DAVE FLYNN COMPOSER/GUITARIST
  • HOME
  • ABOUT
    • COMPOSER
    • GUITARIST
    • ACADEMIC
      • ARTICLES
    • SONGWRITER
  • MUSIC
    • RECORDINGS
    • VIDEO
    • COMPOSITIONS
      • Orchestral
        • The Clare Concerto
        • Aontacht
        • Music for the Departed (orchestra)
        • The Man from Maghera Rambles Through Africa
        • Mesh
        • Echoes of Bamako
        • An Irish Farrago
        • ‘The Mountain Lark/Tom Doherty’s Reel’
      • Ensemble
        • Joy
        • Le Chéile is in Aonar
        • Stories from the Old World
        • Quirk No.3 'Goss Face'
        • Quirk No.5 'Horrific Spasm'
        • Manipulations
        • Polymetric Cycles
      • String Quartets
        • No.3 - The Keening
        • No.2 - The Cranning
        • No.1 - Fairground Attractions
      • Guitar Quartets
        • Sebene
        • Against Feldman
        • Cran Óg
        • Errigal Suite
        • Kora
        • Chimurenga
      • Guitar
        • An Irish Raga
        • The Mahatma of the Glen
        • Four Études for Five Fingers
        • Two Minimalist Etudes
        • Rollercoaster
        • Three Gymn O’Paddy’s
        • 5to9
        • Passacaglia
        • Rainstorm
        • Homage Sonatina
      • Flute
        • Quirk No.7
        • The Forest of Ornaments
        • Ómos do Frankie Kennedy
        • Shadowplay
        • Quirk No.1
      • Violin
        • Tar Éis an Caoineadh (Solo violin/fiddle)
        • The Longest Reel (Solo Fiddle)
        • The Valley of the Lunatics
        • Toccata for Obama
        • Between the Jigs & the Reels
        • Music for the Departed (Trio version)
        • Tar Eís an Cran
      • Piano
        • 7/11
        • 12 Tone Bach
        • Seven/Eleven
      • Vocal/Choral
        • Mna Brian Boru
        • Protest Song; Chanson de Protestation; Amhrán Agóid; Protesta Cancion
        • Liadain agus Cuirithir
        • Taibhreamh Ó Ríada
        • Full Circle
        • Two Nonsense Songs
        • I Have Always Known
      • Duets/Trios
      • Uilleann Pipes
      • Percussion
      • Electro-Acoustic
        • Electric Guichair
          • SHOP
    • IRISH TUNES
      • Clare Concerto Tunebook
  • EVENTS
  • BLOG
  • PRESS KIT
    • REVIEWS
    • PRESS REVIEWS
    • PICS
  • CONTACT
  • HOME
  • ABOUT
    • COMPOSER
    • GUITARIST
    • ACADEMIC
      • ARTICLES
    • SONGWRITER
  • MUSIC
    • RECORDINGS
    • VIDEO
    • COMPOSITIONS
      • Orchestral
        • The Clare Concerto
        • Aontacht
        • Music for the Departed (orchestra)
        • The Man from Maghera Rambles Through Africa
        • Mesh
        • Echoes of Bamako
        • An Irish Farrago
        • ‘The Mountain Lark/Tom Doherty’s Reel’
      • Ensemble
        • Joy
        • Le Chéile is in Aonar
        • Stories from the Old World
        • Quirk No.3 'Goss Face'
        • Quirk No.5 'Horrific Spasm'
        • Manipulations
        • Polymetric Cycles
      • String Quartets
        • No.3 - The Keening
        • No.2 - The Cranning
        • No.1 - Fairground Attractions
      • Guitar Quartets
        • Sebene
        • Against Feldman
        • Cran Óg
        • Errigal Suite
        • Kora
        • Chimurenga
      • Guitar
        • An Irish Raga
        • The Mahatma of the Glen
        • Four Études for Five Fingers
        • Two Minimalist Etudes
        • Rollercoaster
        • Three Gymn O’Paddy’s
        • 5to9
        • Passacaglia
        • Rainstorm
        • Homage Sonatina
      • Flute
        • Quirk No.7
        • The Forest of Ornaments
        • Ómos do Frankie Kennedy
        • Shadowplay
        • Quirk No.1
      • Violin
        • Tar Éis an Caoineadh (Solo violin/fiddle)
        • The Longest Reel (Solo Fiddle)
        • The Valley of the Lunatics
        • Toccata for Obama
        • Between the Jigs & the Reels
        • Music for the Departed (Trio version)
        • Tar Eís an Cran
      • Piano
        • 7/11
        • 12 Tone Bach
        • Seven/Eleven
      • Vocal/Choral
        • Mna Brian Boru
        • Protest Song; Chanson de Protestation; Amhrán Agóid; Protesta Cancion
        • Liadain agus Cuirithir
        • Taibhreamh Ó Ríada
        • Full Circle
        • Two Nonsense Songs
        • I Have Always Known
      • Duets/Trios
      • Uilleann Pipes
      • Percussion
      • Electro-Acoustic
        • Electric Guichair
          • SHOP
    • IRISH TUNES
      • Clare Concerto Tunebook
  • EVENTS
  • BLOG
  • PRESS KIT
    • REVIEWS
    • PRESS REVIEWS
    • PICS
  • CONTACT
Search

Blog Post 1 – Year Zero ‘Frank Zappa & Why I Do What I Do’

5/7/2014

0 Comments

 
1993, aged 16, Zappa zapped onto my TV screen. I didn’t touch the zapper once through the BBC documentary.

