From: Matt Krocak To: "'beinfang@wt.net'" Subject: long lost band member here!! Date: Thu, 5 Apr 2001 18:36:43 -0500 Howdy... Matt Krocak here...bass picker extraordinaire. I recently caught up with Scott Washburn who told me about your site. I have enjoyed reminiscing the last couple of days while looking at all the flyers and assorted shit that you have collected. It is great to know that ZZP meant as much to you as it still does for me. I have often thought of those days and a part of me would go back in a heartbeat. Jerry put it best in his email to you, "Sometimes you don't know what ya' got, till the whole thing is gone." (or were those the words of the lead singer for Cinderella?) One of the reasons that my time with ZZP was so special is that I was a fan way before I was the bassist. Being old chums with Scott Washburn, I was introduced to the guys during a dress rehearsal before the first gig at Fitzgerald's. And for about a year after that, I was just the tall, skinny, red-headed nerd that always helped Scott carry his drums to gigs. When Mike Danburg announced that he was moving to New York, I asked Scott if Pat would mind if I sat in during a rehearsal. I will always remember that day. Since I had attended every show, and spent countless hours mixing my 4 track live recordings, I new all the songs by heart. The rehearsal went great, although BJ and Pat had no idea that I even knew how to play an instrument. I honestly felt that my playing was a damn good fit for what the band was trying to accomplish. Unfortunately, I was the baby of the group. While everyone was their early to mid 20s, I was just 19, and was working 50 hours a week as a fucking mail boy, taking 6 hours in night school, and rehearsing with ZZP 3 nights a week. Burning the candle at both ends played havoc with my inexperienced mind. Since then, I have earned my BA in Radio, TV, Film from the University of Houston (yea Jerry...go coogs) and I graduated from the Master Recording Program at the Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences. I am currently a Financial Analyst for Parrot-Ice Drink Products and everyday I ask myself, "WHY." Music has always been so good to me, so why the hell am I a bean counter? I have not been playing my guitars very much until recently. In January, I hooked up with a person who was in desperate need of a Recording Engineer. Turns out, the guy works at a huge church here in Houston, and the head cheeze preacher type person raised about half a million dollars in order to build a World Class Recording Studio. On the weekends, I work there. It is still under minor construction, but everything is finally operational. We didn't skimp on anything, High Resolution multitrack recorders, 96 channel automated mixing board complete with DVD-Audio 5.1 Surround Sound capabilities, a shit load (see BJs definition) of bad ass mics and gear etc. So naturally, I am keeping busy. Over the years, I have continued to tell myself that if I ever was financially sound enough, that I would attempt to round up the guys and record a full length album of all the songs that we used to play live. I have enjoyed the .mp3s that you have posted, and I have a couple of master tapes that I would not mind mixing down for you. But the one thing that I wanted most out my time with ZZP was a bad ass sounding CD. Being the impoverished kids that we were, we recorded wherever we could. Stinky Studio actually stunk like dog crap, and I almost got shot by a crack whore outside of the Dot Studio. It may take years, but I want my fucking CD! And now that I am a little more economically stable, and I work at a state of the art recording facility, it may be time to start creating again. Other than that, I occasionally get some time off for Fishin', playing darts or fucking with computers. I am not married yet, but have had a pretty strong string of getting shit upon by women. I finally stopped searching for Ms. Right, and....WOW, my bank accounts started growing. I hope those bitches die. Did I type that...sorry. No...but really....I am not bitter. I have truly enjoyed writing you about all my corny ZZP memories. I owe most of my musical development to Pat and the gang, and I will never forget that. It is not everyday that such a diverse, talented group of individuals come together with the result being pure genius. Thanks again for the website, whoever the hell you are, and always remember: You are only young once, but you can remain immature forever. Matt Krocak "you name it, I play it" p.s. if you would be so kind as to update your HTML to include the proper spelling of my last name. You have my last name spelled as if I were a dyslexic Polish gypsy or some shit. Thanks.