John French (musician)
Encyclopedia
John "Drumbo" French is an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 drummer
Drum kit
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....

 and musician. He played on Captain Beefheart
Captain Beefheart
Don Van Vliet January 15, 1941 December 17, 2010) was an American musician, singer-songwriter and artist best known by the stage name Captain Beefheart. His musical work was conducted with a rotating ensemble of musicians called The Magic Band, active between 1965 and 1982, with whom he recorded 12...

's Trout Mask Replica
Trout Mask Replica
Trout Mask Replica is the third album by Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band, released in June 1969. Produced by Beefheart's friend and former schoolmate Frank Zappa, it was originally released as a double album on Zappa's Straight Records label...

and on various other Beefheart recordings: Beefheart dubbed him "Drumbo". During the Trout Mask Replica sessions, French transcribed
Transcription (music)
In music, transcription can mean notating a piece or a sound which was previously unnotated, as, for example, an improvised jazz solo. Further examples include ethnomusicological notation of oral traditions of folk music, such as Béla Bartók's and Ralph Vaughan Williams' collections of the national...

 the musical ideas Beefheart played for him on piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...

 for the rest of the band.

Early life

French lived in Lancaster, California
Lancaster, California
Lancaster is a charter city in northern Los Angeles County, in the high desert, near the Kern County line. Lancaster currently ranks as the 30th largest city in California, and the 148th largest city in the United States. Lancaster is the principal city within the Antelope Valley...

, in the same area of Southern California as Frank Zappa
Frank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed...

, Don Van Vliet
Captain Beefheart
Don Van Vliet January 15, 1941 December 17, 2010) was an American musician, singer-songwriter and artist best known by the stage name Captain Beefheart. His musical work was conducted with a rotating ensemble of musicians called The Magic Band, active between 1965 and 1982, with whom he recorded 12...

 and other members of The Magic Band and The Mothers of Invention
The Mothers of Invention
The Mothers of Invention were an American band active from 1964 to 1969, and again from 1970 to 1975.They mainly performed works by, and were the original recording group of, US composer and guitarist Frank Zappa , although other members have had the occasional writing credit...

. He was interested in the local music scene as a teenager, hanging out with Doug Moon and watching The Omens on stage.

Playing career

Around 1964, he played and recorded with Merrell and The Exiles, a band led by Merrell Fankhauser
Merrell Fankhauser
Merrell Wayne Fankhauser is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist who was most active in the 1960s and 1970s with bands including the Impacts, Merrell & the Exiles, HMS Bounty, Fankhauser-Cassidy Band, and MU...

 and featuring Jeff Cotton
Jeff Cotton
Jeff Cotton is an American rock guitarist, known for his work as a member of Captain Beefheart's Magic Band. Cotton first came to attention as guitarist with Merrell and the Exiles, who had a few local hits in 1964 in the Los Angeles area...

 on guitar. French and Cotton joined Mark Boston
Rockette Morton
Rockette Morton is an American musician, best known as a bass guitarist and guitarist for Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band in the 1960s and 1970s.-Early years:...

 in another band in 1966, never recorded, called Blues in a Bottle. Bill Harkleroad
Bill Harkleroad
Bill Harkleroad, known professionally as Zoot Horn Rollo , is an American guitarist. He is best known for his work with Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band...

 aka Zoot Horn Rollo joined later; thus the nucleus of the Trout Mask Replica band was formed.

Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band

French was invited to join Beefheart and the Magic Band in late 1966, as a replacement for Paul Blakeley. Having played on Safe as Milk
Safe as Milk (album)
Safe as Milk is the début album by Captain Beefheart & his Magic Band, originally released in 1967. It is a heavily blues-influenced work, but also hints at many of the features—such as surreal lyrics and odd time signatures—that would later become trademarks of Beefheart's music.The album is also...

