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July 2010

It’s not often that one group of people can lay claim to influencing the rise of two separate genres of popular music.

But that is exactly the case with Zapp, whose eponymous 1980 release was certified gold and became instrumental in the rise of the mid-1980s dance club and funk scene. And whose hits such as “More Bounce to the Ounce,” “computer love” and “I Can Make You Dance” became staple sample material for a generation of West Coast rap artists, from Tupac to Sounds of Blackness.

Riding a wave of interest from a younger generation of music fans, Zapp continued to soar in popularity when its 1993 album, “All the Greatest Hits,” went double platinum. However, it wasn’t long after that, the group met heartbreak.

On April 25, 1999, Larry Troutman fatally shot younger brother and lead singer Roger Troutman outside the group’s Dayton, Ohio, recording studio. Before paramedics could arrive on the scene, Larry took his own life, putting a tragic cap on an otherwise joyous and exhilarating chapter in the band’s storied career.

After a short break, drummer Larry Troutman took control of the band, making the decision to keep touring, even releasing an album of all new material, 2002’s “Zapp VI: Back By Popular Demand.”

“I attribute all of the success to God … he’s the reason for everything, he’s the reason for us to continue since we lost my brothers,” Lester Troutman said during a phone interview, referencing the death of his brothers.

However, with death often comes new life, and Troutman and company have found the addition of two familiar faces to be the spark the band needed to keep the dream alive.

“We’ve added … new guys, one is my nephew and he’s been around (the band) all of his life. I’ve got a sax guy that I’ve just added whose excellent (and) my son who is my road manager and sound man … he’s 23 he’s been around it all of his life.

“Those young guys, they understand it, they’ve been around it. Their personality and their attitude and their twist on the music is positive, it’s like a volcano erupted. It’s like it’s already hot!”

It’s this kind of enthusiasm for the music that has helped Zapp forge a legacy that has lasted more than 30 years. Not to mention Troutman’s feverish desire to give “110 percent” every time he is onstage, whether it’s a festival crowd of 15,000 or a private party of 50.

Troutman recalls how the group received its big break on a snowy January night in Cincinnati, Ohio.

“We went in and we played, there were about four people in the club that night, maybe six with the bartender. One of the people in the club was Bootsy Collins’ brother, Catfish. … He came into the dressing room, he stuck his head in and he said, ‘I want you to call this number and talk to my brother tomorrow.’ (Shortly afterwards) We went to Detroit, signed up and got a record deal.”

That’s why for Troutman every show is important, “there all big to us … you never know who’s going to be watching.”

Now 30 years and eight albums removed, Zapp is still on the road touring and promoting its bass-heavy mix of funk and soul. With 18 shows in July and August, the group has a schedule that finds it playing more shows to more people than most acts half its age. But according Troutman, that’s nothing compared to what the band is used to doing.

“That’s all, 18? I’m slacking off in my old age!” Troutman said with a laugh.

And although Zapp hasn’t been to Kalamazoo “in a hot minute,” Troutman is excited for all the fans who will be watching his group perform at 9 p.m. Saturday at the Black Arts Festival at the Arcadia Creek Festival Place.

“We don’t discriminate. We love Michigan,” he said.

http://www.mlive.com/ente...an_ma.html

[Edited 7/31/10 9:56am]

It makes me so happy that they're still going strong. It's what Roger and Larry would want.

Bring it on.

I wish Zapp the best, will check out their new music... but I really, really, really miss Roger! May he, and his misguided brother, be resting peacefully.

Love that group. Must be really difficult to go on after what happened with the two brothers. That was really tragic. Has anyone seen one of their recent shows?Is it even possible to continue without Roger? I mean,it´s cool to see them still making music and touring, but Zapp without Roger is almost unthinkable, IMO. I wish them continued success though.

KoolEaze said:

Love that group. Must be really difficult to go on after what happened with the two brothers. That was really tragic. Has anyone seen one of their recent shows?Is it even possible to continue without Roger? I mean,it´s cool to see them still making music and touring, but Zapp without Roger is almost unthinkable, IMO. I wish them continued success though.

