A Band Called Zhongyu

This will develop into a complete listing of all the live performances by Zhongyu and its trio version, Super Z Attack Team. More to be added as I comb through archives and folders of photos. I’ve included the setlists where I have them. Note that there are a lot of pieces which haven’t appeared on an album yet — hopefully this situation will be remedied eventually. Quite a few of them have recordings in various stages of completion. Also note that there was a lot of improvisation in the sets.

2013 Jan 17, The Mix, Seattle

With Dissonati and Alex’s Hand

2013 Jun 28, The Royal Room, Seattle

Opening night of the first Seaprog Festival, with MonkeyBat and Jolanda. The setlist looked like this:

• (Let Me Think…)
• Apple of My Mind’s Eye
• (Half Remembered Drowning)
• Sleepwalking the Dog
• Torture Chamber of Commerce
• Iron Rice Bowl Has Rusted
• 11.9% ABV
• Hydraulic Fracas
• Tunnel at the End of the Light
• MBBL
• Wanderland Wonderlust

The ones in parentheses were improvisations, the first one with just guzheng and a looper. “11.9% ABV” was a duo with just Stick and drums.

2014 Jun 22, Columbia City Theater, Seattle

First Super Z Attack Team show, in the front room of the Seaprog Festival. This was a continuous set featuring improvisations and electronics to bridge between the composed sections. This is what my cheat sheet said:

• Attack of the Space Mice (samples)
• into slow Attack
• then Stick echo play intro to…
• Keep Happying (Em)
• Stick echo play
• Maya Angelou (samples) (Guardian Angelou)
• whole tone Stick clusters
• The Whole Randy (G+)
• Stick G drone
• Odyssey of Penguin 337 (Gm)
• When Instruments Attack
• into squawking
• Instagram Poser (Fm)
• Eb drone
• Shpoilshport (samples w/theremin)
• India (Dm)
• Bass meditation (w/Conets samples) (Incensible)
• MBBL Excerpt
• Into Freebop (Catastrophic Hairball Expulsion)
• 11.9% ABV (Em)
• Shock and Awesome Attack

2015 Jan 14, Lo-Fi, Seattle

With Dave Webb and Hound Dog Taylor’s Hand

• Here Come the Worm Jets
• Stick solo
• Murphy’s Claw riff w/ sax solo
• Worm Jets Reprise
• Name of the Sun
• Odyssey of Penguin 337
• Randy’s Jam
• Instagram Poser
• Keep Happying
• Beautiful Smoke
• 11.9% ABV
• Sleepwalking the Dog
• Cat Hair Improv
• MBBL

2015 May 03, The Royal Room, Seattle

For this set, Alicia joined Jim and Randy and I to do “MBBL” as a four-piece.

• Name of the Sun
• Odyssey of Penguin 337
• Sneak Attack
• Instagram Poser
• Keep Happying
• Beautiful Smoke
• 11.9% ABV
• Here Come the Worm Jets
• Z World Interlude
• Murphy’s Claw
• Worm Jets Reprise
• Cat Hair Improv
• MBBL

2016 Jan 28, Columbia City Theater, Seattle

A Seaprog Presents show with Moraine and Nosretep

2016 Jul 23, Sonarchy Radio, KEXP, broadcast 2016 Oct 23

Both Zhongyu and Super Z Attack Team, live recording for radio show. Setlist:

• Jon: guzheng solo
• Super Z: Into the Future
• Super Z: Gang of Three
• Super Z: Keep Happying
• Super Z: Name of the Sun
• Super Z: Odyssey of Penguin 337
• Super Z: Sneak Attack
• Super Z: Here Come the Worm Jets 1
• Super Z: Interlude
• Super Z: Murphy’s Claw
• Super Z: Here Come the Worm Jets 2
• (break)
• Zhongyu: Apple of My Mind’s Eye 1
• Zhongyu: Wanderland Wonderlust
• Zhongyu: Sleepwalking the Dog
• Zhongyu: MBBL (RIPL guitar solo)
• Zhongyu: improv out?

2017 Mar 02, Substation, Seattle

With Professor Sweater and Decent at Best. This was a very strange show. We ended up on the bill because a previous planned appearance at Substation had fallen through, so they put us on this night with two much more mainstream bands. Crazy prog sandwiched between two R&B oriented groups! A few people there seemed to get what we were doing, though they didn’t seem to have anything to compare it to. Several of the other musicians said they’d never heard anything like it. The upside was that the other bands drew a full house, and the evening’s pay was way more than for any other gig we ever did. It also marked the debut of our arrangement of the psychedelic classic “Pictures of Matchstick Men” by Status Quo.

• No Breathable Atmosphere
• Vigilance!
• Super Matchstick Men
• Gang of Three
• Big Daddy Beyond
• Name of the Sun
• Here Come the Worm Jets
• Downtime
• Murphy’s Claw
• There Go the Worm Jets

2017 Apr 13, Parliament, Seattle

with Pinto Wagonfire.

