Zulu at heart

"I'd never have gotten involved with any of this were it not part of my every conscious moment," he says during a quiet afternoon at the Middle East. "I never go out to clubs just to hang; I'm not a hanger. So I always want to tell people to stop talking and listen to the music. The people who feel they've grown out of this . . . well, maybe they did grow out of it. Maybe they have other things that are satisfying to them. But this is what I am; I am music. That's what satisfies me in my life, and I want to be involved in it until my last breath."

Currently, Gilbert has just about enough on his plate to satisfy his addiction. He just wrapped up a stint as lead guitarist/musical director for the Boston Rock Opera production of Jesus Christ Superstar, and he now plays two other instruments in two other bands: pedal steel with the Country Bumpkins and keyboards with Crown Electric Company. He'll also be doing some recording with Northampton-based songwriter Steve Westfield at summer's end. His last band, the ambitious instrumental outfit Concussion Ensemble, still officially exist, though there aren't any immediate plans to perform. And he's about to begin a national tour as lead guitarist for cult hero Steve Wynn, who was working with members of Come before they went off to promote their own new album. Gilbert landed that gig after Wynn asked a number of folks who the best guitarist in Boston was.

Chief among Gilbert's current priorities is the reunion of the Zulus, which takes place next weekend (June 6 and 7) at T.T. the Bear's Place -- which was also the site of their last official gig in 1991 (their one previous reunion was two years later at the Paradise). In terms of personnel, Human Sexual Response and the Zulus were essentially one band that took two guises: the first with a wry and sometimes campy shade of pop, the second given to primal rock unleashings. (Gilbert's guitar-hero reputation was largely born in the Zulus.) And their influence shows up in the strangest places -- notably on the current Rage Against the Machine album Evil Empire (Epic), which includes an uncredited lyric (from the song "Tire Me") that should be familiar to Humans fans: "I want to be Jackie Onassis/I want to wear a pair of dark sunglasses." Gilbert was unaware that a Humans lyric had just been lifted on a million-selling album, though he notes that "I'm sure that he [Rage singer Zack de la Rocha] delivers it with a certain angst."

At their peak, the Zulus -- who included Gilbert, ex-Humans singer Larry Bangor, and drummer Malcolm Travis (later of Sugar and Kustomized), plus bassist Rich Cortese -- were among the most exhausting musical experiences in town. And Gilbert's confident that the charm will work again, though rehearsals hadn't yet begun at the time of our conversation.

"It's one of those situations where you feel that time has passed, but also no time has passed. We took a lot of pride in what we did, and in my opinion we broke up at a peak. My favorite artists continue to grow, and we came up with songs that had superseded what we'd done before. Better to end it at a peak than when you start crashing."

Next weekend may not be the last of the Zulus either. They're now working on a compilation CD, drawn from unreleased studio demos and radio tapes, that may come out in the fall with another round of gigs to support it. For Gilbert, the CD will be a chance to set the record straight, since it's no secret that he hated the one official Zulus album, the Bob Mould-produced Down on the Floor (Slash, 1988), which he feels was "sweetened and softened." The nicest thing he has to say about that album is, "There are others in the band who didn't despise it to the degree I did."

Rehearsals with Steve Wynn will begin shortly after the Zulus gigs. Gilbert's an old Dream Syndicate fan, and he feels that Wynn's love for 10-minute guitar solos should be up his alley. It's the first time that he's taken an offer to play with a relatively established national act, even if Wynn's tour is hardly a "get rich quick" prospect. But he says that higher-profile offers have come his way in the past, admitting that his life might be a little easier if he'd taken them.

"I wouldn't mind having more security -- who wouldn't? -- but I wouldn't get involved with anything I despised. It sounds really corny, but I follow the spiritual path and look for things that satisfy me on that level; accumulation of riches isn't the point. I haven't turned down any huge offers, but there were a couple that would have gotten me on some fairly big tours, with fairly big-name artists, but I couldn't wear a mask like that. Then comes the moment when you turn on the TV, see that band, and think, `Wow, I passed that one up.' But I didn't envy the situation or wish I'd been involved."

His recent involvement with Jesus Christ Superstar may be the most high-profile thing he's done lately; it's also the most surprising. What's an experimentally-minded musician doing playing the work of Andrew Lloyd Webber? And playing it just the way they do on that 1971 album that we're all ashamed to admit we own?

"I've always loved the original album; it's the only thing Andrew Lloyd Webber's written that I have any patience for. Without turning into a ventriloquist, I wanted to make the sound as true to what the record sounded like, so people could feel like I did when I first heard it. Any changes I made were just to suit the mood. Part of the charm for me was knowing it was a situation where you work intensively for three months and there's a beginning, middle, and end -- you start the job, rehearse, do the shows, and it's over. That was appealing."

He's also getting less excited about playing the traditional lead-guitarist role. He went off to learn mandolin and banjo after putting Concussion Ensemble on hold, and his current stint with the disco-revival band Crown Electric Company is his first on keyboards. When he goes out nowadays, it's likely to be for a jazz or blues band; and he tends to pass up the latest alternative-rock CDs in favor of jazz vinyl that he finds at garage sales.

"I'm interested in what's current, but I'm not shackled by that. To me the true value of music exists outside the time it was created. I never listen to rock at home, and almost never buy rock records. You don't have to, because it's everywhere now. The world's become too focused on one thing; it's like there's only one kind of music that's desired right now, and it happens to be rock."

Now that Gilbert's racked up a lot of band experience and different situations playing other people's music, would the next logical step be forming a band under his own name? He ponders the question carefully. "I've thought about that before -- doing something where I'd be in the band as a central figure. That will happen when the time is right, and I haven't felt yet that it was for me personally. But I can feel it coming now; perhaps one day I'll do that. Then again, I can change my mind a week later. I make a point of changing my mind a lot."

LATE-BREAKING NEWS

The Lemonheads are back, sort of. The line-up that made It's a Shame About Ray has indeed split, with drummer Dave Ryan going to Fuzzy full-time. But Evan Dando is keeping the band name for the album he's now making. Amps/Pavement producer Bryce Goggan will be the producer . . . After spending three months in the studio last year and cutting 20 tracks for their second RCA album, the Gigolo Aunts have scrapped the entire project. They will instead begin recording a different album with new guitarist John Skibic; they'll make tapes of the abandoned album available at gigs . . . Expatriate local guitarist Kevin Salem, who's just released his second solo album, has also linked up with New Orleans's Continental Drifters to produce their forthcoming demo session for Mercury.

COMING UP

Talking to Animals headline a Rock for Choice benefit at the Paradise Sunday, with Scatterfield, Lula Moon, and Laurie Geltman. Meanwhile, Melissa Ferrick makes her first local appearance in some time at T.T.'s . . . The always-bitchin' Dick Dale hits the Middle East Monday, and the Low Road begin a Monday-night residency at the Kendall Cafe . . . Skeggie Kendall will be booking Tuesday-night shows at the Middle East bakery; he promises that "the usual suspects" (among them Jules Verdone, the Brothers Kendall, and Incinerator) will all turn up. Still considered a big deal in Austin and overlooked everywhere else, Alejandro Escovedo (pictured) plays Mama Kin with Charlie Chesterman on Tuesday, and the Meices and Boy Wonder (with former Drop Nineteener Paula Kelley) are at Bill's Bar . . . Jason Bonham, the guy with the famous dad, plays Axis on Wednesday; Toots & the Maytals bring classic reggae to Mama Kin.