is this an accurate
representation
of the 'shiny beast' tracks getting that album together? new
songs developed
for / by that band: 'tropical hot dog night', 'you know you're
a man',
'when i see mommy i feel like a mummy', 'love lies'. songs
redone from
'bat chain puller' sessions: 'the floppy boot stomp', 'owed
t'alex', 'candle
mambo', 'bat chain puller'. songs existing from past: 'ice
rose', 'suction
prints', 'harry irene'. did he play you all tapes from 'bat
chain puller'?
did he play you tapes of the older stuff?
'candle mambo' was not one of the
tracks
on the pre existing recording of 'bat chain puller'. however,
'harry irene'
was one of the tracks from those sessions. eric feldman had
gained access
to some songs from old sessions that had never made it to
vinyl and some
of those songs were resurrected and reconstructed by don (some
with our
finger prints on them), one of them being 'suction prints'.
how long did that band have to
develop
and rehearse the songs, and how long to do the recording
sessions?
our rehearsals lasted months upon
months.
most of the time we rehearsed without pay just because we all
wanted it
to sound as tight as possible. jeff tepper and i used to get
together and
i'd repeat a verse or chorus over and over so he could really
zero in on
his part. when i first joined the band, eric - not really a
drummer - showed
me the basic mechanics of a beat we referred to as 'picaro
pete' which
appeared in many of don's earlier compositions. it sounds just
like the
name. try to spot it next time you listen to 'trout mask
replica'.
the recording sessions usually took
a week
of live tracking, a week of overdubs and vocals, and a week of
mixing.
was don difficult to work with?
he was a big pain in the window. all
he wanted
to do was blabber and smoke. if i were to accidentally close
my high hat
while reaching for something, in the middle of his endless
bullshitting
he would scream at me accusing me of putting tin foil in his
radar....
on other occasions he'd be thinking
of a
part for the keyboards or something and accuse someone in the
room of having
too much to think so he'd point at each guy and say: 'it's not
you, it's
not you, it's not you, and it's not you, but he knows who he
is!'. of course
the person he didn't point at would be the scapegoat of the
day.
most of the time he'd pick on me.
one day
i pulled him aside and told him that i perform much better
when he's nice
to me and he said: 'hey man, i just do it to you because you
can take it.
these other guys would fall apart and shrivel away if i did it
to them.
do you know what i mean, man? i mean, do you? i mean, i need
that tension
man! besides i was only teasing'.
[you can find out who 'these
other guys'
really were in robert's later 'interview' the
captain wás the master - teejo.]
don was a genius when it came to
getting
us to do what he wanted and what he wanted was often very
demanding. on
the other hand when it came to paying us he automatically
turned into an
idiot who couldn't count to three. it makes me laugh to think
of it now.
is all of 'doc at the radar
station' new
stuff except for 'brickbats' and 'a carrot is as close as a
rabbit gets
to a diamond'? did 'run paint run run' evolve out of 'drink
paint run run'?
they were all works in progress
until they
made it to vinyl. 'run paint run run' was new music. the words
may have
been another story. i don't know. 'dirty blue gene' was born
out of an
outtake from 'clear spot'.
do you have any contact with the
other
guys from the magic band these days?
jeff tepper and i still talk on the
phone
from time to time. we've tried to work together but we both
have strong
personalities and that prevents us from continuing..., like
two fat cooks
in a tiny kitchen. bruce fowler and i are currently working on
a project
with ex zappa members arthur barrow, tommy mars, kurt
mckennick, and manhattan
transfer saxophonist larry klimas on music that was basically
improvised
although it sounds composed. it was recorded at arthur's
studio in culver
city and has been edited with protools by he and i over the
past several
weeks. we're hoping to find a record label interested in
releasing it.
why did you leave? was there much
friction
between you and don?
back then (in 1980 - t.t.) i
was under contract
with a&m records and the two schedules were conflicting.
it was a difficult
choice to make between playing with beefheart or doing my own
record but
the money to be made playing with don was nothing compared to
what i would
make with a&m, so i indulged myself in my own music.
most of the friction between don and
i had
to do with money. i know he hadn't made much money playing his
music through
the years and he deserved much more - however, his musicians
worked their
butts off for him and we were always being short changed. it
was easy for
him to do that because we were all fans of his and i think he
took advantage
of that.
for instance, he promised each of us
- verbally
- a half point on shiny beast and paid us seventy five dollars
a week to
rehearse for six weeks before the tour. as it turned out, that
money was
an advance against our half point. in other words, our
paycheck for rehearsing
his music was money that was already ours.
i believe he owes us money from that
record.
it had been re-released by virgin in '86 on ceedee. i'm sure
it has more
than broken even. i tell you this because it's the way it is,
but i have
no interest in pursuing it at this time. in fact, it makes me
laugh to
think of it now.
can you shed any light on the
relationship
between don and frank zappa? it seems like an interesting
relationship.