Roger was a POWERHOUSE performer. It would be very hard to get me to go to a Zapp concert these days. Roger's absence would just be too palpable, mostly because I always noticed that the band seemed to feed off HIS energy. It would almost be like going to see Funkadelic without George Clinton, The Stone City Band without Rick James, Cameo without Larry Blackmon, or the NPG without Prince. I'm sure the music would be intact, but...

PDogz said:

KoolEaze said:

Love that group. Must be really difficult to go on after what happened with the two brothers. That was really tragic. Has anyone seen one of their recent shows?Is it even possible to continue without Roger? I mean,it´s cool to see them still making music and touring, but Zapp without Roger is almost unthinkable, IMO. I wish them continued success though.

Roger was a POWERHOUSE performer. It would be very hard to get me to go to a Zapp concert these days. Roger's absence would just be too palpable, mostly because I always noticed that the band seemed to feed off HIS energy. It would almost be like going to see Funkadelic without George Clinton, The Stone City Band without Rick James, Cameo without Larry Blackmon, or the NPG without Prince. I'm sure the music would be intact, but...

I've seen some recent live-fragments on youtube. A show in Paris looked and sounded solid. I also recently watched their Unsung-ep and it was impressive how focussed Roger was recording.

The situation came to a point that Roger needed a private driver (Robert "Bigg Robb" Smith) because outside the studio Roger kept on being so focussed on his music that he might be

in danger while driving himself. And then that Unsung-moment came when Roger's brothers and Dale DeGroat told about Roger & Larry's loss ... a deep and sad moment.

But the band explained that they felt to keep Roger's spirit alive by continuing performing, and i think it was Roger's mother who convinced them about that.

[Edited 7/31/10 15:18pm]

KoolEaze said:

Love that group. Must be really difficult to go on after what happened with the two brothers. That was really tragic. Has anyone seen one of their recent shows?Is it even possible to continue without Roger? I mean,it´s cool to see them still making music and touring, but Zapp without Roger is almost unthinkable, IMO. I wish them continued success though.

I've seen Zapp in concert since Roger's death and they still put on an excellent show.They still kick ass.

SoulAlive said:

KoolEaze said:

Love that group. Must be really difficult to go on after what happened with the two brothers. That was really tragic. Has anyone seen one of their recent shows?Is it even possible to continue without Roger? I mean,it´s cool to see them still making music and touring, but Zapp without Roger is almost unthinkable, IMO. I wish them continued success though.

I've seen Zapp in concert since Roger's death and they still put on an excellent show.They still kick ass.

...and you weren't distracted by the absence of Roger?

SoulAlive said:

KoolEaze said:

Love that group. Must be really difficult to go on after what happened with the two brothers. That was really tragic. Has anyone seen one of their recent shows?Is it even possible to continue without Roger? I mean,it´s cool to see them still making music and touring, but Zapp without Roger is almost unthinkable, IMO. I wish them continued success though.

I've seen Zapp in concert since Roger's death and they still put on an excellent show.They still kick ass.

No doubt about that. It´s just that I feel the same way as PDogz when it comes to this topic. I would definitely go to a live show and still support them, with or without Roger. I´m just sad about what happened between Roger and his brother...I´m a huge ZAPP fan and really would have loved to see them continue making music together.

Why did his brother kill him?

typo edit

[Edited 8/1/10 15:43pm]

KoolEaze said:

SoulAlive said:

I've seen Zapp in concert since Roger's death and they still put on an excellent show.They still kick ass.

No doubt about that. It´s just that I feel the same way as PDogz when it comes to this topic. I would definitely go to a live show and still support them, with or without Roger. I´m just said about what happened between Roger and his brother...I´m a huge ZAPP fan and really would have loved to see them continue making music together.

Why did his brother kill him?