• No Breathable Atmosphere
• Vigilance!
• Super Matchstick Men
• Gang of Three
• Big Daddy Beyond
• Name of the Sun
• Odyssey of Penguin 337
• Sneak Attack
• Insta Graham Poser
• Here Come the Worm Jets
• Downtime
• Murphy’s Claw
• There Go the Worm Jets
• Keep Happying
• 11.9% ABV
• MBBL

2017 June 03, Columbia City Theater, Seattle

Another Seaprog appearance

• Gang of Three
• An Ominous Throbbing Sound
• Vigilance!
• Big Daddy Beyond
• Name of the Sun
• Odyssey of Penguin 337
• Sneak Attack
• Insta Graham Poser
• Beautiful Smoke
• Super Matchstick Men
• Here Come the Worm Jets
• Downtime
• Murphy’s Claw
• There Go the Worm Jets

2017 Sep 02, High Dive, Seattle

A wild evening with Squirrels and Mark Nichols. We played last, really late, and included more cover tunes than in any other set. We did a mashup of The Beatles’ “Tomorrow Never Knows” (done in the general style of the version on 801 Live) the was combined with the Hendrix classic “Third Stone from the Sun.” We also did a version of the Doctor Who theme music in addition to our “Matchstick Men,” which was becoming a standard.

• Dog Dreaming
• Dr Who
• Gang of Three
• Big Daddy Beyond
• 11.9% ABV
• TNK / 3rd Stone
• Beautiful Smoke
• Super Matchstick Men
• Keep Happying
• MBBL

2017 Nov 02, Parliament, Seattle

With Cooking Churchill and Raging Maggots.

For a while, Jon had been playing in the improvisational groove band called Cooking Churchill with Charley Rowan (keyboards) and Kevin Cook (drums). This was our second appearance at the Parliament in West Seattle. Also on the bill is the band Raging Maggots — and with a name like that, they had to be good. This group has been existence since 1984, which makes them something like 173 in band years.

2018 Mar 22, Parliament, Seattle

with Dick Dogs

• Drone improv
• Gang of Three
• Keep Happying
• Big Daddy Beyond
• Name of the Sun
• Odyssey of Penguin 337
• Sneak Attack
• Insta Graham Poseur
• Here Come the Worm Jets
• Downtime on Z-World
• Murphy’s Claw
• There Go the Worm Jets
• Vigilance
• 11.9% ABV

2018 Apr 21, Parliament, Seattle

With Pinto Wagonfire and Blue Morpho

• WTF #1
• Gang of Three
• Vigilance
• Courage
• Name of the Sun
• Downtime on Z-World
• Grasshoppers Enter
• WTF #2
• Beautiful Smoke
• Matchstick Men
• Big Daddy Beyond
• Dog Dreaming
• 11.9% ABV

2018 Apr 26, Blue Moon, Seattle

With Hound Dog Taylor’s Hand and The Sheen

• Plan of Attack
• Gang of Three
• Keep Happying
• 11.9% ABV
• Here Come the Worm Jets
• Downtime on Z-World
• Murphy’s Claw
• There Go the Worm Jets
• D Drone Improv
• Matchstick Men
• Vigilance
• Big Daddy Beyond

2018 Apr 27, Make.Shift, Bellingham

With The Sheen and Spine Readers – Our first show outside of Seattle.

• N.O. Improv
• Gang of Three
• Name of the Sun
• Odyssey of Penguin 337
• Sneak Attack
• Insta Graham Poser
• Here Come the Worm Jets
• Downtime on Z-World
• Murphy’s Claw
• There Go the Worm Jets
• Beautiful Smoke
• Matchstick Men
• Big Daddy Beyond

2018 Sep 07, Parliament, Seattle

Special Jon Birthday show with KO Electric and Amy Denio

• Public Service Announcement
• Gang of Three
• Name of the Sun
• Odyssey of Penguin 337
• Sneak Attack
• Insta Graham Poser
• Improv
• Here Come the Worm Jets
• Downtime on Z-World
• Murphy’s Claw
• There Go the Worm Jets
• D Drone Improv
• Super Matchstick Men
• Big Daddy Beyond

2018 Sep 27, Blue Moon, Seattle

The was the Autumn Psychedelic Equinox festival, featuring a special two-part set with Super Z transitioning into Zhongyu.

The setlist looked like this:

• Guzheng Improv
• Public Service Announcement Improv
• Gang of Three
• Insta Graham Poser
• Asimov Green Jam
• Vigilance
• 11.9% ABV
• Matchstick Men
• Randy Drum Solo (Zhongyu takes stage during solo)
• Interstellar Overdrive
• Sleepwalking the Dog
• Guzheng Drone Improv
• Wanderland Wonderlust
• Torture Chamber
• Trans-Lunar Injection (Improv)
• Hydraulic Fracas
• MBBL

It didn’t quite end up running like that, however. Randy wasn’t feeling especially well, and didn’t feel up to a drum solo, so Jim, Randy, and I started “Interstellar Overdrive” as a sparse improv, then Alicia and Dennis joined us to finish the tune as a full band.

2018 Oct 18, Blue Moon, Seattle

With Pinto Wagonfire and Moraine

• Diminished Improv
• Vigilance
• Courage
• Triple Shot Improv
• Scatterbop (Coltrane)
• Long tones (Maya Angelou)
• Eighth notes (Einstein)
• Here Come the Worm Jets
• Downtime on Z-World
• Murphy’s Claw
• There Go the Worm Jets
• Trans-Lunar Injection
• Big Daddy Beyond

2019 Dec 07, Parliament, Seattle

Little did we know that this would be the last show… We did have future performances in the works, but Covid put an end to that.

• WTF #14 (Improv)
• Gang of Three
• Keep Happying
• WTF #15 (Improv)
• Courage!
• Here Come the Worm Jets
• Downtime on Z-World
• Murphy’s Claw
• There Go the Worm Jets
• WTF #16 (Improv)
• 11.9% ABV