Deli SF: Michael Zapruder: Rock and Roll Opus

Michael Zapruder has received immeasurable praise in the last few years for his endeavors, most notably his more than fifteen member band Rain of Frogs. And while the terms “genius” and “masterpiece” are tossed around in a seemingly causal way, it’s not until you hear the music and meet the man that it all comes together—and you feel like it’s all justified.

His unconventional band, Rain of Frogs, includes Nate Query from the Decemberists, Jonathan Segel from Camper Van Beethoven, Scott Pinkmountain from Pink Mountain (who also did many of the string and horn arrangements on the last album) and many others. The band’s last album, New Ways of Letting Go was released in August of 2006.

Zapruder created Rain of Frogs as exactly this—a collaborative effort among friends that would never have a closed door.

“We kind of commemorate [musicians' contributions] with this conceptual thing of like, ‘you’re not just an ephemeral passing person with no connection to us, but you’re actually part of our network, and because you played on the record, you are a creator and a part of this band,’” he said. “It felt more promising to me creatively.”

While this structure works well for Zapruder and the band, it does present challenges, such as rehearsal times and not over-filling the record with sounds.

“It’s hard to add instruments without kind of over-painting the canvas, seeming overproduced or over-thought,” he said. “I wanted to make this orchestral thing, I didn’t want to make a bloated, dumb record. I didn’t want to weigh it down too much.”

After the recording was done, the record was edited in ProTools in order to thin it out and make sure it was clear.

“But even then,” he said, “in the first song the alchemist, I had this whole trombone and cornet part that went through the whole first half of the song that I was really attached to. … For a couple of months we were working on the song and I kept trying to figure out where this fit and eventually, of course, the answer is just turn it off—just get rid of it.”

Though this presents the potential for bitterness among musicians who devote time but don’t get to be part of the song, Zapruder said the collaborative nature of the project made those feelings absent.

“Everybody wants the songs to work, so nobody was bummed when they found out that their part didn’t make it on the record,” he said.

Zapruder admitted that he at one time was a bit obsessed about making the record clean, professional and, in a way, flawless. Soon a friend gave him a wake-up call by telling him, “You don’t want this stuff to sound too good.”

“We’re not recording orchestral masterworks,” Zapruder said. “it’s still rock and roll. We tried to use our knowledge for good and not evil and not have it be too uptight because I think that could have also killed the record. There are imperfections in all the parts which I think in this kind of music is necessary.”

In the end, the album is a rock and roll album that sounds as clear as glass. The songs are fun, relatable and passionate without blasting the speakers with noise or leaving the work to just a guitar and vocals. Zapruder and his harmony co-conspirators managed to create orchestral sounds that form perfectly into the major structure of the song, like gears turning.
Just as things seem to be slowing down for the Rain of Frogs, Zapruder’s solo album is scheduled to be released this summer or fall. Elusively titled Dragon Chinese Cocktail Horoscope, it was recorded with Scott Solter at SF’s Tiny Telephone Studio.

Though the title may not spark an immediate reference, Zapruder said it describes the album perfectly.

“As we were recording the songs, I was thinking, ‘we’re making Dragon Chinese Cocktail Horoscope’,” he said. “It just created this space that I wanted to make that record. It’s not specific enough to settle into any one idea, but each of those words just bounces around in my brain and it’s very kinetic and it just felt good.”

Zapruder described some specific differences between writing music with a group and solo, particularly with the role that lyrics play.

“I don’t know if anybody else would be able to tell, but for me the solo stuff is much more about words – that’s sort of the basis of it,” he said. “As far as the Rain of Frogs stuff, it’s a lot more about the raw power of music. When you have a lot of music going on, you can just say anything and it can still be amazing—the music allows the language to do a lot less and still be really great.”

For the solo album, Zapruder also said there was a bit more pressure on him as deadlines arose and he was the sole person responsible.

“Those last few weeks I wrote a bunch of new songs and they’re some of my favorite stuff on the record,” he said. “I wouldn’t have written those if I hadn’t known, ‘oh shit, in two weeks I have to be in the studio and everyone’s going to be wanting me to play a song that doesn’t suck.’”

Both the Rain of Frogs album and the upcoming solo album have been praised by critics in general, with a few cynics. The consensus seems to be that Zapruder is an amazing talent, showcasing his songwriting, lyrical, instrumental, vocal and collaborative skills all at once, and without bravado. But they haven’t all been crystal, sometimes focusing on lyrics.

“One of the reviews criticized [New Ways of Letting Go] because they thought it was totally opaque and that there was no sense of me on the record,” he said. “But the weird thing is that [the songs] are very satisfying emotionally to perform because it’s not polluted with my own stupid shit. I’m so not interested in my own little dramas, but I create a drama that I can go into and it’s a lot more interesting.”

After what seems like a whirlwind two years for Zapruder, Rain of Frogs will go back into the studio this summer to record a new album, with a potential early 2008 release. Zapruder said the songs thus far have been rhythmic and almost repetitious. He used the work “entrainment” for the technique, which he described as “when music is reptilian and it just chugs along, and it kind of gives you this narcotic trance.”

In time, Zapruder said the band may move away from the current multi-member format, but it suits them well for the moment. And one thing remains clear—Rain of Frogs will always be undefinable, and every musician who once participated will forever be a member of this archetypal assemblage.

As posted on The Deli SF here.