warren cuccurullo

Warren was introduced to Frank Zappa just prior to the Halloween 1976 run by Davey Moire, one of Zappa's sound engineers and a friendship ensued. He performed the "Story of Ms X." at the 1978 Palladium Halloween show as a guest, and was a full member by the resumption of the tour in February the next year, a tour that lasted until April.

Warren Cuccurullo joined Duran Duran in the early nineties, and also recorded two solo album.


	frank zappa: joe's garage act I (28) (1979, lp, usa, zappa records)
	frank zappa: joe's garage acts II & III (29) (1979, 2lp, usa, zappa records)
	frank zappa: tinseltown rebellion (30) (1981, 2lp, usa, barking pumpkin)
	frank zappa: shut up'n play yer guitar (31) (1981, lp, usa, barking pumpkin)
	frank zappa: shut up 'n play yer guitar some more (32) (1981, lp, usa, barking pumpkin)
	frank zappa: return of the son of shut up 'n play yer guitar (33) (1981, lp, usa, barking pumpkin)
	frank zappa: shut up 'n play yer guitar - box set (1981, 3lp, eur, cbs)
	missing persons: spring session m (1) (1982, lp, usa, capitol)

	missing persons: the best of the missing persons (1987, cd, usa, capitol cdp 7 46628 2) = compilation

	warren cuccurullo: machine language (1) (1997, cd, usa, imago recording company)
	missing persons: late nights early days (1997, cd, japan, bandai music entertainment)
	warren cuccurullo: roadrage (2) (1998, cd, usa, lo-fi records) - incl. 'transylvania boogie','willie the pimp' (frank zappa)
	warren cuccurullo: thanks to frank (1999, cd5”-pro, us, imago recording company ima-dj-23002) - zappa pictured on back-cover
	warren cuccurullo: thanks to frank (3) (1999, cd, us, imago recording company 72787-23002-2)
	warren cuccurullo: the blue (4) (2001, cd, usa, a private parts recording) - feat. l.shankar
	missing persons: lost tracks (2002, cd, usa, one way records one35189)
	missing persons: the best of missing persons (2002, cd, usa, capitol 7235-36234-2-5) = compilation
	warren cuccurullo: trance-formed (2003, cd, ??, ??)










	frank zappa: trance-fusion (2006, cd, usa, zappa records)
	various artists: the frank zappa aaafnraa birthday bundle (2006, itunes, -) - feat. frank, moon, dweezil, ahmet & diva zappa

Warren Cuccurullo (please note spelling, it is correct, no matter what the liner notes say...)--in case anyone wondered what he is doing now, he is in Duran Duran and has completely turned their sound around and brought them into a whole new level of music. He has been with them since 1986, and has been a full member since June 1989. The Duran fans are being very slow to accept him, but I have won a few converts.

If anyone has been wondering what Warren sounds like now, Duran Duran was on MTV Unplugged Dec. 15, 1994 at 9 PM Eastern.

If you see the movie "With Honors," they (Duran Duran) did a cover of the Led Zeppelin song "Thank You" and are on the soundtrack. Yes, that is Warren on that great acoustic guitar and backward sounding electric solo. He also was the guitarist on Duran Duran's recent hits "Ordinary World," "Come Undone," and "Too Much Information."

One final note about Warren--he performed "Watermelon in Easter Hay" as a tribute to Frank Zappa at the following Duran Duran show on the past tour: 12/6/93 Portland OR, 12/7/93 Seattle, WA, 12/8/93 Vancouver, BC, 1/13/94 (New York, NY) and 1/28/94 London, England.

Together with his excellent Duran Duran work of late, Warren has recorded a tribute album to Frank Zappa, tentatively entitled `Thanks to Frank.' He apparently recorded and mixed the whole project in 5 days! The album is slated for release at the tail end of '95. Musicians featured on the album are Nick Beggs & Pino Palladino (bass) and Vinnie Colaiuta on drums. Warren toured with Beggs and Jerry Cuccurullo (brother) - on drums - in the summer of '94 .
The title track to `Thanks to Frank' is a live recording culled from this tour. He toured the UK with Joe Travers on drums (he of Z, with Dweezil & Ahmet). If there are any Beggs/Palladino fans out there, mail me! Theyre' cool.

