you sounded like in the mid-'70s?
YY: That was more from my punk days, about '77, '78. I just realized that if you take the chord patterns on what Zolar-X did, and you add the energy level of new wave / alternative / punk, then you come up with some really, really rock'n'roll type of stuff.
KD: How was the gig last week?
YY: It was really energetic. Very energizing. Having a product out there -- the CD with Alternative Tentacles -- just totally changed the band's base; they have something that they're familiar with. They were singing the lyrics and shouting out different titles of what tunes they wanted to hear. Much different than the old days.
KD: I noticed on the comments section of your website there were many people who said things like "I was there during that time, I read about this band, I saw them around, but I'd never heard them until last year."
YY: Zolar-X didn't actually play a lot of live shows. We were more into woman browsing and carousing. [Laughs] It was a lifestyle that we developed, and it was very, very fun, there's no doubts about it. There was, maybe, animosity from the other groups at the time, because we were so different from anybody else. Actually, we still are, but it seems like all that has settled back.
KD: Was there an element of bad timing? With glam going out, and punk coming in?
YY: I really don't think it was that, punk coming in and all that stuff. I just don't think the record companies ever listened. I really don't. There were a lot of bands that got signed back then, even if it was to a minor deal... We were more popular than they were. They're gone.
KD: You were talking about Zolar-X being a "lifestyle" earlier. There was a period where you were in character all the time.
YY: Well... yeah... that's a semi-fact. In character all the time... it sounds good, and I liked to roll with it if that's what they believed. Yes and no. Whatever we wore onstage to perform shows, we never wore out. We never wore our costumes like that. It's just that when I opened my suitcase in my trunk, all I had were dance skin-tights to put on, as far as that goes. Then when you do your hair with the point, and you've got your eyebrows already ready to go up, you just kind of look that way when you go out. There was just no changing it. It was a show offstage, but not as glamorous as when we were onstage.
KD: So it was advantageous to allow that rumor to circulate.
YY: Yeah. Nowadays, it seems that rumor has spread into reality, [but] I'm fine with it.
KD: What about the alien language that you created? Was that a real way of communicating? Could you have a conversation?
YY: Well, you know, we could say some things. Personally, we'd know what we were talking about, but as far as [it being like] Klingon or something... I've never set down and worked it out. If Zory was out of prison right now we'd probably sit down and translate, and just by doing the recitation we would come up with meaning. I'm starting to write, right now, interpretations of certain phrases, but it is not a full-blown language or anything like that. Sometimes it was to communicate, and sometimes it was more like just sounds [speaks in alien-sounding words].
KD: What did you do after Zolar-X broke up?
YY: I tried different things. I tried just writing solo material, and stuff like that. But that rumor is totally nil, there's no solo material on the clear (Timeless) LP from '82. That's all Zolar-X. I did that, then about '86 I figured that lifestyle was killing me, and so I moved to where my family was up here in Nevada. Got a job, got normal, got healthy, and then, in 2002, boom, I get a letter from Chuck Nolan, and things from that point on... Started meeting Jello [Biafra] and talking about the release of the reissue, and then it was like a new gear came into me. I'm just massively writing new songs. It's incredible, I was just working on one yesterday. It's called "Life Signs From the Stars". It's really... yeah.
KD: Do you have a studio at home? Some kind of recording equipment?
YY: I've got a little four-track that I just use to lay down demos. I don't add drums, because drums get confusing when you're separating your melodies and adding your counterpoints, and all that stuff. We'll add the drums later.
KD: Is this for a solo album?
YY: Oh no, no. I'm writing for Zolar-X.
KD: So there might be a new Zolar-X album?
YY: No "might" about it, there will be. ZX2: X Marks the Spot.
KD: Are you going to wait for Zory to be released?
YY: I don't think I can wait till 2012.
KD: Yeah, yeah.
YY: I'm going to hope and try to do something to help him get out, but he's in Oregon's penal system, and they've got some proposition there... something 11... where sentences are mandatory with no "good time", no release, no parole, no probation. You have to serve the whole time. So, unless they repeal it, he's in a bad position. I just talked to him yesterday; breaks my heart every time I do.
KD: So what can we expect from the new material? Will you stick with your classic sound, or update it a bit?