(1967), his distinctive drumming style moulded the driving heavy psychedelic blues of Strictly Personal
Strictly Personal
-Personnel:*Don Van Vliet - vocals, harmonica*Alex St. Clair - guitar*Jeff Cotton - guitar*Jerry Handley - bass guitar*John French - drums-External links:* at the Captain Beefheart Radar Station....

(1968) and Mirror Man (1968, but not released till 1971). Shortly after the completion of Trout Mask Replica, French was booted out of the group rather violently (thrown down some stairs), and Beefheart replaced him with the inexperienced Jeff Bruschell. French was contentiously omitted from the credits of Trout Mask Replica and was largely absent from the band photos taken for the artwork. French was soon invited back, however, and played on the critically acclaimed albums Lick My Decals Off, Baby
Lick My Decals Off, Baby
-Personnel:* Captain Beefheart – vocals, bass clarinet, tenor sax, soprano sax, harmonica* Zoot Horn Rollo – guitar and glass finger guitar* Rockette Morton – "bassius-o-pheilius"...

and The Spotlight Kid
The Spotlight Kid
The Spotlight Kid is the sixth album by Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band, originally released in 1972. It is the only album formally credited solely to Captain Beefheart. Often cited as one of the most accessible of Beefheart's albums, it is solidly founded in the blues but also uses...

, sharing percussion duties with Art Tripp
Art Tripp
Arthur Dyer Tripp III is a chiropractor and former musician best known for his work as a percussionist with Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention and Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band.-Early career:Tripp grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and started playing drums in...

 aka Ed Marimba. Then in late 1972, just before an American tour, he left again.

Beefheart's contractual problems in 1975 forced him into joining Frank Zappa's Bongo Fury
Bongo Fury
Bongo Fury is a mostly live album released by Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart in 1975. The live portions were recorded on May 20 & 21, 1975 at the Armadillo World Headquarters in Austin, Texas...

 tour, but when he was able he set to reforming The Magic Band. French was recruited as both drummer and music director
Music director
A music director may be the director of an orchestra, the director of music for a film, the director of music at a radio station, the head of the music department in a school, the co-ordinator of the musical ensembles in a university or college , the head bandmaster of a military band, the head...

. 1976 saw the recording of the original version of Bat Chain Puller, which due to legal ownership problems remains unreleased as a regular album. French also played guitar on some of these songs. He walked out on Beefheart when his friend John Thomas (keyboards) was sacked from the band. He was back to help out again in 1977, but had become disillusioned working with Van Vliet.

French visited Van Vliet in 1980 looking for work; he went on to record Doc at the Radar Station
Doc at the Radar Station
Doc at the Radar Station is the eleventh studio album by Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band, released in August 1980 to favorable reviews. The painting on the album cover is by Don Van Vliet himself...

with the band, playing guitar (and drumming on two tracks). He left before the band toured though, when Van Vliet handed him a list of 40 songs to learn over a 3-month period. French sealed the walkout the next day by returning the guitar Van Vliet had loaned him.

Other projects

French has subsequently made solo records, and played with the experimental group French Frith Kaiser Thompson
French Frith Kaiser Thompson
French Frith Kaiser Thompson was a United States experimental rock quartet comprising John French, Fred Frith, Henry Kaiser and Richard Thompson. The band was formed in 1987 to create an album, Live, Love, Larf & Loaf...

 and again with Kaiser in Crazy Backwards Alphabet.

In 2000, he was involved in compiling and writing the sleeve notes for the anthology of Beefheart rarities Grow Fins. He also gave an insight into the problems of working with Beefheart in the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 documentary
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...

 The Artist Formerly Known as Captain Beefheart.

The Magic Band reformation

2003 saw him reform The Magic Band as a live act with Rockette Morton
Rockette Morton
Rockette Morton is an American musician, best known as a bass guitarist and guitarist for Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band in the 1960s and 1970s.-Early years:...

, Denny Walley, and Gary Lucas
Gary Lucas
Gary Lucas is an American guitarist, a Grammy-nominated songwriter, a soundtrack composer for film and television, and an international recording artist with over a dozen solo albums to date. He has been described as "one of the best and most original guitarists in America" ; a "legendary leftfield...