It's sounds really crazy, but I think it basically came down to JEALOUSY. Roger was doing extremely well and was moving forward with his productions, and his brother felt he should have been a bigger part of what was going on. In a word: His brother was HATIN'. This was my understanding, I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong. Then burdened with guilt over what he had done, he killed himself!

From Wikipedia:

KoolEaze said:

Why did his brother kill him?

There's somewhat guessed about that by his family and friends in the Zapp Unsung-special : Roger and Larry were always a tight team.

Roger on the creative side and Larry on the business side. During their succesful years the Troutman Brothers started their own real-estate

business and helped much people in the Ohio-area getting a house. That business had been building up a lot of loan-dept, somewhere around to 4 million.

By this time it were the 90's and Roger's music was getting a lot of recognition/sampling in the hiphop-scene. As we know also,

Roger was getting invited as guest-performer in tracks of hiphop-artists such as 2-Pac & Dre's "California Love" and The Click's "Scandelous".

Roger handled these recording-deals himself without Larry's help and that's were things seemed to become troubling. On top of that the enormous

dept which the Troutman Company was dealing with.

[Edited 8/1/10 9:10am]

I was stationed at Camp Humphreys in SOUTH KOREA in 2008. on July 5th of that year, ZAPP played a FREE concert at Humphreys.. & they still BROUGHT IT just like they did in the early 80s with Roger. it was a GREAT show, better than I expected. I could feel Roger's presence there. more power to ZAPP for keepin' on. a lot of groups would have quit - they have quit - over less. I'm lookin'/waitin' for them to come through Denver anytime soon.

I just ordered "Zapp VI: Back By Popular Demand" released back in 2003, which seems to be already approaching "RARE" status. I didn't even know it existed until I came upon this thread a few days ago. It will be interesting to hear how they sound MINUS Roger. I'll be reporting back to this thread in a week or so with my review once my CD arrives in the mail. I really want to support this band, even though this CD is already a bit on the pricey side, and my guess is it will soon be out of print. I'm really looking forward to hearing it.

PDogz said:

I just ordered "Zapp VI: Back By Popular Demand" released back in 2003, which seems to be already approaching "RARE" status. I didn't even know it existed until I came upon this thread a few days ago. It will be interesting to hear how they sound MINUS Roger. I'll be reporting back to this thread in a week or so with my review once my CD arrives in the mail. I really want to support this band, even though this CD is already a bit on the pricey side, and my guess is it will soon be out of print. I'm really looking forward to hearing it.

Okay, it took me a while; have actually had it for a couple of weeks now, but am just now sitting down and giving it a serious listen. And as I said I would, just wanted to come back to this thread and contribute my two-cents about "Zapp VI Back By Popular Demand".

Overall, as many had mentioned, it's not bad. There are about three songs that made me feel it enough to not be a total disappointment, as the CD was generally "just okay" in my book. I liked "She's 'Bout To Roll", "This Is Our Song To You" (...their tribute to Roger, very touching), and "Get Up Off The Wall".

Structurally, all the parts were there, and all the songs had that signature sound that you'd expect from a Zapp record, even the production was competently executed. But after about 2 full casual listens to the entire CD, I had to ask myself "How would you feel about this album if you KNEW Roger was alive and produced it?", and my answer would be: Disappointed. I mean, it sounded like they were TRYING to sound like Zapp, instead of just BEING Zapp. I can't help but feel that if Roger were alive and had his hand in the mix, there would have been some twist to it, some added flair that would have put it over the top, and I didn't feel that. I didn't feel... IT.

Not a bad album, by any stretch of the imagination. Moreover, I'm sure Roger would be proud that the band picked themselves up, dusted themselves off, and moved on. I'm even glad that I purchased the CD and supported their efforts. But again, after only a few plays, there's no song on it that I'm thinking about going back to listen to again. I WILL hear it again though, when it comes up in one of my random playlists, and I'm sure it'll get a toe-tap or a head-bob out of me. Nevertheless, with "Zapp VI" it's clear to me that Roger has left the building. And my wish for him is that he is resting peacefully.