YY: The new material fits right in with classic Zolar-X, but it's more overlaid synthesizers. Right now, we're a power trio. So there's no synthesizers onstage, it's just pure rock'n'roll, but as we progress into the recording for ZX2: X Marks the Spot and Beyond I will start adding flavors of all the different instruments. Just take all the tracks and fill it up, keeping the basis of the new rocket roll wavy sound power chords. I'm using a lot of augments, diminished, but I don't use the high strings when I play diminished, I just use the low strings -- it adds flavor and a little touch to the beat. I plan to add hired musicians, and let them play the parts that we write, and get a fuller sound and fuller shows.
KD: Is Alternative Tentacles going to put this out?
YY: I'm pretty sure we'll probably have to figure out a way to do it ourselves, or get another investor. I'm not sure if Jello wants to do the ZX2 project or not. It'd be great if he does, but I'm not sure.
KD: The new songs that you talked about earlier sounded like they also had a space / science fiction theme. Are most of the songs that you've written since Zolar-X along those lines?
YY: No. Since 2002, a lot have been, but a lot of the things that I've written over the years are dealing with love, what I'd like to see happen on Earth, how I'm sick and tired of crime and guns... so many of us are. So a lot of my songs reflect those facts, and I like to write instrumentals -- soundtrack type stuff.
KD: What science fiction inspired you?
YY: Oh, Forbidden Planet, War of the Worlds, The Day the Earth Stood Still, no doubts about it. Those are standouts. 2001 was good. It made you think, but it was always so hard to figure out.
KD: What do you think was in the air in the early '70s that made so many people become fascinated with UFOs, science fiction, and space at the same time?
YY: I think a lot of it had to do with Star Trek coming back off the shelf and getting so syndicated, and so much popularity. Science-fiction conventions. Rumors of Star Wars coming out, all those things, and Bowie of course. We were at the tail-end of all the moon missions then, too, and the talk of Mars and NASA's real space trips. It just seemed like a logical choice. There's only so much Earthier feelings can do, so you've got to look elsewhere for inspiration, and the universe is pretty darn big, so there's a lot of inspiration out there.
KD: In the mid-'70s you had a real friend in [legendary DJ] Rodney Bingenheimer, and I've heard that he's going to come see you at The Knitting Factory on the 23rd.
YY: I'm sure he will! We're going to try to arrange something to have him come up on stage and announce it.
KD: He's really supported you guys over the years.
YY: Yeah, he's been very favorable to Zolar-X, and, in return, we were always very favorable to him.
KD: Who else are you looking forward to seeing?
YY: I would love to see Ace Frehley, there's no doubt about it.
KD: Were you friends?
YY: Yes we were. Eon [Flash], the original drummer back then, and Ace used to hang out together. More than me in fact. When I hung out with Ace it was with the guys -- the rest of Zolar-X, but Eon hung out with Ace personally. I'd like to see Michael Des Barres, been a long time since we've seen him. We were friends. I'd like to see Iggy. I'd like to see Alice Cooper.
KD: What was it like to play with some of those guys back then? You played with Iggy, and The New York Dolls. You played with Jobriath...
YY: Jobriath... that was a nice engagement, because that was like a week's run at the Troubadour. So we got very familiar with each other. Zory talked with him more. I'm in a position now where I'm forced into more of a lead role, but back then I kind of stayed in the background, and let Zory do that kind of finagling. I don't recall a heck of a lot, except that the first night that we played with Jobriath he had kind of a spacey show too. After he saw us, and played the first night, he didn't go back on stage with any of the space stuff. He just dropped it from his act.
KD: That's really strange.
YY: I thought so too. He had mime techniques, played piano, and he sang very well. Professional, no doubt about it.
KD: What about The New York Dolls?
YY: Oh The New York Dolls were fun, no doubts about it. To me, they were the first glam-punk band ever. They had that niche down cold, but the best story is when some of The Dolls, some of The Silverhead, and me, went to Rodney Bingenheimer's, and we set up a fantastic... There was hardly anybody there, it was like a Sunday night, but we had the greatest jam session. Too bad it wasn't filmed or recorded, because we played some pretty kick-ass music. Everything was improv. We didn't play anything any of us knew, just started going for it. I think, that night, Bianca Jagger was there. She didn't socialize much, she just had a tiny little booth where she could get away from people -- away from the dance floor.
