Carl Jah, a high-stepping master of feedback, excels at fast-fingered acid-melt solos......Guitar Player/1991
Guitar player Carl Jah proved himself to be a badass during his tenure with the zany Dread Zeppelin (who played Zep tunes with reggae backbeats and an Elvis impersonator). His latest band, Drastic Party, shows that in addition to knowing every Jimmy Page solo ever recorded, Jah is a multi-faceted rock player who gets a bunch of great tones, plays interesting parts, and cuts hair raising solos. He lays down Van Halen -meets-STP rhythm parts on "Coming Up", layers at least six different shades of fuzz on ""Parallel Trains", and shreds like the bastard child of Ritchie Blackmore and Albert King on "Woman of Extremes".......Guitar Player/Matt Blackett
A man of many talents, Carl Jah is best known for being one of the original founding members and lead guitarist of the popular 90's American band "Dread Zeppelin" that produced the now highly-regarded cult albums "Un-led-ed" and "5,000,000". Dread Zeppelin began by covering the songs of Led Zeppelin in a reggae style sung by an Elvis Presley impersonator.
Though the act now encompasses other songs, characters and styles of music, Carl Jah is no longer a member or performs with the band.
This site is a dedication to his many years spent with DZ and a place for fans to keep in touch!
Biography:
The first Dread Zeppelin release, the 7" single "Immigrant Song/Hey Hey What Can I Do", was recorded at the home studio of Dave Stewart of Eurythmics and released in 1989. After its success, a second single, "Whole Lotta Love/Tour-telvis: A Bad Trip" was released. A third, "Your Time Is Gonna Come/Woodstock (live)" was released not as a single but as part of a singles compilation entitled Komm Gib Mir Deine Zeppelin (a play on the title of the German version of The Beatles' song "I Want To Hold Your Hand").
The rest of Dread Zeppelin's first album, Un-LED-ed, consisted of more covers taken from Led Zeppelin and Led Zeppelin II, plus "Black Dog" from the untitled fourth album. Shortly before Un-LED-ed was released, the original Ed Zeppelin (percussion) was replaced by his twin brother.
Un-LED-ed was surprisingly successful, and in the fall of 1990, Dread Zeppelin took a three-week break from touring and recorded their second album, 5,000,000* *Tortelvis Fans Can't Be Wrong.
In addition to the usual "Zeppelin in a reggae style", this album also featured a cover of Bob Marley's "Stir It Up" as well as three original songs.
For the next album, the band had planned a rock opera entitled Albert about a rock critic who wanted to be a star (based loosely on the real rock critic Albert Goldman), but this never panned out. The plan changed to an album of disco covers entitled It's Not Unusual after Tortelvis left the group to run a thriving dairy called Driftwood Dairy in Southern California. In addition, in early 1992, Ed Zeppelin and drummer Fresh Cheese had both left the band. Butt Boy took over the vocals, assuming the name Gary B.I.B.B., and guest artists Screamin' Jay Hawkins and Randy Bachman (not for touring) were brought in to fill the void left by Tortelvis.
Reaction to the disco stylings of It's Not Unusual was resoundingly negative, so in early 1993 a return to the old formula ensued, which also saw Tortelvis' return to the group.
By October of that same year MTV's Beavis and Butthead's Season 3 episode "Ball Breakers" featured the Dread Zeppelin video "Heartbreaker".
In the spring of 1994, Dread Zeppelin appeared in the film National Lampoon's Last Resort and provided a song for the closing credits.
Carl Jah and Ed Zeppelin left the band shortly afterward. In 1995, during the recording of Dread Zeppelin's fifth album, No Quarter Pounder, Jah Paul Jo was asked to leave the band.
The remaining members of Dread Zeppelin signed onto Imago Records and released The Fun Sessions, a collection of classic rock covers. Since the Imago release, Carl Jah and Ed Zeppelin returned to the band and Dread Zeppelin was back with almost all the original members intact (Tortelvis, Charlie Haj, Butt-Boy, Ed Zeppelin and Carl Jah).
Zeppelin now had a new production company as of 1995 called Cash Cow, which released the live album Front Yard Bar*B*Que in December 1996 and the all-original album Spam Bake in November 1997. Dread then Signed to Cleopatra Records and recorded "Dejah Voodoo" in 1999(produced by Bob Knarley, re released by Cleopatra with a new cover and name "Re Ledded") And released on Dread Zeps' label, Cash Cow Records, was "Presents" in 2002 and Chicken and Ribs" in 2004. They are now releasing DVD media (Jah-La-Palooza 2004 and Live in Minne-Jah-Polis 2002) and bootlegs as well, after a clamoring for such product from their loyal and long time fan base.
Lead singer Tortelvis, flanked by his boys, finally got his shot at singing "The Star Spangled Banner" at Bank One Ballpark in Phoenix, Arizona, on May 27, 2005.
Tortelvis was also scheduled to sing the song at a Minnesota Twins game in 1992, but Roseanne Barr's notorious version, two days before his planned appearance, quashed that opportunity.
©2007 carljah.com All Rights Reserved.
|
