Gary was the drummer in the Magic Band from mid 1976 through to mid 1977. According to John French’s notes in the Grow Fins booklet he came into conflict with Don and quit the band just before a short tour of the Pacific North West coast. (John was asked to rejoin the band again to replace Gary, which he did). In his book John recalls seeing Gary perform with the band at the Troubadour and he wrote that “I was really impressed with [his] mastery of the beats and thought he was a great player”. Gary did not record with the band although recordingsRead More →

Although Ingber had recorded with Beefheart in 1969 (see ‘Alley Cat’ on The Lost Episodes CD) he was not called into the Magic Band when Jeff Cotton left. The Decals album was recorded with just the one guitarist. However when it came to the 1970 tour he was enlisted to support Bill Harkleroad. For the next two years he was in and out of the band, recorded The Spotlight Kid (Don giving him the space to solo on ‘Alice In Blunderland’), and returned again for the Knebworth/Roxy shows in July 1975 and the tour of the US and Europe later that year. The rather strangeRead More →

Rich Hepner was spotted by the Magic Band whilst they were on tour. Hepner was playing guitar in a band called the Fantabulous Jags at a bar in Denver. The Jags’ gimmick was the preposterously huge pompadour hairstyles all the band sported (see pic. Rich is second from top). His playing was sufficiently impressive for Alex St Claire to move from guitar to drums to accomodate him. Although he was only in the band a short while he did get to record on the A&M sessions with them as well as playing a number of live gigs. John French recalls seeing him play and wasRead More →

Victor was Don’s cousin, and seems to have been an unusual character. He had artistic inclinations but wasn’t a musician. He hung around with Don and the Magic Band on and off in the early years to such an extent that he became a member of the band for a short while. He played bass clarinet on Trout Mask Replica – possibly only on Hair Pie Bake 1 – and was part of the one-off incarnation of the Magic Band that played the Amougies Festival in 1969. This was the extent of his musical involvement although he was apparently going to be part of theRead More →

Kevin Delaney: When did you start painting? Victor Hayden: I think I started painting around 7. I don’t know why I have that number in my head, except that I like the imagery of 7. It was 7 or maybe younger. I realized then that I was absolutely obsessed with being an abstract expressionist. I was overwhelmed by the New York school of painting. My favorite of course being the least recognized to this day unfortunately, Franz Kline, who was known for his large black and white pieces, almost Japanese in their understated power. That really moved me, and that became my life goal andRead More →

Originally from Palmdale Bill soon hooked up with other hot shot players and future Magic Band members from nearby Lancaster. As a child he’d had accordion lessons but switched to the guitar in his early teens playing in local bands. One of these bands, B.C & The Cavemen, included Mark Boston on bass, another, Blues In A Bottle was with Mark again as well as Jeff Cotton. Bill hung around the Magic Band and occasionally jammed with them until finally joining the band in late June 1968 when Alex St Claire left. He stayed until 1974 when the whole band walked out on Don justRead More →

One of the original members of the Magic Band Jerry had been friends with Alex Snouffer for many years. Together they had already played in several bands around the Lancaster area. Although originally a rhythm guitarist Jerry moved over to bass for the Magic Band and gave the music a solid lolloping foundation, especially during the Mirror Man/Strictly Personal era. With a wife and family to support Jerry left the band towards the end of 1968. Although still ‘plunking’ around on a guitar he hasn’t bothered with professional music since. Magic Band Albums Safe As Milk Strictly Personal Mirror Man Interviews Steve Froy interviewed JerryRead More →

Bruce comes from a musical background. He’s the son of Dr William Fowler, a successful music educationalist, and his three brothers are also great musicians. His mastery of the trombone enables him to play any type of music. As a member of the Magic Band he played ‘air bass’; that is, he substituted for a conventional string bass player by playing his trombone through an octave splitter. This was first heard as part of the short-lived Knebworth band. After he’d left the band there was an occasion when he went to see them perform live and Don tried to get him to join them onstage,Read More →

Catalogue number: PRPCD024 Label: Proper Records Released: November 2008 Track list Bogeyman Bus Ticket Outta Town Blood on a Porcupine Quill City of Refuge Abandon Get so Mean Maybe That’ll Teach Ya To the Loft of Ravenscroft The Shirt off My Back Wicked Witch of War Whose Side Ya On The Withered Hand of Time Proper Records publicity Recognised among many as one of the most innovative percussionists of his generation, Drumbo now sets out to resurrect the style of music he helped make famous in Captain Beefheart’s legendary Magic Band. For his new CD, “City of Refuge,” Drumbo set out to inject new lifeRead More →

John was in and out of the Magic Band a number of times between 1967 and 1978. Before the Magic Band he had drummed on occasion for The Exiles (with Jeff Cotton) and fronted his own blues band, Blues In A Bottle, on vocals and harmonica (again with Cotton, as well as Mark Boston). There is some confusion over whether he was ever recorded with The Exiles, but it is definite that Blues In A Bottle was never recorded. Another band, Rattlesnake & Eggs, he formed with John Thomas also failed to leave a recorded legacy and his stint on vocals with the original MallardRead More →

As a young teenager Feldman had visited the Magic Band at the ‘Trout’ house in Woodlands Hills. In 1976 he was to join the band to play keyboards, accordion and bass after Don had sacked John Thomas for playing on the second Mallard album. After the demise of the Magic Band Feldman has been in demand as a sideman and as a producer, playing with Pere Ubu, Snakefinger, Polly Harvey to name only a few. He has been described as a “joy to work with too: so calm yet so surprising”. He has regularly toured as part of Polly Harvey’s band (playing bass and keyboards).Read More →