The songs were written during the 10 day period before Warren's Stone Pony solo show, which was July 6, 1994.
He performed most of them at that show, plus a few Zappa tunes, Duran Duran's "Ordinary World," and Missing Persons' "Discoveries."
The album HAS been completed. The title is Thanks 2 Frank, and he recorded and mixed it himself in 5 days.

The drummer on the album is Vinnie Colaiuta, session drummer to countless bands, and former member of Frank Zappa's bands. He also played on Duran Duran's "Breath after Breath."
The bassist on the album is Pino Palladino. I haven't been able to find out much about him, except that he was the bassist on Melissa Etheridge's latest album.

On the last song of the album, a ballad called "Thanks 2 Frank," the drummer is Warren's brother, Jerry Cuccurullo (a NJ-based musician who has toured with Dale Bozzio) and the drummer is Nick Beggs (formerly of Kajagoogoo). This song was recorded live at the Stone Pony show.

Warren is represented by Left Bank Management but has not found a record deal, so the album has not been released at this time.

I (Clay W. Farmer) signed Warren Cuccurullo to a record deal with my label, The Imago Recording Co. "Thanks To Frank" will be released in the US and Canada on March 19, 1996. Vinnie Colaiuta is the drummer on all tracks. Next up is the first in a series of ambient guitar albums Warren has recorded, entitled "Machine Language", due in October.
The press release for this album posted on the Vinnie Colaiuta Homepage, http://www.pitt.edu/~tjbst26/colaiuta.html , under the section Vinnie's latest works. I may also be interviewing Warrren and will have that interview posted as well.

Warren Cuccurullo recorded 25 tapes of Al Malkin Doing THE UNKNOWN.
Frank had Spence Chrislu transfer these tapes from analouge to digital tape. They were indexed and equed for use in a possible future Zappa Project.

Cyndi Glass( emailaddress=cglass@vunet.vinu.edu) sez:
Warren Cuccurullo is currently a member of Duran Duran and is working on an archival trilogy of Missing Persons releases. The first one will be called "Late Nights/Early Days" and will have a live show from 1982, plus the unreleased track, "Action, Reaction," previously only available on concert boots from 1981. He hopes to release it sometime in 1997.
As well as having been with Duran Duran since 1986, Warren has a contract with Imago Records as a solo artist and has released his first solo album in March 1996, titled "Thanks To Frank." This is original instrumental rock guitar music written by Warren, with guests Pino Palladino and Nick Beggs on bass, and Vinnie Colaiuta on drums (Jerry Cuccurullo on one track). He also is collaborating with fellow Duran member Nick Rhodes on the TV Mania project, a rock opera called "Bored With Prozac and the Internet."

pete@mailbox.co.uk (Peter Burgess) sez:
Just been having a look through the Where Are They Now FAQ and in the section dealing with Warren Cuccurullo it mentions a lack of info regarding Pino Palladino. Here's a little - Welshman Pino Paladinno is most famous for being a member of Paul Young's backing band, the Royal Family, with which he played the instantly recognisable bass solo on the intro to "Wherever I Lay My Hat". Since these days Pino has become a highly regarded session player cropping up on too numerous albums to mention. He also occasionally features in the house band in the annual Prince's Trust concerts at Wembley Arena. Not a lot of info, but better than nothing I guess.

From: Patrick Neve (splat@darkwing.uoregon.edu)
Wow, if you're interested in Warren, you really got to check out this fan-club e-zine. Massive issues available online that goes way beyond the scope of what this page could ever cover. http://cglass.vinu.edu/wc.html

From: Gary Titone (GaryTitone@aol.com)
It's hard making Cuccurullo a household name. Enjoy. Many Duran Duran fans of 2001 are having the same troubles that some of the Zappa fans from the 70's. "They Don't Realize That There's Notes Involved". Take a journey into the land of Conceptual Continuity for Warren Cucurullo has been doing some amazing things since his human Juke Box tour with Zappa.

In March 1992, I approached the Capitol/Parlophone press office about the possibility of interviewing Warren Cuccurullo for TD. On Friday 21 January this year, at 7pm, he phoned me. What follows is a pretty accurate transcript of our conversation.

