ZEBRA Hopes To Release 'A Few' New Songs In May

ZEBRA, the legendary power trio consisting of lead guitarist/vocalist Randy Jackson, bassist/keyboardist Felix Hanemann and drummer Guy Gelso, will celebrate its 50th anniversary this year with the release of its long-awaited new studio album. This will be the band's first release of new material since "Zebra IV" in 2003.

ZEBRA's new album, which is being recorded at Jackson and Gelso's home studios, is being helmed by producer Jack Douglas, who previously produced the band's 1983 self-titled debut and 1984 sophomore effort, "No Tellin' Lies".

Speaking to Rev. Tom Brice of Sportzwire Radio, Jackson stated about what it has been like working with Douglas again (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Well, it's been really, really interesting. I've kept in touch with Jack ever since we first worked [together more than four decades ago]… It's been great. It's a whole different world now. I mean, it's been 40 years, so technology has changed. But both Jack and I have kept up with what's going on, and we've been doing a lot of it just online, back and forth, with a lot of the sessions. And then he has come to my studio several times — I think he's coming again next week — one on one. But we get a lot done online, which makes it easy. He's upstate, and if he happens to be in Los Angeles, we can do it online that way too. And it works out great. There's a program we use where he could pretty much hear all the tracks and look at the soundboard and mix, if he wanted to, but at this point I'm doing the engineering and he's just kind of sprinkling it up."

Regarding how the songwriting process for ZEBRA has evolved over the last 40 years, Jackson said: "Well, it's the same process except we don't have the luxury, or we haven't made it, so that we played the songs for any amount of time. There's a lot of stuff that's gonna be heard by people the first time when we release 'em. But we have a pretty good idea at this point what our fans liked and what worked. And there's a lot of material. There's also material that we never did record that people are familiar with, 'cause we did play it live years and years ago, that we've been asked for time and time again. So that'll be added on the record. And we just keep adding songs to the record all the time. And so the way we're gonna kind of do it, I think, is release a few tracks in May, and then just every month there'll be more tracks released. And who knows how many we'll end up with. We may just keep going with it, and it'll just be a constant release."

ZEBRA is the longest-running American band still touring with all its original members. Formed in New Orleans in 1975, Jackson, Hanemann and Gelso have performed together every year for the last 50 years. 2025 will continue that trend as the band is heading out on their "Zebra 50 - 2025 Anniversary Tour". New dates have been added to the band's previously announced performances in celebration of 50 years of performing together live. More dates will be announced in the future. Information on all shows including ticket links and access to VIP experiences can be found on the band's official web site at zebraband.com.

Last December, Jackson told Newsday about ZEBRA's upcoming LP: "The record will feature a variety of songs. We got some stuff from 1977 we never recorded, songs I penned with other people and a bunch of tunes that I wrote recently. It's evolving as we're doing it."

In 2023, ZEBRA celebrated the 40th anniversary of its debut album by playing the entire album in order and continued doing some more of these special shows in new cities during its 2024 tour.

ZEBRA has also been working on a new documentary that will feature new interviews and performance clips from the recent tour "plus a lot more" about the band's history. The documentary, tentatively titled "Tell Me What You Want: 50 Years Of Zebra", will feature never-before-seen footage from the band's birth in Louisiana, to spreading new roots and reaching legendary status in Long Island, New York.

ZEBRA galloped out of New Orleans in early 1975. The trio concocted their moniker from a 1926 Vogue magazine cover and soon won over the South and East Coast.

ZEBRA's self-titled debut album, released on March 21, 1983, went gold, and at that time was the fastest-selling debut album in Atlantic Records history, thanks to the radio and MTV airplay of "Tell Me What You Want" and "Who's Behind The Door?"

In 2010 ZEBRA was inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall Of Fame and is acknowledged as Louisiana's No. 1 rock and roll band by the Louisiana Music Commission. On October 18, 2012 ZEBRA was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall Of Fame.