fido

Swiss band Fido (or Fido Plays Zappa) plays the music of Frank Zappa.

1	fido: fido (2005, cdr, switzerland, private release) - all compositions by frank zappa
2	fido: fido plays zappa - live @ sudhaus basel (2007, cdr, switzerland, private release) - all compositions by frank zappa
3	fido plays zappa: on the dental floss (2008, dvd, switzerland, private release) - most compositions by frank zappa
	fido plays zappa: on the dental floss (2011, cd, switzerland, private release) - most compositions by frank zappa // audio release of the 2008 dvd
4	fido plays zappa: too big to fail (2011, cd, switzerland, private release) - all compositions by frank zappa
	various artists: zappanale #22 (2011, cd-promo, ger, arf society) - incl. various artists playing frank zappa compositions
	fido plays zappa: zappanale 22 (2011, dvdr, ger, private release) - all compositions by frank zappa
	various artists: zappanale #22 - retrospectacular (2011, cd, ger, arf society) - incl. various artists playing frank zappa compositions
	fido plays zappa: fido plays zappa wird 10 und feiert! (2014, usb-stick, switzerland, private release) - all compositions by frank zappa
	fido plays zappa: dirty brown (2015, 7", switzerland, private release) = bobby brown / dirty love vs magic fingers (frank zappa)
	fido plays zappa: atlantis and elsewhere (2018, 2cd, switzerland, sireena records) - all compositions by frank zappa
	fido plays zappa: atlantis and elsewhere (2018, 2lp, switzerland, sireena records) - all compositions by frank zappa / less tracks and different order compared to the 2cd set
	various artists: the spirit of sireena 13 (2019, cd, eu, sireena) - incl. fido plays zappa: 'dirty love / magic fingers' (frank zappa)

Fido Plays Zappa will be performing on Zappanale, so here's a short chat with Pascal Grünenfelder (bass & arrangements).

UniMuta : Hello Pascal, are you getting ready for Zappanale? I imagine that playing at Zappanale is the ultimate goal for a band like Fido Plays Zappa?

Pascal Grünenfelder : Once all 10 musicians are available for a rehearsal (which is not that easy, as you can imagine, cos I don't have the budegt/the authority of the big Z..) we always enjoy playing his masters music. We have some new tunes for Zappanale, eg a very nice version of a long-time favorite Evelyn, with some weird poly-rythmic &balcanic influences..

And of course its fantastic to play Zappanale & to meet some hardcore fans/bands/musicians. Ultimate goal though is to rule the world!!

UniMuta : I know that Stef played at Zappanale with ARF a number of years ago. Have any of the other bandmembers been at the festival before?

UniMuta : There's ten members in the band, which probably does not make it easy to schedule a trip to Bad Doberan. Will the entire band be there? And have you convinced other Swiss Zappa fans to come along?

Pascal Grünenfelder : Of the maybe 50 concerts we played till today, we had a horn-sub only once, which I think is quite surprising with all the busy musicians. Zappanale is full band & even our sponsor/tec Regine is gonna be there. It's rumoured we gonna have some ex-zappa-vips on stage too..

UniMuta : On your latest album, FPZ presented beautifully arranged acoustic versions of FZ compositions. Is this something that we should expect at Zappanale?

Pascal Grünenfelder : Thanks for the flattery, but Bad Doberan has to be rocked!

UniMuta : And there's one thing that I've always wanted to know. You guys regularly play on a boat?!? What's the story behind it? What's it like? What's the difference with playing in a club?

Pascal Grünenfelder : The "Kulturfloss" as its called, is a platform/raft on the river rhine in the middle of the city, where on 2 weeks every summer various bands are playin to the audience on the bank. It's been existing for some years now and has gotten kind of an "institution" in Basel.

Its a very nice place to play music, as you find yourself in the middle of streaming water in a very special ambiance, and theres tons of people when the weather is nice (the gigs are free/Kollekte). It can be hard sometimes though for a band to reach the crowd, as the "Floss" is some 30 meters or so away from the bank.

