Johnny Zapp and friends bring supercharged rock to Last Exit Live

Arizona-based musician Johnny Zapp isn’t afraid to bring the house down. He's one of Tempe’s biggest rock stars for a reason. After nearly 30 years in the business, Zapp continues testing the infrastructures of small indie venues with his brand of 200-proof rock and roll. If you want to see for yourself, make your way to Last Exit Live in Phoenix on Saturday, Dec. 14, where he will perform with Big Finish and Truckers on Speed, both local rock legends in their own right.

When Phoenix New Times last spoke with Zapp in 2022, he was releasing his second album, "More Rock & Roll Less Assholes," and doing what was only supposed to be a few shows in Tucson and Tempe. It was then he says the phone started to ring with venues offering gigs aplenty. That ultimately put his band in front of countless new fans who wanted more.

"We couldn't walk from the stage to the door without being stopped by everybody,” Zapp says.

And then another thing happened: Zapp listened to his band’s recorded performances, and suddenly it hit him.

“I don't know if you're a musician, but what I hear on stage is not anything close to what you hear out front,” Zapp says. “So, when I played back the rough mixes of the recordings, I went ‘Oh my God! This is what we sound like live? It's kind of kickass!'”

That led to Zapp contacting a Nashville record pressing company called Vinyl Lab where they created mystery-colored LPs; every copy is a different color. The record is titled "F#@k Yeah" the exclamation Zapp yelled upon hearing the original mix.

That seems to be the response his audience had as well. This year, Zapp took his band on the road to Los Angeles, Orange County and other parts of Southern California, and even made it to Nashville. They crossed the border and played in Mexico for Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers’ Circus Mexicus festival.

You would think that being such a popular local band, they would stick close to home for concerts or at least do them more frequently. But the rocker has a theory about that.

“We have done some regional touring in the tri-state area, but we believe in the 'Radius Clause,' which is, you can't play the same city within six months," Zapp contends. “I mean, if you're the Foo Fighters for example — let's just go extreme — they don't play their hometown 18 times a year.”

This “creating scarcity” tactic seems to be working. The band is more popular than ever, but you also have to be good at what you do. That doesn’t seem to be a problem for Zapp whose jam session showmanship grants audiences an immersive experience inside his supercharged rock 'n' roll headspace.

“I believe the reason our live band sort of caught fire pretty quickly is because we go out there and put on a rock show,” he says. “ We sing about sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll, and, especially of late, people need that. Not everything has to be so serious. It doesn’t have to be deep all the time. People just want to escape and party. Now, I am certainly not shilling away for all three of those things — sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll — but two of them? Abso-f’ing-lutely! Our shows are a getaway, a party.”


That seems to be the same sentiment from the bands who will open for him this weekend. First, there areTruckers on Speed. They have been entertaining the Tempe scene live for almost three decades. Lead guitarist Chad Hines says, on behalf of Truckers on Speed, it doesn’t get much better than playing live.

“We’ve been doing this for over 25 years together and it’s just as much fun today as it was back then,” says Hines. “Everything about playing live — making that huge racket on stage, feeling the energy (of the) crowd and putting a smile on people’s faces — it’s fantastic. Because we don’t get to do it as often as we used to, these shows are even more special to us now.”

David Rhodes of Big Finish, the other band playing on Saturday agrees with Hines.

“It's all of those things. I'd take it a step further and say that performing with a band live gives the performer, and hopefully the listener, a glimpse of something more, the gestalt ... as a songwriter, it is remarkably rewarding having the chance to bring something to life in front of a room full of people that want to hear it, with a group of players that enjoy doing it.”

Zapp can appreciate his last studio album; he played most of the instruments on it. "But," he says, "the live record is just a punch in the face of nothing but nonstop, high energy, more like punk rock. We get told all the time we’re like a combination of Cheap Trick and The New York Dolls when people see us. The response we're getting live is people appreciate that when we play, we won't take a pause between songs. We will start the next song while the cymbals and everything are still ringing from the previous song.”

This will be the energy he and the opening bands are bringing to Last Exit Live this weekend. If you are new to the Zapp sound, check out "More Rock & Roll Less Assholes" to get an idea of what this artist is capable of. Songs such as "Don't Be Runnin' from Me," and "Pretty in Pictures" are great examples of Zapp's range. The intro to "Wine and Roses" feels like a rollercoaster ride and his cover of Lou Reed's "Coney Island Baby," showcases his mellow croon in melodic spoken word.

Maybe Zapp can explain his music and how he approaches his concerts better than we can. "People aren't used to a rock show anymore," he says. "It's all kind of cookie cutter, and so we come out and we do that — we beat them over the head and it's a right party."

Last Exit Live Presents, Johnny Zapp, Big Finish, and Truckers On Speed, Saturday, December, 14. Last Exit Live: 717 South Central Avenue. Doors open at 7 p.m, show starts at 8 p.m.  Tickets are $12 in advance and $15 at the door. Get tickets by visiting the Last Exit Live website.