Chicago, IL - New band ZAP has released a digital single called “Air Traffic   
   Control” on Steve Vai's Favored Nations label. The band is made up of   
   Emmy-nominated composer Sean McKee, who is also collaborating with Jon   
   Anderson from YES on a concept    
   album project, Ike Willis, the voice on numerous Frank Zappa albums, and   
   Grammy-nominated bassist Chip Z'Nuff (Enuff Z'Nuff, Missing Persons, Adler's   
   Appetite).   
      
   “Air Traffic Control” started as a 60 second piece that was commissioned   
   by Lee Abrams (Co-Founder of XM Radio) to have McKee write a piece of music in   
   the style of Frank Zappa, and produce a video to commemorate the 20th   
   anniversary of his passing.    
   McKee wrote and performed all instruments, including recording the keyboard   
   parts using a then-prototype Lineage MIDI guitar from Inspired Instruments.   
      
   Besides being a musician, McKee is known as a pioneer in the field of image   
   processing, creating technology used for new movies and classic film   
   restorations, along with 2D to 3D conversions, with the technology he led   
   development on being used daily in    
   Hollywood. For several years, one of his clients was Gail Zappa, Frank's   
   widow, and he worked on restoring film elements from Frank's archive, and also   
   helped to recover lost video masters that Gail hadn't seen in years.   
      
   According to McKee, “When I heard the news of Gail's passing last October, I   
   was deeply saddened, she was very kind to me, and an incredibly smart woman   
   who pioneered the concept of artists' retaining the rights to the master   
   recordings. I decided to    
   take the 60 second piece and finish it as a proper song, as a memorial to Gail   
   and tribute to Frank, who was a big influence on my playing.”   
      
   McKee crafted the song starting from the existing 60 second guitar solo,   
   building a complete song around it, similar to methods Zappa incorporated. He   
   then asked Ike Willis to sing on the track and add another guitar solo. Die   
   hard Zappa fans will also    
   notice a lyrical reference to the infamous 'White Zone'.    
      
   McKee continues, “The original solo I wrote is what ends the song, and Ike   
   takes the first guitar solo. If you close your eyes, you can see Frank and   
   hear the lineage. When Frank got sick, he asked Ike to carry on his music, and   
   while this is a new,    
   original song, his playing and voice carries the torch for both the legacy   
   fans as well as a new generation of listeners.”   
      
   McKee then asked Chip Z'Nuff to play bass on all parts except for the bass   
   under the solos, which McKee had recorded originally.   
      
   The end result is a modern interpretation and homage to a timeless and unique   
   style.   
      
   Watch the video: https://youtu.be/PULjX3rAU7k   
      
   To purchase:   
   http://itunes.apple.com/album/id1146099690?ls=1&app=itunes   
   http://itunes.apple.com/album/id1146099690   
      
   For more information: https://www.facebook.com/ZAP-BAND-1618003005158499/   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)