UniMuta : Excellent. Thanks for your time & see you at Zappanale. Looking forward to the concert.

Swiss band Fido, or Fido Plays Zappa as they're also called, have a new album out.
And it's no ordinary album. It's a DVD.

"On The Dental Floss" presents a recording of the concert that the band did in Basel on the twentieth of August in 2007. "So what's so special about this?", I hear you ask. Well, besides the fact that the band plays the music of Frank Zappa (and that they do a pretty good job at it), they also perform it on a raft, on a floating stage. It's a pretty spectacular and very beautiful sight.

Fido Plays Zappa treats the audience with some fine Zappa classics: 'More Trouble Every Day', 'Andy', 'Inca Roads', 'Take Your Clothes Off', ... They all get the powerful 10-piece band performance.
It's no wonder that the concert ends with "Montana", as the german word "Floss" stands for "raft".
A very fine concert in a superb-looking package.

2010 01

FiDOplaysZappa is on the road again:

next Friday, 2010/01/22, at the 'Basler Kuppel' in Basel, Switzerland at 20:30h
with a birthdayparty & guests

and it goes on:

Freiburg Br. (Germany) - E-WERK - Thursday 2010/02/04

Liestal (Switzerland) - THEATER PALAZZO - Friday 2010/02/05

Delemont (Switzerland) - SALLE DU SOLEIL - Saturday 2010/02/06

Bern (Switzerland) - MAHOGANY HALL - Thursday 2010/03/04

Basel (Switzerland) - BSCENE - Saturday 2010/03/27

Konstanz (Germany) - K9 - Saturday 2010/05/22 - C'est La Vie-Festival

Howdy,
FpZ haut ein letztes Mal vor der Somerpause in die Tasten, äh Saiten, am nächsten Samstag 22.5. im KONSTANZER K9.

Danach gibts erst wieder ein FLOSS in BASEL - FpZ spielt zum Abschluss am 14.August, und vieleicht ab & an mal ein akustisches Cüpli-Jazz-Gigli.

Die Aufnahmen mit Eric im OneDropStudio werden grad geschnippelt und verwurstet und tönen schon mal sennnsationell!
Wir freuen uns auf ein feines, geschmeidiges Akustik-Album mit einigen FpZ-Premieren wie Yellow Snow, Black Napkins, Sträuli meets 2D-Pletscher etcetc.

Erste Hörproben gibts bald auf www.FiDOplaysZAPPA.com, so be back & have a listen.

August 14, 2010, Fido (or FpZ) will be doing another concert on a floating raft in Basel, Switzerland.

Check out the website for more info:

http://www.imfluss.ch/

the first and unique "FiDOplaysZAPPA-Cüpli-Jazz-Album" is ready to go and will be released next autumn. It'll be an acoustic album that will included a couple of FpZ-Firsts like Yellow Snow, Black Napkins, Sträuli meets 2D-Pletscher etcetc.

75 YEARS TOUR 2015
Sa 21.11.15 AT-Hard, Kammgarn
Mi 2.12.15 NL-Hoofddorp, Duycker
Do 3.12.15 DE-Hamburg, Indra Musik Club
Fr 4.12.15 DE-Schwerin, Speicher
Sa 5.12.15 DE-Sazwedel, Hanseat
Do 10.12.15 DE-Arnstadt, Rockjungfer
Fr 11.12.15 DE-Weinstadt, Armer Konrad
Sa 12.12.15 DE-Lorsch, Rex Kulturhaus

DIRTY FINGERS TOUR 2017
Do 23.02.17    tba
Fr 24.02.17     DE-Arnstadt, Rockjungfer
Sa 25.02.17     DE-Hildburghausen, Route 66
So 26.02.17     DE-Magdeburg, Feuerwache
Mo 27.02.17    DE-Berlin, Musik & Frieden
Di 28.02.17    DE- Hamburg, MS Stubnitz
Mi 01.03.17     DE-Bremen, Meisenfrei
Do 02.03.17    DE-Miltenberg, Beavers
Fr 03.03.17    DE-Köln, Yard Club
Sa 04.03.17     NL-Uden, De Pul