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First of all, I wanted to know the reasons for the gaping Zoot
shaped hole in the BBC documentary that led me to this interview
in the first place
"They were going to come to my home to interview me
but they said they ran out of money. It was strange for me also
that Jimmy Carl Black was so prominent, although he did say nice
things."
This kind of shoulder-shrugging relaxed answer is something
Bill seems to specialize in.
Take the recent reunion as a prime example. It’s natural
for anyone who has invested a large amount of effort and time
in something to want to feel acknowledged for that effort
– especially if that acknowledgement has not been forthcoming
or has been attributed to the wrong people. Why else would
the current Magic Band reunion be taking place? The idea of
a Beefheart-less reunion seems to have some very appealing
by-products for those involved. One of the main problems for
Magic Band members over the years has been the lack of credit
given out for their own roles in writing the songs. A reunion
would bring attention to the players and increase their own
personal ownership of the music they worked so hard on, so
it seemed odd to me that Bill apparently chose not to be involved. |
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“Did you have any involvement in the recent Magic Band
reformation?”
"First, as far as I know the band isn't reforming but
just a get together for a couple of shows.
I was involved, and it took a lot of time and energy to learn
the material and go through the business stuff. So when the first
incarnation of the reunion fell apart (there was an earlier
plan to reform the band prior to the ATP event and according to
interviews with John French they got to the rehearsal stage with
Bill involved but the financial backing fell through and it disbanded)
I knew I couldn't spend that much time and energy again away
from what I'm doing"
Although I think he’d never say as much it seems to me (from
his book and doing this brief interview) that Bill has dealt with
his past in the best possible way – by not mixing it up with
the present. That’s not to say that Bill has been totally
dismissive of his past; he wrote a book about his time in the Magic
Band called Lunar Notes. Rock journalists have offered more
complex assessments of the Magic Band and the way the music was
made but no one has managed to convey the frustrations and overwhelming
bizarreness of the time quite as directly as Bill.
Zoot at the Collisseum, Athens, April 1972
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Even someone who is unaware of the history of the band
can see something huge brewing through Lunar Notes.
If it’s read as a story you can guess the ending almost
immediately. Beefheart was notoriously harsh on his musicians
taking credit for 100% of the music. In the BBC documentary
mentioned above, Beefheart delivers this quote from a radio
interview
“I play the guitar. Don't you think Stravinski would
be annoyed if someone bent a note the wrong way?"
From this it was always my assumption that no one in the
Magic Band ever received a percentage share of the publishing
(writing) money from the songs and Bill confirms this
“Never did, except Grow Fins. Fahey and
Blackwood paid at least the original Trout Mask Replica
players.”
(Grow Fins was the 5CD box set issued on John Fahey
and Dean Blackwood’s Revenant label a few years back,
collecting the original recordings Zappa made at the house
for Trout Mask with live bootlegs and radio oddities. It’s
fantastic). |
“Was there one specific event that led to your departure
from the Magic Band as the general feeling that something was not
right seemed to have been in place from the very beginning?”
“You are kidding right! No way to answer that…way
too many reasons...but in short: being ripped off, abused, constantly
lied to...and on and on. A well adjusted person would have left
in ten minutes.”
”A note about the Stravinski statement. Bullshit!”
“When did you join the Magic Band? I understand it was
before Trout Mask in which case wasn't it a bit weird to suddenly
be in a band and be locked in a house eating poorly learning a record
that you knew yourself would not sell? Did you know the direction
the music was going to go in before you joined?”
“I joined in June 1968, just before Strictly Personal.
Believe me it was weird, but not because I knew Trout Mask
Replica wouldn't sell. It was over a long period that that
record would evolve. It was only after we played live that it
became obvious that screaming groupies were out of the question.
As far as the direction, we were going to record Strictly Personal
so I was playing that material which was strong and reasonably
accessible. Veterans Day Poppy, Moonlight on Vermont,
and Sugar n' Spikes were all to be included.”
The Magic Band in the garden to their rented house on Entrada
Drive in Woodland Hills where they wrote and rehearsed Trout
Mask Replica. L-R - Bill Harkleroad, John French, Don Van
Vliet, Mark Boston, Jeff Cotton
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However, Strictly Personal as we know it was already
recorded with the guitar pairing of Jeff Cotton and Alex St
Claire. Beefheart was unhappy with the initial Strictly
Personal and when Bill joined the intention was to re-record
the album with new songs included. However, the album ended
up coming out in its original form, apparently without the
bands knowledge. Beefheart's own knowledge of this has been
debated since, he claims to have known nothing about the impending
release though others have suggested that maybe he was playing
the general after the war and had decided he didn’t
like the LP after the critics questioned the “psychedelic”
production. Again, Mike Barnes’ comprehensive biography
offers great in-depth insight into this period. The songs
mentioned by Bill above were shelved (they later came out
as part of Trout Mask). The band moved into the now famous
group house in Woodland Hills to write and practice Trout
Mask. Solidly. For months on end. |
.“Did any of you have wives or partners to see during
that time or just regular stuff to do? I find it hard to believe
you were in that house 24 hours a day rehearsing (though at the
same time when I listen to that album it seems completely believable).
Surely at one point or another you all must have thought "That’s
it, this guy is mental! I'm leaving!"?”
“The Trout Mask Replica band was all single at that
time, and we did stay and rehearse constantly in that house. All
of us went through extreme depravation and at different individual
points wanted and did leave the band. I can't remember how many
times John French left and rejoined the band.”
The music suddenly changed direction too. Bill told me a little
about the music that made him want to learn to play the guitar
“The Ventures and various surf bands were the first
influences. Then very quickly it became the blues players and
of course the Beatles etc.”
“If someone were to sound similar to the Trout Mask era
Magic Band now the influences would be relatively easy to pinpoint
because of the wealth of leftfield rock music but at the time it's
harder for me to pin down where you were getting the sound from.
I guess I'm trying to say that you guys invented a lot of what passes
as avant-garde or leftfield music nowadays. It's impossible to escape
the comparison to the Magic Band if you make any guitar based music
that is slightly off-centre. My guess with you guys is that it came
from a mix of early blues artists and the growing free jazz scene
with people like Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane branching out
into looser, structure-less forms but I'm keen to know how you see
it…”
“You nailed the core, but you need to throw in the
beat generations "art attitude". Don Vliet had quite
a pocket full of creative things he was fond of.”
“Do you think it's the case that the album is so interesting
purely because it has to be the only
case of a very able band trusting someone who is (to a certain extent)
a non-musician
to tell them what to play? Almost like it’s an experiment?
Normally egos are involved with musicians but from your book it
seems like you were willing to trust Don 100% even though sometimes
what you were playing or trying to play didn't make sense. In most
cases if this occurs then the musicians will over ride the request
and pretty much play what they want.”
” Yes... but trusting isn't the correct word and we
did change things to make them playable but in keeping with what
the setting was.”
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