Dallas Frasca Interview

Dallas Frasca, female vocalist from the band by the same name, has a distinct voice that lands with a prowess and punch that leaves an imprint on your mind. She is now being asked, not for the first time, to turn that talent to paying homage to one of the world’s greatest bands, Led Zeppelin, as part of the Whole Lotta Love Tour. We spoke to Dallas about just how these shows are put together and her thoughts on Zeppelin.

Hi Dallas, thanks for chatting with us. Is this your first time doing something like this?

I actually have it’s a weird thing, I mean I grew up listening to Led Zeppelin who are one the greatest bands of all time. Over the last couple of years, for some reason, I’ve managed to do quite a few of these shows which is bizarre. Every single time is the exact same challenge, it’s no easy feat for any musician playing on stage weather they’d be singing or playing guitar or drums. Led Zeppelin were from another planet, lets face it. It’s an amazing thing to be a part of because I always come out learning a lot of things which is really good because I then adjust that to what I do in my songwriting world, so I’m a big fan and I love doing it and get a lot out of it.

You also get to work with some amazing musicians, what are they like?

Hell yeah. Every vocalist puts their own spin on it. Robert Plant is untouchable but I tell what Simon Melli does a pretty good job and gets pretty close. And Jimmy Couples, I played with him three years ago and every night I was stood at the side of the stage just going ‘woah’. I mean all these guys can sing about two octaves higher than I can. So hopefully I get the lower songs this time.

Will you be covering a particular album or time period of Zeppelins career?

No, not really. Generally Joseph Calderazzo, who runs the whole thing, will pick the songs for the vocalist and say ‘what do you think?’ and we’ll go back and forth until we’re all pretty happy but it’s a celebration of Led Zeppelin. I mean there are so many great albums and so many great songs to choose from.

Are there any songs you requested to sing especially for these shows?

I’ve definitely got a few favourite Zeppelin songs I enjoy singing. But I’m not sure I’m allowed to say what songs we’re doing this year. It’s going to be a great surprise on the night, so I better not say.

It’s a big group of musicians playing, it must be incredible to work with that many musicians on different combinations?

It definitely is, like I said Joseph has been doing it for a number of years and the organisation that goes in to it. I think it comes down to picking the right musicians to be a part of it, musicians who are committed to honouring Led Zeppelin the best they can, but I think it probably takes nine people or even more to recreate music like that.

You’ve got to play with some huge acts over your career, from Aerosmith to Van Halen to Patti Smith, that must be a huge honour but also give you some real reassurance about your own talent?

I grew up listening to that music so it’s almost like a fantasy in your mind. You have this vision in your head about who these artists are and you looked at their record covers or listened to their music. It still seems quite surreal that we have done things like that. Especially for a girl from a small country town in Wangaratta, where there wasn’t a lot of music or anything like that I think it’s really important to stop and smell the roses and look back on those things and think ‘wow, did that really happen?’ I think that when you’re a young band and you’re climbing the ladder it’s a huge confidence boost. It shows you you’re on the right path and doing the right things.

What can people expect from the visual side of the event?

The production is massive. If you’re going to do a tribute like that and get a bunch of musicians you’ve got to go the whole hog I suppose and Joseph has definitely organised that. It’s such a spectacular, beautiful venue, there is a really beautiful energy in a place like that so if you’re going to do a tribute to Led Zeppelin, you might as well go all out.

How do these shows differ from your own bands shows?

It’s really different. I mean I definitely get a lot of my fans come to the show to see me do something different, but it’s a really really different show. I think that people who do go are genuine Led Zeppelin loving fans so from my perspective it’s really important to do those songs justice as far as what I’m capable of doing vocally and with that comes so much work. I can’t tell you how much work goes into some of those songs. It makes me really appreciate how great they were. But they are different shows to my shows. I mean when people come to see us, they’re there to see our band and there is a different energy, we have mosh pits happening and crowd surfing and things like that. But for the Led Zeppelin shows people are there to hear the songs and we just try and honour that.

How much interpretation do you guys do on stage with the songs?

We try and play the songs as close as we can but look, no one can play like Bonham, no one can play like Jimmy Page and no one can sing like Robert Plant but what I’ve done in the past is listen to the live albums, because there is always different stuff that happens in the songs. So I definitely try and pull a lot of the vocal stuff from the live stuff that Robert Plant does.

Finally, do you have a personal favourite Zeppelin song?

It’s hard to say, but I really love How The West Was Won, that album to me is crazy, some of Bonham fills on that album, I mean I’m just pretty much just listening to the drums, are out of this world. So yeah How The West Was Won, that’s my favourite at the moment but it will change next week. Sometimes it just depends where the sun is in the sky or what you’re doing or where you are.

Thank you so much for talking to us