Missing Persons (clockwise from top): Chuck Wild, Warren Cuc
curullo, Terry llozzio. Dale liozzlo, Patrick O'Hearn.
BV Bil l, BRAI NSTEIN
AS THE C.AK taking Dale
and Terry Bozzio to their
sound check passes
through the cactus
sprinkled Phoenix, Ari
zona parking lot and rolls by the
giant marquee, the driver slows
down just enough to let them take it
in "You know, says Dale, the tiny
blonde siren lead singer, to her hus
band, drummer Terry, Missing Per
sons looks good in big letters
The genuine awe registered in her
voice is just one indication that the
success the group is experiencing
hasn't really had time to sink in After
all, their first album, on Capitol Kec
ords, Sjiritiji Session \l (an anagram
for Missing Persons) has only been
out two weeks But Missing Persons,
a I.os Angeles based band that has
managed to wrap a catchy hi tech
pop sound around non threatening
songs that deal with everyday prob
Icms anti fears, has already enjoyed
some modest triumphs.
A few of the group s early songs
like I l ike Boys" and "Mental
Hopscotch have given them a
strong following in their home town
And an F.P they released earlier this
year managed to get national airplay
and produced a hit single, 'Words,'
that broke into the lop 40 last July
Now, with the album moving up the
charts, along with their newest
single. 'Destination I'nknown, Mis
sing Persons hopes that this tour will
make them known.
We are trying to do songs that
everyone can relate to, says the
band's leader and driving force,
ferry Bo/./.io, a veteran of three
years service with Frank Zappa s
hand (which he left in 1978) Bozzio
formed Missing Persons with other
Zappa alumni, including his wife
Dale, guitarist Warren Cuccurullo,
bassist Patrick O’Hearn and kev
boardist Chuck Wild "The music is
modern It's electronic It’s played by
good musicians And it breaks new
ground because they re not your typ
ical pop songs — it's very' accessible.
We don't want to alienate people We
want to make friends."
Central to the band’s appeal is
Dale Bozzio, a former Playboy
bunny from Boston who has been a
model, actress and artist; she pro
vides the band with its visual
fireworks and an engaging, distinc
tive singing style that is punctuated
by occasional high pitched yips. (“It
really is an odd tone that is a natural
thing that I do that seems right for
certain words and certain songs and
I’ve just tried to procure it as such
and as to my own curiosity, it’s been
something that people have noted on
as an odd thing that I do,” she says in
her own inimitable syntax.) A five
foot one, 88 pound blonde with
feathery red and green streaked
hair, Dale also designs her own
clothes, sometimes on the spur of
the moment. She has worn every
thing on stage from a skirt made of
(ild 45s to a brassiere made of halved
coconuts
The story of the group forming
starts in Boston in 1974 when Dak
met Zappa after one of his shows. A
few years later, after she had quit her
job as a Playboy bunny, she left Bos
ton and came west to l.os Angeles
She stumbled onto a Zappa rehearsal
session in 1976 and it was there that
she met Terry.
It was love at first sight, unfortu
nately," Dale says Unfortunately?
Yes, because it gets so serious at
times you wonder how you can put
up with ii all Three years later they
were married
In the meantime, Terry, after play
ing witli Zappa for about three years,
recording eight albums and louring
the world four times, started to get
itchy feet. He felt there was more he
could do I really wanted to write
my own music," he says, "and I got
frustrated at not being able to do
that. Finally in 1978,1 wasn't showing
the same enthusiasm I had shown
earlier, and Zappa said I think it's
time for you to leave the band and
pursue what it is you want to pur
sue. So I left, on good terms, to try
new things
After a stint with a hand called
Group 8". where he played with Fat
rick, Terry was invited to join the
British progressive rock group I K
where he stayed for about six
months. In the meantime, an old ac
quaintance, Warren Cuccurullo, had
joined Zappa's band as a guitarist.
Dale, too. worked with the Zappa
band. He had encouraged her to try
singing and she does vocals on his
Joe's Cuirane albums and the single
I Don't Wanna Get Drafted." A
friendship with Warren blossomed,
and the two started writing songs to
gether while Terry was on tour
"Together they wrote the begin
nings of what was eventually to be
come I l ike Boys' and they brought
a tape of it to me while I was tour
ing,' says Terry. When I heard it, I
thought, this is incredible I’m quit
ting this band and we are going to
form our own."
Terry persuaded Patrick to play
bass and eventually the four made a
rough cassette that they took to vet
eran producer Ken Scott, a man who
had produced such acts as David
Bowie, Supertramp, George llarri
son and Devo
Scott liked what he heard and
helped the band make a real demo
tape that was shopped around to re
cord companies "We figured with all
our past experience, we'd have a re
cord ileal in about two weeks." re
membered Tern "Little alid we
know No one wanted us "
Undaunted b\ their lack of,success
at getting a record deal, and confi
dent the material they had was hit
potential, the band decided to cut a
seven inch EP They borrowed
money, did their own art work, the
promotion, the advertising, distribu
tion and the actual selling They took
it to radio stations, seeking airplay
Amazingly enough, many deejays did
play the record, but still, no label
deal. "That was our incubator pe
riod," says Dale.
With the added income from the
F.P, the group was able to hire
kevboard player Chuck Wild. Dale
was starting to come into her own as
a performer, adding visual spice with
her off-the-wall costumes that she
created out of burlap, airline tubing,
plant pots, leather or beads.
All this stuff had a wonderful ef
fect on people," says Terry "They
kept coming to see our shows to see
what we would do next. We would
change from show to show, the same
way a big rock group would change
from tour to tour " When the band,
which was still unsigned, sold out
the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, a
4,000-seat venue, record companies
could no longer ignore them.
Capitol signed Missing Persons,
put out a slightly different version of
the EP on a 12 inch disc, and it
ended up selling more than 220,000
copies, making it the largest selling
debut EP in recording history (or so
claims Terry). "And that." s.tvs Tern,
is the point of the whole story. Noth
ing on that tape was changed,
production wise. It was the same
tape that all the record companies
passed on The same tape they said
would never get airplay
I think the album is solid, Dale
adds, and we re the type of hand
that are really true to life, as well as
the material being genuine, it do
livers on stage as well It suffices'the
means,"
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