Roy was an original member of The Soul Giants, the band that recruited a Frank Zappa as guitarist and consequently mutated into The Mothers of Invention. He then teamed up with Lowell George and formed Little Feat, although he does appear on several albums during the 70’s playing bass on tracks here and there. He was recruited into the Magic Band to supplement Rockette Morton’s bass playing and to allow Rockette to play guitar for live shows. Roy toured the US and Europe with the Magic Band in 1972 and 1973 providing an unmoving, brooding and solid presence. He played on The Spotlight Kid andRead More →

Harry Duncan was not strictly speaking a member of the Magic Band but he was Don’s manager from 1976 to 1978 and did perform on stage with them. He played additional harmonica on “Grow Fins”, and would recite a version of “The Blimp” while wearing a mask. No information available about what he’s been doing since then, although he did host a music show on KUSF fairly recently Harry Duncan releases 1977 US Vinyl The Tubes : Now on A&M SP-3243. Don is supposed to be playing harmonica on the track “Golden Boy” but there is a strong possibility that it is actually Harry Duncan! 1987Read More →

Greg played guitar in a the short-lived version of the Magic Band that was put together for the Knebworth Festival in July 1975 supporting Pink Floyd. This band also played a couple of shows at the Roxy in Los Angeles. Greg still plays guitar and occasionally performs in his home town of Chicago. In 2008 he posted a couple of short videos on You Tube of himself playing. One of these includes some scorching slide work. He has also contributed extensive guitar parts on John French’s City of Refuge album. An interview with Greg about his time with the Magic Band was conducted by SteveRead More →

Jeff probably has the distinction of recording with a band at an earlier age than any other Magic Band member. He began his first band The Exiles when he was only 14 and they released their debut single within a few months. When this band fell apart in 1966 he played with several unrecorded bands – The Allusions, Blues In A Bottle (with John French, Mark Boston and later Bill Harkleroad) – before joining the Magic Band in 1967. An unfortunate incident resulted in Jeff quitting the band during 1969 after the recording of Trout Mask. When he’d recovered he hooked up with former ExilesRead More →

Originally from Salem, Illinois Mark’s family moved to the High Desert town of Lancaster in California in 1963. His father worked in a local grain factory and also played bass as well as steel guitar. This perhaps explains Mark’s ability on the bass – he’s one of the few rock bassists who really know how to use the instrument. By 1966 Mark was playing bass in John French’s Blues In A Bottle band alongside Jeff Cotton on guitar. He also played in B.C. & The Cavemen with Bill Harkleroad on guitar. French, Cotton and Harkleroad all got their call up to the Magic Band. FinallyRead More →

Engene Chadbourne & Jimmy Carl Black Pachuco Cadaver FIRE ANT FACD1007 CD Various Artists The Music Of Captain Beefheart Live ULTIMATE AUDIO ENTERTAINMENT UAE DISC3 CD In June 1993, Eugene Chadbourne and Jimmy Carl Black came to England and toured from Hoxton Square to Hebden Bridge. On route they recorded a session for Radio 3’s Mixing It. Guitarist and banjo player Chadbourne is a product of No Wave, turned around by hearing Derek Bailey. Long ago he recorded three albums of subversively comic free improvisation, then teamed up with John Zorn to tour America playing deranged Country music. Drummer Jimmy Carl Black was a founderRead More →

Many thanks to James Silberbauer for providing all this information Track list Buggie Boogie Woogie Willie The Pimp Drop-out Boogie Sure ’nuff ‘n’ Yes I Do Clear Spot Steal Softly Through Sunshine Steal Softly Through Snowdrop (Excerpt from “Insect And Western” by EC) The Past Sure Is Tense Veteran’s Day Poppy (Including “Ponca War Song” trad. arranged by EC and several themes by Thelonious Monk) Chasin’ The Captain Jack (by EC) Based on a Kiowa Sioux lullaby (I’m Gonna Booglarize You, Baby) Pachuco Cadaver [This is actually split into 2 tracks on the CD] (Including La Rosa by EC) The Dust Blows Forward And TheRead More →

TRIBUTE ALBUMS mostly suck, perhaps it’s appropriate that the music world’s most unlikely and reluctant icon should be given the “treatment” by one of our most inscrutable and willing iconoclasts. Joined by ex-Mothers Of Invention drummer Black, Chadbourne gets into a free-spirited and free-form state of mind we acolytes call “Beefheartian.” The duo nails it from the git-go with a sneaky update of “Buggy Boogie Woogie,” Chadbourne picking through a mutant jazzrock extrapolation and Black thrumming happily along. A country-blues “Willie The Pimp” and a bottle-neckin’ “Sure ‘Nuff ‘N’ Yes, I Do” follow. Then it’s time for the Trout Mask Replica portion of the program,Read More →

Born in Texas, James Inckanish Jr. recorded his first single in 1962. After he moved to California he teamed up with Roy Estrada in The Soul Giants which became the Mothers of Invention under Frank Zappa’s leadership and JCB found eternal fame as “the Indian of the group”. As Indian Ink he was a second drummer in the short-lived Magic Band Don put together for the Knebworth and Roxy shows in July 1975. He has never recorded with the Magic Band. In a June 2000 interview with Alan Clayson JCB said:- … in 1975, I did a tour with Captain Beefheart.The difference between his musicRead More →