KD: The Dolls had something of the same aesthetic as you guys. They were straight guys who dressed androgynously, straight guys who were pretty. Were you surprised at how well women responded to that look?
YY: They responded quite well, yeah. I was never surprised about it, really. I think it was more like an investigation, from the woman's point of view. Obviously, as far as Zolar-X, the women truly wanted to know what was inside the tights, and quite a few of 'em found out.
KD: I was born in 1980. I grew up with AIDS, "say no to drugs", and all that. Is it possible for me to comprehend what it was like then?
YY: Well... it was free. There was a different freedom that is gone from the planet, because of the new social diseases that are killers. So I wouldn't advise anyone to try to relive those moments in time in today's climate. It's too risky.
KD: What did have Jello have to say when he tracked you down? Were you surprised to hear from him, of all people, in 2002?
YY: Well, you know, I was totally out of the loop, and meeting Jello was like, "Wow. Somebody actually bought that album?" I mean, I never sold one until just recently. I only gave a few away. I had a few put away, but I never made a penny from that clear album till I sold a few on eBay.
KD: They're apparently worth quite a lot now.
YY: Yeah. The last one went for $365. It surprises me, considering there's the reissue CD that has everything on it. But the clear LP is a classic. The "Horizon Suite" was broken up, compared to the [version] on the reissue, which is put back together.
KD: Do you prefer LPs or CDs?
YY: Y'know, as silly as it sounds.. CDs sound fantastic, LPs sound fantastic, but I've been a cassette person. I'm old school, there, because it's just so easy to listen to a cassette, or record on a cassette. I think, in quality, CD's easier. It's crisper, but a lot of people love their vinyl. Not that I don't like vinyl, CDs just seem to have a little more ring to the stereo.
KD: You said you didn't actually play that many gigs back in the day. How did you survive?
YY: I like to say that our life-support system was Charles Patton. I'd look for him, but I have a bad feeling he's not with us anymore, because with all the hype and things going on about Zolar-X I would think for sure, if he was still alive, he would contact me somehow. Basically, he took us in. A lot of people took us in; we must've had five or six managers, and then girls took us in. That's how we survived, basically. I think that's called rock'n'roll.
KD: The old joke goes "What do you call a guitarist without a girlfriend? Homeless."
YY: That's true!
KD: How did you learn to play guitar? Who were some of your influences?
YY: The English bands of the middle and late sixties, including Jimi Hendrix -- who was actually an American from Seattle, but went over to England and then came back with a more British style. Clapton, Beck, Page. Then I just started developing my own style.
KD: You mentioned Chuck Nolan earlier. It's pretty great that you've got such a big fan.
YY: It's incredible! He's the catalyst for this all to start happening again, no doubts about it.
KD: So, if he hadn't have kept track of you, and kept a presence on the internet, it wouldn't have happened?
YY: Most likely. I was not aware... I mean, I was not online until last year, and I did it because of the Zolar-X project. So, I was totally unaware that there was chatter out there about Zolar-X. I'm very surprised, and I've watched the different [website] hits grow and grow. It seems like we created some sort of legend, and right now is the time to strike.
You can download four Zolar-X tracks from their Alternative Tentacles band page. More info on the history of the band can be found at the original Zolar-X fan page.
Zolar-X formed in Los Angeles in 1972. They spent the decade as a fixture on the L.A. scene, becoming legendary for their alien costumes and invented personal language, but, perhaps because they didn't fit comfortably into any one niche, they never found a solid record deal, and eventually dissolved. One loyal fan named Chuck Nolan, however, kept track of them, and his efforts eventually paid off in the reissue and recent reunion gigs for the band, who hadn't played together in all those intervening years. I spoke with guitarist Ygarr Ygarrist, who's now had to assume frontman duties while original vocalist Zory Zenith serves the rest of a jail sentence stemming from a fight in 2003:
Keith Daniels: Zory was, at the time, upset with you for releasing the Zolar-X LP that you put out in 1982. What would have happened if you hadn't?
Ygarr Ygarrist: Well, if we hadn't, then Zolar-X's music would probably still be in a box in my trunk collecting dust, and I just couldn't stand that thought.
