Chicago group: Features, or has featured any number of times Dave Budrys, Greg Schultz, Jeff Lien, Jonah Kraut, Bob Garrett, Gerald Dowd, your mom, Jeff Vezain, Greg Nergaard, Doug Brush, Kris Karlsson, Chris Greene, & many more...................................Los Angeles group: TZ- guitars, loops, vocals, faces Kris Karlsson- bass/vox...and any other damn instrument we might need Sarah Scarlata- insanely great rock drumming, percussion, trampoline Steven Wilson- extra guitars and the hippest vintage amp collection you'll ever see...period.......The studio recordings/demos on the player feature TZ on all instruments (and also guests Liam Davis on background vocals on "Something to Hide", & Shelley Miller on "Cinnamon Apple Cider"). Requests?
Influences
All the people, events & things I remember, and all I hope to someday forget....The Band, Kinks, Brian Eno, Meshell N'degeOcello, Kevin Gilbert, Jon Brion, Roxy Music, Horace Silver, Robyn Hitchcock, Spoon, Les Paul & Mary Ford, Steely Dan, Prince, Daniel Lanois, The Tubes, The Monkees, Rickie Lee Jones----Willie Nelson, Wire, Alice Cooper, Randy Newman-----------Kraftwerk, Dolly Varden, Todd Rundgren, Joni Mitchell, Thomas Dolby, Los Lobos/Latin Playboys, Bowie, Beatles, Stones, Dylan-----Caetano Veloso, Led Zeppelin, mid-70's Aerosmith, Curtis Mayfield, Cheap Trick, Wendy & Lisa, Nick Drake----------Joe Henry, Tortoise, Bon Scott-era AC-DC, Neil Finn, Sex Pistols, Sly Stone, Scritti Polliti, Stanton Moore, Steve Reich, Stevie Wonder, Simon & Garfunkel, David Sylvian, ssssssseriously..............Ohio Players, Jonatha Brooke, Peter Mulvey!!!-----Hank Williams, Happy Chichester & Le Royal Crescent Mob, James P. Johnson, Richard Thompson, Lucky Thompson, Beck, Jeff Beck, Peter Gabriel, Kool & The Gang, Earth Wind & Fire, Wes Montgomery, Harold Budd, Bill Nelson--------Calexico, Mitchell Froom, Queen, Wilco & Co...will, Brian Blade, The Who, re...Placemats, your grandmom, Coltrane, Calexico, Death Cab for Cutie, Miles, Fiona Apple, King Crimson, Afghan Whigs & Twilight Singers, Adrian Belew, Zappa-------Aimee Mann, Michael Penn, Iron & Wine, drinking wine, Jellyfish, Talking Heads, Marvin Gaye, Yes, Oingo Boingo, Juana Molina, too many to mention-but I'll keep trying.................... Thich Nhat Hanh! Sakyong Mipham, Bill Hicks, Tom Robbins, PT Anderson, Chuck Klosterman, Pema Chodron, MOJO, candles, fans & air cleaners, curry powder, yoga, Ricolas, sunshine on my shoulders, people who communicate well, cats...not the musical, the creature!.............................................................................................. I love to play music with my friends, and teach music to my students. I'm influenced by them and visa versa. So much to hear & learn...so little time it seems. And yet, all the time in the world.
Teacher, multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter, producer, whirling dervish Tommi Zender hails from Chicago IL. He has accompanied the likes of Steve Dawson (Dolly Varden) Congress of Starlings, The Bon Mots, Peter Mulvey, Jon Brion (at an incredible performance at Chicago's beloved Hideout) Jason Falkner (well, once...at NW university, shaking the whole way through the song, from nerves & probably too much coffee) Happy Chichester (Afghan Whigs, Twilight Singers) Phil Angotti, Lush Budgett, Nora O'Connor, John Hoskinson, Brandon Schott, Ruben Waters Loves You, Frisbie, Dag Juhlin, Tributosaurus (one of the 4 Johnny Marrs it took to do the job!) Ellen Rosner, Ashley Brooke Toussant, Shelley Miller, and many many more on various instruments, and feels fortunate to have done so. He has drummed for children's rock performing artists Justin Roberts and Ralph Covert (Ralph's World) and usually he made it home before dinnertime. ---------------------------------
Tommi has a record of his own called "Will Work For Harmony". He played all the instruments! Just like Prince...and Wesley Willis. Jeff Oliver at Riverbend studios in Chicago recorded & engineered it. It is available through CDBaby and ITunes. TZ's first record Trinkets of Joy "Just Like Mom Used to Make" is now available again (limited copies in print) through Not Lame Records. Gig information is posted on this page exclusively. New record being written currently;it should be done by 2010, tentatively titled "Popcorn Trail of Incidental Contact". Thank you for your support, and for listening.
Hey Everyone, I took some photos of John Hoskinson, Tommi Zender and Steven Wilson last Saturday August 8th at the Gypsy Den in Santa Ana, California. A great time was had by all! Here is the link. http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewPicture&friendID=81691035&albumId=2992769 Enjoy! Bill G
Hey Tommi! Traffic is a littel better up there, but still not great. I usually bypass and head up Green Bay:) We gotta catch up soon! Check out the tunes @ www. myspace. com/paolosongs