When carrying out these interviews I'm always worried that people will prefer to talk about their present activities and so try to limit the number of questions I ask. In this case, though. Warren was equally enthusiastic about the past, present and future and would have been happy to answer a whole load more. Anyhow, as I slowly started to sink beneath the ocean of scrawled-upon pieces of paper (I couldn't tape it and I don't do shorthand, plus I was mindful of the fact that Warren/EMI would be footing the cost of the call), I terminated our conversation after around 40 minutes. We vaguely agreed to do it again face-to-face "next time". Naked, of course. Who knows?

WC: A friend of mine had a copy of Hot Rats. At the time I was into Deep Purple and Black Sabbath, but I really liked Willie The Pimp, it had a great guitar sound and a great riff. Then, when I was about thirteen, I saw him on 'The Dick Cavett Show' with the Turtles playing, I think. Who Are The Brain Police? with an extended guitar solo I had started playing the guitar when I was 10 - you know, copying Grand Funk - and hearing this solo and seeing his fingers move, it got me. Then I heard the Fillmore East album, which again had great guitar, plus some funny stuff like Do You Like My New Car? By the time of Over-Nite Sensation I was completely into it. I thought "This is it!". So I went to see him play at Brooklyn College, and I couldn't imagine anything else like it in rock; the way he used Ruth, George, Chester, Tom, it was everything I ever wanted. Then I saw them again at the Forum in '74 and I started taping the shows. By 1975 ten shows per tour on the East Coast. I followed the band with Terry, Patrick and Eddie in '76, and I became friendly with Davey Moire - who is now my sound man; we're both from Brooklyn - just before the Halloween shows. One night I was watching over his cases and he came back and said something about "...well, you know how Frank is." And I said "No, I don't. I've never met him." And Davey was really surprised and said "Tomorrow night, come backstage." So I took my girlfriend, Chrissie.

WC: A lot of people ask that. I don't know. But there's lots of connections to me in Joe's Garage. Anyway, I met Frank and he said "Come up to the soundcheck" and I kind of followed him around. I watched him on some other chat show, and afterwards he told me he was putting another band together - the one with the horn section used on the In New York album. That's when our friendship really started to develop. He said he liked my guitar playing, but all his other guitarists were singers, so I never thought I'd be in his band. The turning point came when he took me and my friend out to dinner on my birthday. We were in this little place in New York and William Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg were at the next table. Frank introduced us: "This is Malcolm, he's a taxi driver. And this is Warren, he's a guitar player..." And I thought "Fuuck!" Two weeks later he asked me to play on his European tour.

AG: Before you played guitar with him, you told the story of Ms X at the New York show in'78 - is that a true story?

WC: Yes. I told him it in Florida and he recorded it. he laughed all the way through. As the shows progressed he said "I really want you to do it with us". I changed the name for the show. I think be was testing me to see if I could handle it. And I handled it! Later on in a dressing room we picked up a couple of guitars and he showed me a riff, I played it and we carried on like that for about twenty minutes. A friend taped this, and when Frank heard it he went "Wow! Do you know this song?" And we continued to jam.

WC: Al's a friend - he's also known as Meatball. We used to miss school together, listen to Frank and smoke pot. Frank offered to tape his life story. He was like the Wild Man Fischer of the 80s.

AG: Do you know what happened to the planned I Need You Love album featuring those tapes of you and Al?

WC: Frank was editing those before his death. I've got another one here called The Pus Tape, it's recorded live with Vinnie and Bruce; really weird stuff. Also there's lots of stuff on video.

AG: There's a clip of you in The True Story of 200 Motels video with Ike Willis - I think it was recorded during the making of Joe's garage.

WC: And she's Italian, too! We both came up with the name. I used to wear glass earrings, tiger coats, big boots, it was my first time in the UK and I went to Kensington Market. I was buying, like, jackets for 50p and I came out wearing everything I bought. I used to go to rehearsals at the Rainbow like that.

AG: Are there any other good studio jams like While You Were Out and Stucco Homes not yet released? How did those songs come about?

WC: That was originally one piece, but Frank edited it because it had different tonalities. It came about before his studio was built. I was playing along to a live solo of Frank's and he took my track and flew it over a live Vinnie drum track. Then Frank recorded over the top of that with his Black Widow. It was unbelievable. He did it in one take! I was there all night watching him put it together, and afterwards he gave me the guitar I'd used - as payment. I used that for the next two years with Missing Persons.

