Part of the weirdness of Trout Mask can also be attributed to the sound of the record. The record was slated to be released on Straight Records, the label owned by Van Vliet's childhood friend Frank Zappa. It was Zappa who was in charge of recording the album and originally did so using mobile recording gear in the house in Woodland Hills. Some of the recordings made it onto the album (Hair Pie Bake 1 for example where you can hear kids interrupt the recording at the end) but Van Vliet wanted to re-record in a proper studio. Bill speculates in his book that Van Vliet may have felt Zappa was shortchanging him and trying to record on the cheap. The peculiar sonic feel comes from the band employing quirks in the studio that came from the house such as covering the cymbals in cardboard to deaden the sound (a necessity in the house because of complaints from neighbours).

Magic Band, October 1969, Amougies Festival, Belgium. L-R - Bill Harkleroad, Don Van Vliet, Mark Boston, Jeff Burchell (often known as the "Imposter Drumbo" - he was a roadie who replaced John French for this one gig), Victor Hayden

Another quirk is the slightly out-of-synch feel of Van Vliet's vocals (listen to the last line of Moonlight On Vermont as there is a definite place where he should sing it but it seems to come in early). I mentioned these things to Bill;

“This is close to what my take is. The cardboard was on the drums for a while before the studio, Frank stayed pretty much out of the picture (a nice thing on his part) and as far as the vocals.... half deliberate and half paranoia on Don's part”

One of the strangest and hardest things about playing music is that, personally, I find it really hard to talk about the music I make. People ask a lot because there's a genuine curiosity when people find out you make music. I find myself embarrassed because I know I may believe in what I do one hundred percent but I also know the person I'm talking to might not have any idea what it's about or my motives for being involved if they are anything other than fame.

“I was wondering how your parents felt about you joining the Magic Band and whether they understood what you were doing? Did you play them the music you made and what was their reaction?”

“I talked about this in the book because it was a stretch for my parents to play the neighbors Trout Mask Replica and try to find some pride in it. I don't remember being embarrassed, just very aware that almost everybody wouldn't get any part of what was happening. I believe my parents were happy that I wasn't on my way to Viet Nam and had stopped smoking pot and taking acid.”

“How much time went between Trout Mask Replica and Lick My Decals Off, Baby?”

”I think just one year.”

One of the key differences between Lick My Decals Off and its predecessor was the absence of Jeff Cotton but with no one to replace him on guitar. For the first time, Bill was the lone guitarist in the Magic Band. Jeff’s replacement (of sorts) was Art Tripp who added the distinctive sound of the marimba to the album as well as doubling up percussion in live shows of the era. From his book and the sounds of the records that followed it seems that Lick My Decals Off marked the beginning of a steady increase in input on Bills part into the arranging and deciphering of Don's musical ideas. This came to a peak between the 2 albums that followed Lick My Decals Off – The Spotlight Kid and Clear Spot, often due to the absence of John French who left prior to Decals (he returned for the recording) and again after The Spotlight Kid.

“To my ears at least the later stuff you did like Clear Spot seems to be based more in a guitar riff rather than a series of notes. It's almost like you had to do Trout Mask to "unlearn" rock and blues then when you came back to playing more traditional structures you were all the more focused for coming at it from a new angle. The parts on Trout Mask seem to be note based and I remember seeing John French talk about making that record and him assigning parts to each player. Were the later records more of a band effort in this case?”

“I think the first statement is pretty accurate, Decals was done like Trout Mask but I did the work of learning and changing the parts to be finished up by Don. I don't think the later records were a band effort it is just that the piano went away and Don used what we were playing a lot more. A big chunk of Clear Spot was based on guitar things I was playing and then expanded into the tunes by Don.”

“Do you think taking over from John French as the “transcriber” of the band was the reason that some of the guitar parts are more prominent on the later records?”

“If indeed my parts are more prominent it was more a function of each situation. On Decals I was the only guitar except for overdubs. Later as Roy (Estrada aka Orejon) was playing bass Mark (Boston aka Rockette Morton) played guitar so my parts might have been put into a stronger position.”

I guess I am excusing myself for asking the next question which is geeky to the extreme. If you don’t play guitar you may want to go and get a drink and maybe something to eat…

“What equipment were you using throughout the Magic Band era? I know you had that cool Fender Telecaster with all the modifications (what were they?) but I've also seen films of you playing a red Gibson.”

“The Tele had an old Gretsch pickup installed, separate volume and tone controls for both pickups, an out of phase switch (terrible sounding thing) but at the time cool. The Gibson was an ES 330 (shown in the larger live photos in this piece; you can see the sound holes are taped up to stop it feeding back), before that on Decals I used a (Gibson) ES 125 (shown in the Decals era photo with the band in tuxedos).”

“Did you use any FX pedals etc?”

“No FX pedals. Terrible amps… (Fender) Dual Showmans, Ampeg VT22? Acoustic six tens, a custom amp named Godzilla or something. To me this is the weakest part of that time, little Fenders would have been soooo much better. Keep in mind I didn't choose the amps.”

“I remember in your book you spoke of losing the Telecaster and other gear in New York to a cab driver on the way to Ornette Coleman's place - whaaaat? How did you manage that?”

“As we stepped out of the cab at Ornette's house he just drove off with the gear. The Tele didn't bother me as much as the Strat that had a serial number of 2045 or close. The next day I bought the Tele that I still use 32 years later”

“Have you ever thought about checking EBay on the net in case it ever comes up for auction?”

“Ebay? I don't think any body would give a shit about my old guitar!”

“What are you playing these days?”

“The Tele is still the guitar I put the most time in. At least a couple hours a day. I have a pieced together Strat with a midi pickup, a (Gibson) ES 175, a Danelectro Seal, Jerry Jones Baritone, a Breedlove acoustic, and a Hernandes classical.”

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