KD: Why was it so important to you?
YY: That's my life, music. I knew the songs were really, really good, and I can't help it if people say, "Well, their music was ahead of their time," or something like that. I don't know about that. That's just somebody's opinion. Everybody back then just kind of looked at us, and never listened. Plus, in 1980, when we recorded the last session in San Francisco, by that time I had went through Rock Bottom & The Spys, and learned techniques of, basically, punk rock, to add an extra flavor inside of Zolar-X. I just kind of added them in to "Jet Star 19" and "Timeless", those two songs.
KD: "Jet Star 19" is one of my favorite songs on the record. I was actually going to ask you if it would have sounded the same if you had recorded it earlier. Did that reflect what you sounded like in the mid-'70s?
YY: That was more from my punk days, about '77, '78. I just realized that if you take the chord patterns on what Zolar-X did, and you add the energy level of new wave / alternative / punk, then you come up with some really, really rock'n'roll type of stuff.
KD: How was the gig last week?
YY: It was really energetic. Very energizing. Having a product out there -- the CD with Alternative Tentacles -- just totally changed the band's base; they have something that they're familiar with. They were singing the lyrics and shouting out different titles of what tunes they wanted to hear. Much different than the old days.
KD: I noticed on the comments section of your website there were many people who said things like "I was there during that time, I read about this band, I saw them around, but I'd never heard them until last year."
YY: Zolar-X didn't actually play a lot of live shows. We were more into woman browsing and carousing. [Laughs] It was a lifestyle that we developed, and it was very, very fun, there's no doubts about it. There was, maybe, animosity from the other groups at the time, because we were so different from anybody else. Actually, we still are, but it seems like all that has settled back.
KD: Was there an element of bad timing? With glam going out, and punk coming in?
YY: I really don't think it was that, punk coming in and all that stuff. I just don't think the record companies ever listened. I really don't. There were a lot of bands that got signed back then, even if it was to a minor deal... We were more popular than they were. They're gone.
KD: You were talking about Zolar-X being a "lifestyle" earlier. There was a period where you were in character all the time.
YY: Well... yeah... that's a semi-fact. In character all the time... it sounds good, and I liked to roll with it if that's what they believed. Yes and no. Whatever we wore onstage to perform shows, we never wore out. We never wore our costumes like that. It's just that when I opened my suitcase in my trunk, all I had were dance skin-tights to put on, as far as that goes. Then when you do your hair with the point, and you've got your eyebrows already ready to go up, you just kind of look that way when you go out. There was just no changing it. It was a show offstage, but not as glamorous as when we were onstage.
KD: So it was advantageous to allow that rumor to circulate.
YY: Yeah. Nowadays, it seems that rumor has spread into reality, [but] I'm fine with it.
KD: What about the alien language that you created? Was that a real way of communicating? Could you have a conversation?
YY: Well, you know, we could say some things. Personally, we'd know what we were talking about, but as far as [it being like] Klingon or something... I've never set down and worked it out. If Zory was out of prison right now we'd probably sit down and translate, and just by doing the recitation we would come up with meaning. I'm starting to write, right now, interpretations of certain phrases, but it is not a full-blown language or anything like that. Sometimes it was to communicate, and sometimes it was more like just sounds [speaks in alien-sounding words].
KD: What did you do after Zolar-X broke up?
YY: I tried different things. I tried just writing solo material, and stuff like that. But that rumor is totally nil, there's no solo material on the clear (Timeless) LP from '82. That's all Zolar-X. I did that, then about '86 I figured that lifestyle was killing me, and so I moved to where my family was up here in Nevada. Got a job, got normal, got healthy, and then, in 2002, boom, I get a letter from Chuck Nolan, and things from that point on... Started meeting Jello [Biafra] and talking about the release of the reissue, and then it was like a new gear came into me. I'm just massively writing new songs. It's incredible, I was just working on one yesterday. It's called "Life Signs From the Stars". It's really... yeah.
KD: Do you have a studio at home? Some kind of recording equipment?
YY: I've got a little four-track that I just use to lay down demos. I don't add drums, because drums get confusing when you're separating your melodies and adding your counterpoints, and all that stuff. We'll add the drums later.
KD: Is this for a solo album?