AG: Frank did a stint as a DJ on WPIX-FM in November '79 - have you any idea why he dedicated The Deathless Horsie to "the Cuccurullo family"?

WC: Just friendship. I remember one time he came to Canarsie and played in my basement. This was where we used to worship him and suddenly he was there - my friends were just crying. We played Watermelon In Easter Hay which, since his death, Duran have been playing; I taught the guys it. We'll probably do it at Wembley next week.

AG: I understand you're doing an album of cover versions - is there any chance that it will include that?

WC: We could do Easter Hay as a bonus track - I've talked to Gail about it. Either that, or I'd love to do Willie The Pimp. We've already done a great version of lggy Pop's Success with Mark and Howard, and Terry - there's going to be some great drummers on it: Tony Thompson, Steve Ferrone...

WC: There's loads. The funniest one I remember was when we were at the Hyde Park Hotel with Donovan and his wife and kids. he got some pot out and the kids started helping themselves. Smothers eyes just went really wide because Frank was about to arrive at any minute. So he went and got Gail and ended up throwing them all out of the door saying "We don't like that kinda stuff". I remember I was playing Donovan's acoustic guitar with the in-laid stars and planets.

WC: We played Washington recently, but I couldn't track him down. I don't know what's happened to him.

AG: I've got a couple of questions from a friend here (hi, Gorgo!):(1) did Dale Bozzio ever perform live with Frank?

AG: (2) The band played Blondie's Heart of Glass during rehearsals in early 1980 - was it ever performed in your time?

WC: It was the hardest decision of my life. But there were always so many band changes and it got so I wanted a more permanent situation. I had been hanging out with Terry and Dale and we'd made about 10 songs together. We thought we had something special and Frank liked it. Then he called up to say he was gearing up for the road again and I said 'I think we're gonna do this band thing. He wished us all the luck in the world. So, with his blessings, we did it.

AG: The BBC made a documentary last year which shows Bozzio at UMRK with The Chieftains and those throat singers - it didn't look like Frank was participating in that session other than directing things.

AG: The official bootleg box-sets - they've been a bone of contention with some former band members who haven't been paid any royalties.

AG: When I saw Terry a couple of years ago he said he'd work with you and Patrick again " anytime, any day. perhaps we'll form another band in the future - who knows?" Do you?

WC: We definitely are going to work together again. In fact I spoke to him for about two hours this morning - they've just had that earthquake out there. I'm going to do something alongside my DuranDuran career. There's so little time - frank proved that- you've got to get stuff out there, make statements. When Terry, Patrick and I get together, there's a kind of magic. And with all we know now, it'll be something else.

AG: Steve Vai thanks you on the sleeve of Flex-Able - have you two ever actually worked together?

AG: I read that he recently phoned to compliment you on your work on The Wedding Album.

WC: Well Missing Persons were on the same label, and Bozzio and Patrick got to play on some of Andy Taylor's stuff. It was the first time in a while that I had nothing to do, so, being a Brooklyn boy, I decided to go for the jugular and I called up the rest of the band. I liked the Arcadia and Power Station outings - stuff like Election Day - and I liked the arrangement on Wild Boys; I just thought it would be great. And I was right. Like them, I was very Bowie influenced.

WC: No, not yet - but what can you do? Actually, I'm wearing even more on stage these days. Times change.

AG: In 1988, at the time of the 'Broadway The Hard Way' tour, Frank said Thomas Nordegg was unavailable because he was working for you - what was he doing?

WC: He was my guitar technician. Still is. We've been together since about 1980. He still videos a lot of things.

AG: In a 1990 interview you described yourself as a "mini-FZ" in the light of your experiences with Missing Persons and DuranDuran. How come?

WC: I'm becoming a maxi-Frank now! His influence is so strong - I find my capacity for work is endless. I've just organized a 15-piece orchestra for a Duran Duran Unplugged show. My experience with Frank is my most valuable asset.

AG: In the same interview you said you had enough material put by for three solo albums, but were committed to Duran for the time being. Is that still the case?

