Rock band Zebra to tour Long Island this weekend

Call it Zebra weekend. The Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame band will release their first studio album, “Zebra V,” in 23 years on Friday as well as play back-to-back shows at the Patchogue Theatre for the Performing Arts on Friday and Saturday. Additionally, the rock trio is scheduled to make two in-store signing appearances on Sunday at Looney Tunes in West Babylon (12:30-2:30 p.m.) and Record Stop in Patchogue (3:30-5:30 p.m.) that will include acoustic performances.

“I was getting tired of telling people the album was going to be coming out next year. It started to become a boy who cried wolf situation,” singer/guitarist Randy Jackson, of East Setauket, says. “I had a lot of songs stockpiled. My task was to go back through everything that had been put aside over the years and pick the best of the best. These 11 are the ones that stuck.”

Zebra features all original members: Jackson, bassist Felix Hanemann of Wantagh and drummer Guy Gelso. “We have a good time doing what we are doing and there’s a lot of laughs. That makes a big difference,” Jackson, 71, says. “Over the last 50 plus years, we’ve become family.”

Zebra began in New Orleans and moved to Long Island in 1976 at the suggestion of Good Rats drummer Joe Franco because of the bustling club scene happening at the time.

“The population is much higher on Long Island than in the south, which made a difference in our following,” Hanemann, 73, says. “We were packing in 1,000 people a night before we were even signed to a record label. It was possible to make a living here.”

The band became regulars at Long Island clubs like Speaks in Island Park, Hammerheads in West Islip, The Mad Hatter in Stony Brook and Tuey’s in Stony Brook.

“We were basically adopted by the Long Island crowd. They embraced us when we came up here,” Hanemann says. “It’s a tremendous honor to receive their enthusiasm and they have been loyal through the years.”

Zebra’s new album saw the band reuniting with the original producer from their 1983 self-titled debut, Jack Douglas (John Lennon, Aerosmith), which turned out to be one of his final projects before he died in May.

“It’s like we hadn’t skipped a beat. Jack had kept up with everything we had going on,” Jackson says. “Sometimes we worked at my house as well as at a studio in Long Beach. It was a joy to collaborate with him again and I’m almost angry he’s gone.”

The new album contains co-writes with Paul Stanley from KISS on the first single, “Walk With You” as well as Dave “The Snake” Sabo and Rachel Bolan of Skid Row on the ballad, “I’ll Be There Beside You.”

“I wrote “Walk With You’ at Paul Stanley’s apartment within two hours in 1990,” Jackson says. “But, the song with Snake and Rachel is my favorite. We really attacked that one and I’m happy the way it came out.”

The band will perform a full Zebra show on Friday featuring new material mixed with Zebra classics like “Tell Me What You Want” and “Who’s Behind the Door?” Harkening back to their club days, the Saturday show offers a Led Zeppelin set plus some Zebra standards. They are especially looking forward to some face time with their fans at both in-store events, which is an activity they haven’t done in decades.

“We love our fans and we enjoy mingling with them,” Jackson says. “The in-stores are good for us because we are very social people. We’ve never shied away from talking to them. They’ve been so patient and dedicated. We can’t ask for much more than that.”

By David J. Criblez

david.criblez@newsday.comDavidJCriblez

David J. Criblez is a reporter for Newsday's exploreLI, covering entertainment-related events from local music to stand-up comedy to festivals.