YY: Oh no, no. I'm writing for Zolar-X.
KD: So there might be a new Zolar-X album?
YY: No "might" about it, there will be. ZX2: X Marks the Spot.
KD: Are you going to wait for Zory to be released?
YY: I don't think I can wait till 2012.
KD: Yeah, yeah.
YY: I'm going to hope and try to do something to help him get out, but he's in Oregon's penal system, and they've got some proposition there... something 11... where sentences are mandatory with no "good time", no release, no parole, no probation. You have to serve the whole time. So, unless they repeal it, he's in a bad position. I just talked to him yesterday; breaks my heart every time I do.
KD: So what can we expect from the new material? Will you stick with your classic sound, or update it a bit?
YY: The new material fits right in with classic Zolar-X, but it's more overlaid synthesizers. Right now, we're a power trio. So there's no synthesizers onstage, it's just pure rock'n'roll, but as we progress into the recording for ZX2: X Marks the Spot and Beyond I will start adding flavors of all the different instruments. Just take all the tracks and fill it up, keeping the basis of the new rocket roll wavy sound power chords. I'm using a lot of augments, diminished, but I don't use the high strings when I play diminished, I just use the low strings -- it adds flavor and a little touch to the beat. I plan to add hired musicians, and let them play the parts that we write, and get a fuller sound and fuller shows.
KD: Is Alternative Tentacles going to put this out?
YY: I'm pretty sure we'll probably have to figure out a way to do it ourselves, or get another investor. I'm not sure if Jello wants to do the ZX2 project or not. It'd be great if he does, but I'm not sure.
KD: The new songs that you talked about earlier sounded like they also had a space / science fiction theme. Are most of the songs that you've written since Zolar-X along those lines?
YY: No. Since 2002, a lot have been, but a lot of the things that I've written over the years are dealing with love, what I'd like to see happen on Earth, how I'm sick and tired of crime and guns... so many of us are. So a lot of my songs reflect those facts, and I like to write instrumentals -- soundtrack type stuff.
KD: What science fiction inspired you?
YY: Oh, Forbidden Planet, War of the Worlds, The Day the Earth Stood Still, no doubts about it. Those are standouts. 2001 was good. It made you think, but it was always so hard to figure out.
KD: What do you think was in the air in the early '70s that made so many people become fascinated with UFOs, science fiction, and space at the same time?
YY: I think a lot of it had to do with Star Trek coming back off the shelf and getting so syndicated, and so much popularity. Science-fiction conventions. Rumors of Star Wars coming out, all those things, and Bowie of course. We were at the tail-end of all the moon missions then, too, and the talk of Mars and NASA's real space trips. It just seemed like a logical choice. There's only so much Earthier feelings can do, so you've got to look elsewhere for inspiration, and the universe is pretty darn big, so there's a lot of inspiration out there.
KD: In the mid-'70s you had a real friend in [legendary DJ] Rodney Bingenheimer, and I've heard that he's going to come see you at The Knitting Factory on the 23rd.
YY: I'm sure he will! We're going to try to arrange something to have him come up on stage and announce it.
KD: He's really supported you guys over the years.
YY: Yeah, he's been very favorable to Zolar-X, and, in return, we were always very favorable to him.
KD: Who else are you looking forward to seeing?
YY: I would love to see Ace Frehley, there's no doubt about it.
KD: Were you friends?
YY: Yes we were. Eon [Flash], the original drummer back then, and Ace used to hang out together. More than me in fact. When I hung out with Ace it was with the guys -- the rest of Zolar-X, but Eon hung out with Ace personally. I'd like to see Michael Des Barres, been a long time since we've seen him. We were friends. I'd like to see Iggy. I'd like to see Alice Cooper.
KD: What was it like to play with some of those guys back then? You played with Iggy, and The New York Dolls. You played with Jobriath...
YY: Jobriath... that was a nice engagement, because that was like a week's run at the Troubadour. So we got very familiar with each other. Zory talked with him more. I'm in a position now where I'm forced into more of a lead role, but back then I kind of stayed in the background, and let Zory do that kind of finagling. I don't recall a heck of a lot, except that the first night that we played with Jobriath he had kind of a spacey show too. After he saw us, and played the first night, he didn't go back on stage with any of the space stuff. He just dropped it from his act.