WC: I probably have enough material for about nine albums now! I'm gonna combine careers. I'll be doing this thing with Terry and Patrick...and a mystery vocalist - someone like Julian Lennon. It could be Ahmet!

WC: I've just played on Dweezil's guitar opus, What The Hell Was I Thinking?. Ahmet and Dweezil are amazing; together they almost equal Frank! No one will ever be quite like him, but they have his musical genius, his humor; and they can really play his stuff.

AG: In 1991, you were listed as a 'Guest Artist' in the program for the 'Zappa's Universe' concerts in New York - what happened?

WC: Oh, a problem with transport. It was so unorganized. I would've liked to - I was gonna play Crew Slut or five-five-FIVE.

AG: I understand you judged the Muffin Men as best Zappa soundalikes in a Cover Contest in Holland a couple of years back?

AG: They're a band from Liverpool who play Frank's music - they've got a really good CD just out and are about to tour Europe with Ike Willis.

WC: I've wondered what he's been doing. Mark and Howard were talking to me about doing an album of all Frank's songs that should have been hits - try and get terry involved, maybe George. I would really like to make one of his songs a big hit.

AG: Mark and Howard remained friendly on and off with Frank over the years, didn't they? At one time they were gonna be on the 'Broadway' tour.

WC: I understand he's got a good solo album out, but I haven't heard it. Dweezil loves Keneally - he raves about him all the time.

WC: Yeah, It's sort of a Duran spin-off, but it covers my work with Frank and Missing Persons.

AG: OK, a final question: have you ever tried oral sex with a miniature rubberized homo-replica?

WC: Sort of. I can say that. But it wasn't until this year. And it wasn't miniature.

warren cuccurullo (please note spelling, it is correct, no matter what the liner notes say...)--in case anyone wondered what he is doing now, he is in duran duran and has completely turned their sound around and brought them into a whole new level of music. he has been with them since 1986, and has been a full member since june 1989. the duran fans are being very slow to accept him, but i have won a few converts.

if anyone has been wondering what warren sounds like now, duran duran was on mtv unplugged dec. 15, 1994 at 9 pm eastern.

if you see the movie "with honors," they (duran duran) did a cover of the led zeppelin song "thank you" and are on the soundtrack. yes, that is warren on that great acoustic guitar and backward sounding electric solo. he also was the guitarist on duran duran's recent hits "ordinary world," "come undone," and "too much information."

one final note about warren--he performed "watermelon in easter hay" as a tribute to frank zappa at the following duran duran show on the past tour: 12/6/93 portland or, 12/7/93 seattle, wa, 12/8/93 vancouver, bc, 1/13/94 (new york, ny) and 1/28/94 london, england.

together with his excellent duran duran work of late, warren has recorded a tribute album to frank zappa, tentatively entitled `thanks to frank.' he apparently recorded and mixed the whole project in 5 days! the album is slated for release at the tail end of '95. musicians featured on the album are nick beggs & pino palladino (bass) and vinnie colaiuta on drums. warren toured with beggs and jerry cuccurullo (brother) - on drums - in the summer of '94 the title track to `thanks to frank' is a live recording culled from this tour. he toured the uk with joe travers on drums (he of z, with dweezil & ahmet). if there are any beggs/palladino fans out there, mail me! theyre' cool.

hi--here is the info about thanks 2 frank.
the songs were written during the 10 day period before warren's stone pony solo show, which was july 6, 1994. he performed most of them at that show, plus a few zappa tunes, duran duran's "ordinary world," and missing persons' "discoveries."
the album has been completed. the title is thanks 2 frank, and he recorded and mixed it himself in 5 days.
the drummer on the album is vinnie colaiuta, session drummer to countless bands, and former member of frank zappa's bands. he also played on duran duran's "breath after breath."
the bassist on the album is pino palladino. i haven't been able to find out much about him, except that he was the bassist on melissa etheridge's latest album.on the last song of the album, a ballad called "thanks 2 frank," the drummer is warren's brother, jerry cuccurullo (a nj-based musician who has toured with dale bozzio) and the drummer is nick beggs (formerly of kajagoogoo). this song was recorded live at the stone pony show.
warren is represented by left bank management but has not found a record deal, so the album has not been released at this time.