The hour that followed, followed Zappa zipping through his life, zipping through solos, zipping through zealous views, zipping through almost every single musical genre in existence. I couldn’t zap Zappa, Zappa’s zealous zipping zapped me.

I could have channel-hopped but I stopped to watch him genre-hop. That hour was the most important hour of my musical life.

Prior I was an angst-ridden teenager who dreamt about being dreamt about by Heavy Metal fans. An angst-ridden teenage heavy metal dreamer was I. 


Zappa changed my dream.

Zappa’s music didn’t grab me, it doesn’t grab me still but his genre-hopping grabbed me and it grabs me still.

From ‘Cocktail Lounge Combos’ to The Mothers of Invention, wild guitar solos to complex jazz fusion, satirical disco to Ensemble Modern and Tuvan throat singing with The Chieftains. Extreme eclecticism defined in one extremely eclectic definer.

Zappa’s definitive creativity, as restless as his solos and his sardonic, no bullshit humour, resonated with me hugely, dug deep into my sixteen year old subconscious mind. It resonates with me still.

As time moved on I couldn’t relate to those who couldn’t move on, those who specialised in one ‘main thing’. The blues guitarist who just plays the blues; that idea gives me the blues. The composer who just composes; the thought makes me decompose. The fiddler who fiddles the same tune, the same way, each and every day; the very notion makes me nauseous.

Why stick purely to apples when you can have pineapples too?

That is why I do what I do.

Zappa inspired me not to follow one dream but to follow them all.

Dave Flynn May 7th 2014

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    This is Dave Flynn's personal music blog. All posts are written by him!

    Archives

    November 2018
    August 2018
    May 2018
    July 2017
    April 2016
    January 2016
    August 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014

    Categories

    All
    Anthrax
    Black Sabbath
    Boulez
    Classical Music
    Contemporary Music
    Dave Gilmour
    Frank Zappa
    Heavy Metal
    Iron Maiden
    Kate Bush
    Led Zeppelin
    Megadeth
    Metallica
    Peter Gabriel
    Philip Glass
    Rock Music
    Schoenberg
    Slayer

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • HOME
  • ABOUT
    • COMPOSER
    • GUITARIST
    • ACADEMIC
      • ARTICLES
    • SONGWRITER
  • MUSIC
    • RECORDINGS
    • VIDEO
    • COMPOSITIONS
      • Orchestral
        • The Clare Concerto
        • Aontacht
        • Music for the Departed (orchestra)
        • The Man from Maghera Rambles Through Africa
        • Mesh
        • Echoes of Bamako
        • An Irish Farrago
        • ‘The Mountain Lark/Tom Doherty’s Reel’
      • Ensemble
        • Joy
        • Le Chéile is in Aonar
        • Stories from the Old World
        • Quirk No.3 'Goss Face'
        • Quirk No.5 'Horrific Spasm'
        • Manipulations
        • Polymetric Cycles
      • String Quartets
        • No.3 - The Keening
        • No.2 - The Cranning
        • No.1 - Fairground Attractions
      • Guitar Quartets
        • Sebene
        • Against Feldman
        • Cran Óg
        • Errigal Suite
        • Kora
        • Chimurenga
      • Guitar
        • An Irish Raga
        • The Mahatma of the Glen
        • Four Études for Five Fingers
        • Two Minimalist Etudes
        • Rollercoaster
        • Three Gymn O’Paddy’s
        • 5to9
        • Passacaglia
        • Rainstorm
        • Homage Sonatina
      • Flute
        • Quirk No.7
        • The Forest of Ornaments
        • Ómos do Frankie Kennedy
        • Shadowplay
        • Quirk No.1
      • Violin
        • Tar Éis an Caoineadh (Solo violin/fiddle)
        • The Longest Reel (Solo Fiddle)
        • The Valley of the Lunatics
        • Toccata for Obama
        • Between the Jigs & the Reels
        • Music for the Departed (Trio version)
        • Tar Eís an Cran
      • Piano
        • 7/11
        • 12 Tone Bach
        • Seven/Eleven
      • Vocal/Choral
        • Mna Brian Boru
        • Protest Song; Chanson de Protestation; Amhrán Agóid; Protesta Cancion
        • Liadain agus Cuirithir
        • Taibhreamh Ó Ríada
        • Full Circle
        • Two Nonsense Songs
        • I Have Always Known
      • Duets/Trios
      • Uilleann Pipes
      • Percussion
      • Electro-Acoustic
        • Electric Guichair
          • SHOP
    • IRISH TUNES
      • Clare Concerto Tunebook
  • EVENTS
  • BLOG
  • PRESS KIT
    • REVIEWS
    • PRESS REVIEWS
    • PICS
  • CONTACT