LOS ANGELES (CelebrityAccess) BASE Hologram, which is preparing to put the Roy Orbison hologram on tour with an orchestra, has provided CelebrityAccess with the opening act: Julian Frampton.
Yes, Julian is the son of Peter Frampton and, much like a Dweezil Zappa, carries the bloodline of phenomenal guitar playing. Not only can he be seen onstage time to time with Peter trading guitar licks on acoustic sets but fronts a progressive/exploratory outfit called the Julian Frampton Band in Los Angeles.
The ties between Julian and an Orbison hologram are very close: as CelebrityAccess reported in August, John Procaccini, aka “Grinder” and production manager for Frampton, is VP of touring and production at BASE.
“’I’ve basically been on the road with him in the past,” Julian Frampton told CelebrityAccess. “He was looking for someone to open this show as a solo act doing a 30 minute set. I’ve toured with my father for the last few years doing acoustic tours here and there throughout the country so he thought of me. I was honored to be the first person thought of.”
The 28-date tour kicks off in Los Angeles Oct. 2 (the original debut in Oakland on Oct. 1 appears to be moving to another date). Frampton said this invite was “definitely out of left field” but agreed it is the wave of the future.
“You’re going to see a lot of people in the next few years that you never thought you’d get to see in concert. So the idea of that is really cool to me and I wanted to jump on board as fast as possible.”
His own wish list includes a reunited Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon and/or The Beatles and Led Zeppelin reunited with John Bonham on drums. As for this tour, at the merch table, he will be selling a three-song EP that will include a download card that will include the same songs as the EP plus two live tracks from the set he just played.
“Even though I’m going on this tour as a solo act, acoustically, I have the Julian Frampton Band here in Los Angeles. We’re a five-piece rock band,” he said. “We just put out a new single two days ago called ‘I Don’t Mind.’ We have another single called ‘Looking For An Answer’ getting radio play on SiriusXM right now and, on the road, that’s what I’m going to be promoting.”
As for Orbison, there are definite connections between the young Frampton and the rock legend that passed away 20 years ago.
“My father was hugely inspired by Roy,” Frampton said. “My dad was born in 1950 so the timing was perfect, when Roy was at his biggest. My dad, in his very first band, when he was maybe 12, he had a band called The True Beats, and I remember him telling me he covered “Dream Baby” as one of the first songs they ever did.
Roy Orbison Hologram Tour – Demo from Dimensional Studios on Vimeo.
“Also, my dad’s songwriting partner, Gordon Kennedy, who wrote ‘Change The World’ for Eric Clapton and writes a lot of stuff for the country scene, has a father who was a session guitarist who actually is the one who plays the opening riff of ‘Pretty Woman.’ His dad, Jerry Kennedy, also played on a lot of other Orbison tracks but for him to be the the guitar on ‘Pretty Woman’ is super cool.”