the track listing is as follows:
canarsie daiquiri
retro harmonix
next page
jam man jam
galactic ballerina
hey joe!
break it up
indian time zones
tardinha
the spider
thanks 2 frank

i (clay w. farmer) signed warren cuccurullo to a record deal with my label, the imago recording co. "thanks to frank" will be released in the us and canada on march 19, 1996. vinnie colaiuta is the drummer on all tracks. next up is the first in a series of ambient guitar albums warren has recorded, entitled "machine language", due in october.
the press release for this album posted on the vinnie colaiuta homepage, http://www.pitt.edu/~tjbst26/colaiuta.html , under the section vinnie's latest works. i may also be interviewing warrren and will have that interview posted as well.

warren cuccurullo recorded 25 tapes of al malkin doing the unknown. frank had spence chrislu transfer these tapes from analouge to digital tape. they were indexed and equed for use in a possible future zappa project.

cyndi glass( emailaddress=cglass@vunet.vinu.edu) sez:
warren cuccurullo is currently a member of duran duran and is working on an archival trilogy of missing persons releases. the first one will be called "late nights/early days" and will have a live show from 1982, plus the unreleased track, "action, reaction," previously only available on concert boots from 1981. he hopes to release it sometime in 1997. as well as having been with duran duran since 1986, warren has a contract with imago records as a solo artist and has released his first solo album in march 1996, titled "thanks to frank." this is original instrumental rock guitar music written by warren, with guests pino palladino and nick beggs on bass, and vinnie colaiuta on drums (jerry cuccurullo on one track). he also is collaborating with fellow duran member nick rhodes on the tv mania project, a rock opera called "bored with prozac and the internet."

pete@mailbox.co.uk (peter burgess) sez:
just been having a look through the where are they now faq and in the section dealing with warren cuccurullo it mentions a lack of info regarding pino palladino. here's a little - welshman pino paladinno is most famous for being a member of paul young's backing band, the royal family, with which he played the instantly recognisable bass solo on the intro to "wherever i lay my hat". since these days pino has become a highly regarded session player cropping up on too numerous albums to mention. he also occasionally features in the house band in the annual prince's trust concerts at wembley arena. not a lot of info, but better than nothing i guess.

from: patrick neve (splat@darkwing.uoregon.edu)
wow, if you're interested in warren, you really got to check out this fan-club e-zine. massive issues available online that goes way beyond the scope of what this page could ever cover. http://cglass.vinu.edu/wc.html

from: gary titone (garytitone@aol.com)
it's hard making cuccurullo a household name. enjoy.
many duran duran fans of 2001 are having the same troubles that some of the zappa fans from the 70's. "they don't realize that there's notes involved". take a journey into the land of conceptual continuity for warren cucurullo has been doing some amazing things since his human juke box tour with zappa.
http://cglass.vinu.edu/privacy/tdrttni.html

from: ed
november 2004
i recently came across a clip of a video interview with warren cucurrulo. i looked on the info you had on him but it's not mentioned.
in this video i found though, warren is laying in a bathtub giving the interview completely naked!
is this real, if you've heard about it?
i'm not sure as to the date since there's no real info on it. and the interviewer is not shown it's just warren laying in the tub talking in his birthday suit.

in march 1992, i approached the capitol/parlophone press office about the possibility of interviewing warren cuccurullo for td. on friday 21 january this year, at 7pm, he phoned me. what follows is a pretty accurate transcript of our conversation.

when carrying out these interviews i'm always worried that people will prefer to talk about their present activities and so try to limit the number of questions i ask. in this case, though. warren was equally enthusiastic about the past, present and future and would have been happy to answer a whole load more. anyhow, as i slowly started to sink beneath the ocean of scrawled-upon pieces of paper (i couldn't tape it and i don't do shorthand, plus i was mindful of the fact that warren/emi would be footing the cost of the call), i terminated our conversation after around 40 minutes. we vaguely agreed to do it again face-to-face "next time". naked, of course. who knows?