from what i hear, don was very upset
at the
news of frank's death (in december '93 -t.t.). they
were high school buddies
from palmdale. it was a love-hate relationship. i know that
frank highly
regarded don for his original ideas but don never admitted to
being interested
in frank's music. i think don resented the kind of success
that zappa acheived
and he didn't.
one night he took me up to frank's
house
soon after i joined the band. we got there around midnight and
left the
next morning around nine. frank played us some of his old 45's
and showed
us some of the footage from 'baby snakes' while at his editing
bay, complaining
about bozzio and mars improvising on his music. i remember
frank telling
me: 'the world is basically made up of two kinds of people:
assholes and
ass kickers, you gotta bend over or lift your foot'.
as your drumming on 'doc at the
radar
station' is so astounding, and john french's playing in the
late '60's
is also so astounding, i was wondering: did you and john
ever compare notes
on drumming and so forth? have you ever met any
other members of
the old magic bands?
john and i got along pretty well. he
seemed
like a nice enough guy but we never sat down and compared
notes on syncopated
paradiddles and such, if that's what you mean. actually, artie
tripp and
i became pretty good friends before he moved up to northern
california
to open his chiropractic office. he was a bartender at love's
restaurant
on hollywood boulevard working his way through chiropractic
school. i used
to go there and hang out with him while he slid me a few
drinks on the
house and told some great jokes.
was it frustrating for the band
when don
and frank's legal problems were preventing actual records
from going out?
what were you guys doing, for example in 1979? you didn't
tour or record
that year, did you? were you guys working full time or just
part time in
the magic band?
don's legal problems with frank were
mainly
to do with releasing the pre existing recording of 'bat chain
puller' (from
spring 1976, so a year before robert would join the group -
t.t.) which
was tied up in a lawsuit frank had with warner brothers. it
worked out
in the magic band's favor because we got to record those songs
which was
the first record any of us had ever played on. not bad for our
first record,
don't you agree?
any favorite gigs that you
remember?
november 1977 [date
re-constructed - t.t.],
at the bottom line in new york city with woody allen, dianne
keaton, david
byrne, meatloaf, willie deville, chrissie hynde, john belushi,
as well
as some other famous people in the audience. we opened with
eric playing
the bass line to 'hair pie' and directly into 'suction prints'
(that was
back before don decided to blow soprano sax all over it).
it was a powerful show. denny walley
(walla
walla) was on guitar and slide guitar for that tour. he
was the real shit.
he had been with don for two and a half years and was let go
about a week
before don got his deal with warner brothers. it was easier to
manipulate
the other guys with denny, the seasoned professional out of
the picture.
don's loss... - is how i feel about it.
i regard the beefheart music as a
manifestation
of brilliance and detail that i really admire - i wondered
what music or
musicians you admire these days.
i only listen to the news on the
radio and
i rarely buy ceedees of artists i'm unfamiliar with. after i
did the drums
for zoogz rift's new record he sent me a couple of compilation
cassettes
of his work and i thought it was hilarious. the lyrics are
very entertaining.
my zoogz rift secret is that he is actually a really nice guy.
(sorry zoogz,
didn't mean to blow your cover).
it must have been a very intense
experience
playing in the magic band. any final thoughts on the matter?
i have fond memories of those days
and i'm
proud to have been a part of that. the music was fun to play
and i really
enjoyed touring back then. now it's time to take what i've
learned to the
next level.
optional question if you have
anything
to say about him: keith levine seems like an interesting -
and quite enigmatic
- figure. did you work with him outside of that 'i'm
searching for something'
track? how did you become involved with that?
keith levine never paid me for the
session
i did with flea and bob forest and he didn't even reimburse me
for the
cartage of my drums. that song was released without my
permission. he's
nothing but a no talent loser with delusions of grandeur. it
makes me laugh
to think of it now. ho hum.
can you describe your current
musical
and / or other activities?
i'm currently working on a new solo
record
for avt records and expect to have a release in the spring of
'97 ['date
with the devil's daughter' eventually came out in summer '98
on another
label - t.t.]. i've got my drums and a midi studio at my
house in north
hollywood where i work out the songs before going into a multi
track studio
to commit to tape. i'm very excited about this project.
working on music
can be fun when you're allowed to do any damned thing you
want.
which of your musical endeavors
are you
happiest with?
the live shows i did with the magic
band.
those records never accurately represented the essence of the
band compared
to our live performances. one example of that is the concert
for chorus tv in paris, france (15 november 1980 - t.t.).
the quality of my copy is pretty dodgy
so if you know anyone with a decent dub of that, please let me
know. for
that matter it would be interesting to find out what happened
to the footage
of the songs that didn't make the final cut.
you know, i guess deep down inside i
wish
that it weren't over. those were some of the happiest times of
my life.
i wish don was still well enough to give another go of it. it
makes me
sad to think of it now. i miss him.
