“Lizard “was combination of different musicians I had played with during High School. Eddie and I had just gotten out of Airport and we were drifting around, jamming with different people. Eddie and I actually still played in “Fazoo” at the same time we were forming “Lizard.” We wanted a more experimental band than “Fazoo” offered. We had jammed with Guitarist, Eduardo(Ed) Burnel on and off during high school and Ed was into the same sound as we were. We were all big Frank Zappa fans, so some of our music took that direction.
At the beginning, we would get together for "dialectic jams" with different musicians all the time. We would start songs in various keys, no one in the same key, and try to see where the melody would take us. It was really wild and we had a blast. Some original songs actually developed from that.
In the final days of “Fazoo,” Eddie and I started playing a couple times a week with our old drummer from “Airport,” John Zimmerman. We were mainly working on various covers and few originals. One night Ed Burnel came over to jam with us since he had been involved in the "dialectic jam” sessions. I had originally met Ed in 10th grade and he always wanted to play in our Band at the time, “Blue Mist.” . He eventually became the lead guitarist for the band “Eros, “ the group that David and Leo started after” Blue Mist.” Since I had Ed in a few of my classes in High School, we knew each other well. Up until this time, we had only played a bit together in jams but nothing steady. We had a blast that night while jamming and we decided to try and work out a few tunes.
Within a couple of weeks we had enough covers to do some gigs. We picked up a few Frank Zappa songs , “ DogBreath” and” 200 Motels”, a few Stevie Wonder tunes, some Spirit and Yes, and did some imaginative arrangements of a few other tunes. We were well received and started landing gig a a few of the regular spots around town. John had to leave the band for personal reasons and we picked up Dave Rapport from Fazoo on drums.
Dave gave us more of a rock/swing feel and the songs really started sounding good. Ed was such a full guitar player, I was able to put down my guitar on half the songs and sing lead and play some percussion ( Congas, Timbales, Maracas’, etc) Ed also began adding some vocals, so our harmonies were stronger. We played numerous clubs and private parties. We actually got a steady gig at the Rhodes Brothers Club next to the Miami International airport.
We had a lot of fun, but Ed had to leave town for personal reasons and the band fizzled out. We planned on getting back together but it never happened.
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| LIZARD at the Rhodes Brothers Club |
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