KD: That's really strange.
YY: I thought so too. He had mime techniques, played piano, and he sang very well. Professional, no doubt about it.
KD: What about The New York Dolls?
YY: Oh The New York Dolls were fun, no doubts about it. To me, they were the first glam-punk band ever. They had that niche down cold, but the best story is when some of The Dolls, some of The Silverhead, and me, went to Rodney Bingenheimer's, and we set up a fantastic... There was hardly anybody there, it was like a Sunday night, but we had the greatest jam session. Too bad it wasn't filmed or recorded, because we played some pretty kick-ass music. Everything was improv. We didn't play anything any of us knew, just started going for it. I think, that night, Bianca Jagger was there. She didn't socialize much, she just had a tiny little booth where she could get away from people -- away from the dance floor.
KD: The Dolls had something of the same aesthetic as you guys. They were straight guys who dressed androgynously, straight guys who were pretty. Were you surprised at how well women responded to that look?
YY: They responded quite well, yeah. I was never surprised about it, really. I think it was more like an investigation, from the woman's point of view. Obviously, as far as Zolar-X, the women truly wanted to know what was inside the tights, and quite a few of 'em found out.
KD: I was born in 1980. I grew up with AIDS, "say no to drugs", and all that. Is it possible for me to comprehend what it was like then?
YY: Well... it was free. There was a different freedom that is gone from the planet, because of the new social diseases that are killers. So I wouldn't advise anyone to try to relive those moments in time in today's climate. It's too risky.
KD: What did have Jello have to say when he tracked you down? Were you surprised to hear from him, of all people, in 2002?
YY: Well, you know, I was totally out of the loop, and meeting Jello was like, "Wow. Somebody actually bought that album?" I mean, I never sold one until just recently. I only gave a few away. I had a few put away, but I never made a penny from that clear album till I sold a few on eBay.
KD: They're apparently worth quite a lot now.
YY: Yeah. The last one went for $365. It surprises me, considering there's the reissue CD that has everything on it. But the clear LP is a classic. The "Horizon Suite" was broken up, compared to the [version] on the reissue, which is put back together.
KD: Do you prefer LPs or CDs?
YY: Y'know, as silly as it sounds.. CDs sound fantastic, LPs sound fantastic, but I've been a cassette person. I'm old school, there, because it's just so easy to listen to a cassette, or record on a cassette. I think, in quality, CD's easier. It's crisper, but a lot of people love their vinyl. Not that I don't like vinyl, CDs just seem to have a little more ring to the stereo.
KD: You said you didn't actually play that many gigs back in the day. How did you survive?
YY: I like to say that our life-support system was Charles Patton. I'd look for him, but I have a bad feeling he's not with us anymore, because with all the hype and things going on about Zolar-X I would think for sure, if he was still alive, he would contact me somehow. Basically, he took us in. A lot of people took us in; we must've had five or six managers, and then girls took us in. That's how we survived, basically. I think that's called rock'n'roll.
KD: The old joke goes "What do you call a guitarist without a girlfriend? Homeless."
YY: That's true!
KD: How did you learn to play guitar? Who were some of your influences?
YY: The English bands of the middle and late sixties, including Jimi Hendrix -- who was actually an American from Seattle, but went over to England and then came back with a more British style. Clapton, Beck, Page. Then I just started developing my own style.
KD: You mentioned Chuck Nolan earlier. It's pretty great that you've got such a big fan.
YY: It's incredible! He's the catalyst for this all to start happening again, no doubts about it.
KD: So, if he hadn't have kept track of you, and kept a presence on the internet, it wouldn't have happened?
YY: Most likely. I was not aware... I mean, I was not online until last year, and I did it because of the Zolar-X project. So, I was totally unaware that there was chatter out there about Zolar-X. I'm very surprised, and I've watched the different [website] hits grow and grow. It seems like we created some sort of legend, and right now is the time to strike.
You can download four Zolar-X tracks from their Alternative Tentacles band page. More info on the history of the band can be found at the original Zolar-X fan page.
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Jet star! 19!
it's pretty amazing that this zolar-x stuff has been released! and i'm glad this article popped up at the bottom of my window 2 years after it was written!