Reviewed by Paul J Zickler
Released: 1981 Zeabra Makin' Tracks Genre: AOR Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Highlights: Tell The World Together Your Fool Again Promises (The following review is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely based on the two websites that had any information at all about the band Zeabra.) If you walk into Music Unlimited on Kickapoo Spur Street in Shawnee, Oklahoma, you just might run into three former members of Zeabra, a melodic AOR band whose 1981 album Makin’ Tracks catapulted them to fame. Or at least that was the plan. “Yeah we made that record with high hopes,” says drummer and sales rep Pat Kelly. “Figured it was just a matter of time before we’d hear our songs on the radio.” [1] “We even put them radio sound effects on there, remember? Right before that Together Forever song? Made it sound like our song was comin’ up next, right between Styx and Foreigner,” Chris Kelly, Pat’s big brother, fellow sales rep and keyboard player adds. “Thought that was pretty clever.” “It was,” Jeff Hawkins states quietly. “The song was just called Together, Chris. There’s a kid in the keyboard section needs help with that Roland,” he adds. Chris nods and wanders off. It’s Jeff’s store, after all. [2] Was he expecting a hit? Jeff says he wasn’t sure. He just loved the feeling of being in the studio. “I grew up listening to the Beatles, thinkin’ about McCartney and George Martin at Abbey Road, making those amazing albums. We’d played a lot of gigs by then, had some good songs, a sound we thought could break through. But a hit? Well … maybe.” “I thought that song with the sax mighta done something. People liked that kinda wimpy sax sound, so I was hopin’ that was the one. What was it called?” Pat asks. “Your Fool Again,” Jeff answers. “Puttin’ the sax on there was the producer’s idea though really. We weren’t nuts about it.” “Big Ron!” calls Chris from the keyboard room. [3] “Big Ron, yeah,” Pat laughs. “That guy made us a buncha promises. Not a one of ‘em paid off. Hey, Promises. That was a good tune. You wrote that, right?” Jeff nods. Chris returns to the main room. “That kid wasn’t serious. Just wanted to mess around.” He turns to me. “Promises was a helluva song.” “Mostly cuz of your keyboard solos!” Pat says, leaning back on his stool behind the big Premier drum kit in the corner. “Jeff wrote it and played some nice guitar on it,” Chris adds humbly. Jeff shakes his head. “Nobody noticed.” He walks over to the door, where an older gentleman wearing a sheriff badge is just entering the store. “Hey Mike.” Mike picks up a Fender Precision bass, sits on a stool, and fingers it quietly, looking a bit sheepish. “This here’s Mike Hembree. Thanks for coming in, Mike. We was just discussing Makin’ Tracks,” Jeff says. “Mike played bass on that record.” Mike says nothing, just smiles. I ask if he, too, thought the record would be successful. He shrugs. “Long time ago.” He looks a bit distant, but not unfriendly. There is a pause. “S’pose we oughta mention Mike’s brother, Mark,” says Pat, then looks away, unsure of himself. “I mean, if it’s OK with you, Mike.” “Yeah, it’s fine,” Mike mumbles. He looks directly at me. “Mark believed in the band. Believed in Zeabra. He and Chris co-wrote most of the songs.” “Hell, he wrote ‘em. I just helped him put the chords and notes down on paper,” Chris adds, sipping from a coffee mug emblazoned with the Casio logo. “I mean, he invented all of it. The lyrics, the hooks…” “My, my, my,” Pat sings, playing 4 beats on his knees. “That’s from Tell The World. That coulda been Journey, REO – one of them Power Pop bands even! ‘Cept we made it more rockin’. First time Mark showed me that song, I was blown away. Damn, that shoulda been huge! Even had a cowbell in it.” He laughs. “His harmonies were killer, guitar solos too.” Mike looks down at the floor. “Miss him every day.” “We all do,” says Jeff. The four men look uncomfortable, yet completely in their element. It’s not hard to imagine them 42 years younger, full of hope and dreams. “We still play now and then, you know.” “Not so much anymore,” Chris adds. “Still, no regrets. We gave it a shot.” “Damn good shot,” says Pat. “Can I play that Fender up there? The red Strat?” an anxious young man asks. “Sure, let me grab that for you,” Jeff answers, smiling. “Go ahead and plug it in. Rock out.” The surviving members of Zeabra nod approvingly. *********** 1. All quotes are fake. My apologies to Pat, Chris, Jeff, Mark, and Mike, whose lives I completely fictionalized, other than working at a music store, being a sheriff, and playing in the band Zeabra. 2. Jeff does own the store. Pat and Chris are sales reps. That part is true. 3. “Big Ron” O’Brien, radio DJ and record producer, real name Richard Walls (1951-2008).
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