Chad Wackerman

Chad Wackerman was born 23 May 1960 in Long Beach, CA of drummer parents (his father was a music educator and mother has played the rudiments in drum & bugle corps). Chad auditioned for Frank Zappa in 1981. Wackerman: "I heard about [it] through a bass player friend who had auditioned. He didn't work out, but Zappa was looking for a bass player and a drummer. Throughout junior high school, I was studying drums with teachers who were very good, and very hard on me. I learned to read quite well from doing that, although nothing prepares you for Frank's music."

Chad Wackerman was one of FZ's longest standing drummers. He provided drums for:

• Ship Arriving Too Late To Save A Drowning Witch
• The Man From Utopia
• London Symphony Orchestra Vol. I
• Them Or Us
• Thing-Fish
• We're Only In It For The Money (1985 remix)
• Cruising With Ruben & The Jets (1985 remix)
• Frank Zappa Meets The Mothers Of Prevention
• Does Humor Belong In Music?
• Uncle Meat (CD version, 1987)
• Jazz From Hell
• London Symphony Orchestra Vol. II
• Frank Zappa: Guitar
• You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore Vol. 1
• Broadway The Hard Way
• You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore Vol. 3
• The Best Band You Never Heard In Your Life
• Make A Jazz Noise Here
• You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore Vol. 4
• Sleep Dirt (CD version, 1991)
• You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore Vol. 5
• You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore Vol. 6
• Läther (1996) drum overdubs
• The Dub Room Special
• Beat The Boots series disks As An Am (BTB) & Trance-Fusion
• Zappa '88: The Last U.S. Show

Chad can be seen in the following Zappa movies, as well:

• Dub Room Special
• Does Humor Belong In Music? (The Film)
• Uncle Meat (The Film)
• The Amazing Mr. Bickford
• Video From Hell
• The True Story Of 200 Motels

Chad Wackerman is a band member of The Band From Utopia. He was interviewed in the documentary The Drummers Of Frank Zappa (2010).