wc: a friend of mine had a copy of hot rats. at the time i was into deep purple and black sabbath, but i really liked willie the pimp, it had a great guitar sound and a great riff. then, when i was about thirteen, i saw him on 'the dick cavett show' with the turtles playing, i think. who are the brain police? with an extended guitar solo i had started playing the guitar when i was 10 - you know, copying grand funk - and hearing this solo and seeing his fingers move, it got me. then i heard the fillmore east album, which again had great guitar, plus some funny stuff like do you like my new car? by the time of over-nite sensation i was completely into it. i thought "this is it!". so i went to see him play at brooklyn college, and i couldn't imagine anything else like it in rock; the way he used ruth, george, chester, tom, it was everything i ever wanted. then i saw them again at the forum in '74 and i started taping the shows. by 1975 ten shows per tour on the east coast. i followed the band with terry, patrick and eddie in '76, and i became friendly with davey moire - who is now my sound man; we're both from brooklyn - just before the halloween shows. one night i was watching over his cases and he came back and said something about "...well, you know how frank is." and i said "no, i don't. i've never met him." and davey was really surprised and said "tomorrow night, come backstage." so i took my girlfriend, chrissie.

wc: a lot of people ask that. i don't know. but there's lots of connections to me in joe's garage. anyway, i met frank and he said "come up to the soundcheck" and i kind of followed him around. i watched him on some other chat show, and afterwards he told me he was putting another band together - the one with the horn section used on the in new york album. that's when our friendship really started to develop. he said he liked my guitar playing, but all his other guitarists were singers, so i never thought i'd be in his band. the turning point came when he took me and my friend out to dinner on my birthday. we were in this little place in new york and william burroughs and allen ginsberg were at the next table. frank introduced us: "this is malcolm, he's a taxi driver. and this is warren, he's a guitar player..." and i thought "fuuck!" two weeks later he asked me to play on his european tour.

ag: before you played guitar with him, you told the story of ms x at the new york show in'78 - is that a true story?

wc: yes. i told him it in florida and he recorded it. he laughed all the way through. as the shows progressed he said "i really want you to do it with us". i changed the name for the show. i think be was testing me to see if i could handle it. and i handled it! later on in a dressing room we picked up a couple of guitars and he showed me a riff, i played it and we carried on like that for about twenty minutes. a friend taped this, and when frank heard it he went "wow! do you know this song?" and we continued to jam.

wc: al's a friend - he's also known as meatball. we used to miss school together, listen to frank and smoke pot. frank offered to tape his life story. he was like the wild man fischer of the 80s.

ag: do you know what happened to the planned i need you love album featuring those tapes of you and al?

wc: frank was editing those before his death. i've got another one here called the pus tape, it's recorded live with vinnie and bruce; really weird stuff. also there's lots of stuff on video.

wc: and she's italian, too! we both came up with the name. i used to wear glass earrings, tiger coats, big boots, it was my first time in the uk and i went to kensington market. i was buying, like, jackets for 50p and i came out wearing everything i bought. i used to go to rehearsals at the rainbow like that.

ag: are there any other good studio jams like while you were out and stucco homes not yet released? how did those songs come about?

wc: that was originally one piece, but frank edited it because it had different tonalities. it came about before his studio was built. i was playing along to a live solo of frank's and he took my track and flew it over a live vinnie drum track. then frank recorded over the top of that with his black widow. it was unbelievable. he did it in one take! i was there all night watching him put it together, and afterwards he gave me the guitar i'd used - as payment. i used that for the next two years with missing persons.

ag: frank did a stint as a dj on wpix-fm in november '79 - have you any idea why he dedicated the deathless horsie to "the cuccurullo family"?

wc: just friendship. i remember one time he came to canarsie and played in my basement. this was where we used to worship him and suddenly he was there - my friends were just crying. we played watermelon in easter hay which, since his death, duran have been playing; i taught the guys it. we'll probably do it at wembley next week.

ag: i understand you're doing an album of cover versions - is there any chance that it will include that?

wc: we could do easter hay as a bonus track - i've talked to gail about it. either that, or i'd love to do willie the pimp. we've already done a great version of lggy pop's success with mark and howard, and terry - there's going to be some great drummers on it: tony thompson, steve ferrone...

wc: there's loads. the funniest one i remember was when we were at the hyde park hotel with donovan and his wife and kids. he got some pot out and the kids started helping themselves. smothers eyes just went really wide because frank was about to arrive at any minute. so he went and got gail and ended up throwing them all out of the door saying "we don't like that kinda stuff". i remember i was playing donovan's acoustic guitar with the in-laid stars and planets.