. They divided the show into an instrumental and a vocal section. French handled the vocals and harmonica
Harmonica
The harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...

, handing over the drum kit to Robert Williams
Robert Williams (drummer)
Robert Williams is a drummer and solo artist who has worked with Captain Beefheart, Hugh Cornwell, John Lydon and Zoogz Rift as well as recording solo.His albums include:*Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band:...

. They released an album, Back to the Front, in 2004 and a live CD, 21st Century Mirror Men, in 2005.

City of Refuge

In 2008, French released a new solo album (under his "Drumbo" moniker) entitled City of Refuge. The album features other musicians from The Magic Band including John Thomas, Mark Boston (aka Rockette Morton
Rockette Morton
Rockette Morton is an American musician, best known as a bass guitarist and guitarist for Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band in the 1960s and 1970s.-Early years:...

), Bill Harkleroad (aka Zoot Horn Rollo) and Greg Davidson (aka Ella Guru). The album was released on UK label Proper records
Proper Records
Proper Records is a record label founded in 1988 by Malcolm Mills and Paul Riley. Commencing with a handful of releases, including The Balham Alligators and Chilli Willi and the Red Hot Peppers, the label grew in stature and renown through its reissue marque, 'Proper Box', whose 4CD boxsets for...

.

Beefheart: Through the Eyes of Magic

In 2010 French released this memoir of his time in the Magic Band (Proper Music Publishing, London).

Discography

  • 1967 Safe as Milk
    Safe as Milk (album)
    Safe as Milk is the début album by Captain Beefheart & his Magic Band, originally released in 1967. It is a heavily blues-influenced work, but also hints at many of the features—such as surreal lyrics and odd time signatures—that would later become trademarks of Beefheart's music.The album is also...

  • 1968 Strictly Personal
    Strictly Personal
    -Personnel:*Don Van Vliet - vocals, harmonica*Alex St. Clair - guitar*Jeff Cotton - guitar*Jerry Handley - bass guitar*John French - drums-External links:* at the Captain Beefheart Radar Station....

  • 1969 Trout Mask Replica
    Trout Mask Replica
    Trout Mask Replica is the third album by Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band, released in June 1969. Produced by Beefheart's friend and former schoolmate Frank Zappa, it was originally released as a double album on Zappa's Straight Records label...

  • 1970 Lick My Decals Off, Baby
    Lick My Decals Off, Baby
    -Personnel:* Captain Beefheart – vocals, bass clarinet, tenor sax, soprano sax, harmonica* Zoot Horn Rollo – guitar and glass finger guitar* Rockette Morton – "bassius-o-pheilius"...

  • 1971 Mirror Man
  • 1972 The Spotlight Kid
    The Spotlight Kid
    The Spotlight Kid is the sixth album by Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band, originally released in 1972. It is the only album formally credited solely to Captain Beefheart. Often cited as one of the most accessible of Beefheart's albums, it is solidly founded in the blues but also uses...

  • 1976 Bat Chain Puller
  • 1980 Doc at the Radar Station
    Doc at the Radar Station
    Doc at the Radar Station is the eleventh studio album by Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band, released in August 1980 to favorable reviews. The painting on the album cover is by Don Van Vliet himself...

  • 1982 Crazy Backwards Alphabet
  • 1987 French Frith Kaiser Thompson
    French Frith Kaiser Thompson
    French Frith Kaiser Thompson was a United States experimental rock quartet comprising John French, Fred Frith, Henry Kaiser and Richard Thompson. The band was formed in 1987 to create an album, Live, Love, Larf & Loaf...

  • 1990 Invisible Means
  • 2000 Grow Fins
  • 2004 Back To The Front
  • 2005 21st Century Mirror Men
  • 2008 City Of Refuge

External links

  • John 'Drumbo' French at MySpace
    MySpace
    Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....

  • Artist page on Proper-records.co.uk
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