wc: we played washington recently, but i couldn't track him down. i don't know what's happened to him.

ag: i've got a couple of questions from a friend here (hi, gorgo!):(1) did dale bozzio ever perform live with frank?

ag: (2) the band played blondie's heart of glass during rehearsals in early 1980 - was it ever performed in your time?

wc: it was the hardest decision of my life. but there were always so many band changes and it got so i wanted a more permanent situation. i had been hanging out with terry and dale and we'd made about 10 songs together. we thought we had something special and frank liked it. then he called up to say he was gearing up for the road again and i said 'i think we're gonna do this band thing. he wished us all the luck in the world. so, with his blessings, we did it.

ag: the bbc made a documentary last year which shows bozzio at umrk with the chieftains and those throat singers - it didn't look like frank was participating in that session other than directing things.

ag: the official bootleg box-sets - they've been a bone of contention with some former band members who haven't been paid any royalties.

ag: when i saw terry a couple of years ago he said he'd work with you and patrick again " anytime, any day. perhaps we'll form another band in the future - who knows?" do you?

wc: we definitely are going to work together again. in fact i spoke to him for about two hours this morning - they've just had that earthquake out there. i'm going to do something alongside my duranduran career. there's so little time - frank proved that- you've got to get stuff out there, make statements. when terry, patrick and i get together, there's a kind of magic. and with all we know now, it'll be something else.

ag: steve vai thanks you on the sleeve of flex-able - have you two ever actually worked together?

ag: i read that he recently phoned to compliment you on your work on the wedding album.

wc: well missing persons were on the same label, and bozzio and patrick got to play on some of andy taylor's stuff. it was the first time in a while that i had nothing to do, so, being a brooklyn boy, i decided to go for the jugular and i called up the rest of the band. i liked the arcadia and power station outings - stuff like election day - and i liked the arrangement on wild boys; i just thought it would be great. and i was right. like them, i was very bowie influenced.

wc: no, not yet - but what can you do? actually, i'm wearing even more on stage these days. times change.

ag: in 1988, at the time of the 'broadway the hard way' tour, frank said thomas nordegg was unavailable because he was working for you - what was he doing?

wc: he was my guitar technician. still is. we've been together since about 1980. he still videos a lot of things.

ag: in a 1990 interview you described yourself as a "mini-fz" in the light of your experiences with missing persons and duranduran. how come?

wc: i'm becoming a maxi-frank now! his influence is so strong - i find my capacity for work is endless. i've just organized a 15-piece orchestra for a duran duran unplugged show. my experience with frank is my most valuable asset.

ag: in the same interview you said you had enough material put by for three solo albums, but were committed to duran for the time being. is that still the case?

wc: i probably have enough material for about nine albums now! i'm gonna combine careers. i'll be doing this thing with terry and patrick...and a mystery vocalist - someone like julian lennon. it could be ahmet!

wc: i've just played on dweezil's guitar opus, what the hell was i thinking?. ahmet and dweezil are amazing; together they almost equal frank! no one will ever be quite like him, but they have his musical genius, his humor; and they can really play his stuff.

ag: in 1991, you were listed as a 'guest artist' in the program for the 'zappa's universe' concerts in new york - what happened?

wc: oh, a problem with transport. it was so unorganized. i would've liked to - i was gonna play crew slut or five-five-five.

ag: i understand you judged the muffin men as best zappa soundalikes in a cover contest in holland a couple of years back?

ag: they're a band from liverpool who play frank's music - they've got a really good cd just out and are about to tour europe with ike willis.

wc: i've wondered what he's been doing. mark and howard were talking to me about doing an album of all frank's songs that should have been hits - try and get terry involved, maybe george. i would really like to make one of his songs a big hit.

ag: mark and howard remained friendly on and off with frank over the years, didn't they? at one time they were gonna be on the 'broadway' tour.

wc: i understand he's got a good solo album out, but i haven't heard it. dweezil loves keneally - he raves about him all the time.

wc: yeah, it's sort of a duran spin-off, but it covers my work with frank and missing persons.

ag: ok, a final question: have you ever tried oral sex with a miniature rubberized homo-replica?

wc: sort of. i can say that. but it wasn't until this year. and it wasn't miniature.