john french

in 1996, the bbc radio broadcasted john french's concert at the "5th annual festival of experimental music" at the conway hall, london, uk. during this solo performance / drum clinic, john 'drumbo' french not only performed a couple of van vliet compositions, but also talked about his experiences with the magic band. in 1998 he recorded his first solo album that included a bunch of beefheart material as well.

John French about the picture on the right:
"This is before the hair turned grey. It was fun to do this shot, I call it "Bwana Drumbo." Photo Credit goes to Richard Thompson (a different guy, not the guitarist.) we were looking for the Film Noir look. "

	captain beefheart and his magic band: safe as milk (1) (1967, usa, lp, buddha)
	captain beefheart & his magic band: strictly personal (2) (1968, lp, usa, blue thumb)
	captain beefheart & his magic band: trout mask replica (3) (1969, 2lp, usa, straight)
	captain beefheart & the magic band: lick my decals off, baby (4) (1970, lp, usa, straight)
	captain beefheart & his magic band: mirror man (5) (1971, lp, usa, buddha)
	captain beefheart: the spotlight kid (6) (1972, lp, usa, reprise)
	1972 captain beefheart & the magic band- clear spot
	mallard: mallard (1) (1975, lp, ??, virgin records v2045) - feat. art tripp III, incl.'peon' (van vliet) & songs co-written by john french
	captain beefheart and the magic band: doc at the radar station (12) (1980, lp, usa, virgin)
	henry kaiser: aloha (1981, lp, usa, metallanguage ml 109) - feat. john french
	1987 crazy backwards alphabet- (guitar, drums, harp, keyboards, vocals)
	french, frith, kaiser, thompson: live, love, larf & loaf (1987, cd, usa, rhino rncd 70831)
	french, frith, kaiser, thompson: invisible means (1990, cd, usa, windham hill records wd-1094)
	1991 circle dance ...- circle dance... (drums, vocals)
	captain beefheart: i may be hungry, but i sure ain't weird (1992, cd, uk, sequel)
	1993 thompson, richard- watching the dark (drums, vocals)
	john french: waiting on the flame (1995, cd, uk, demon records fiendcd 759) - feat.bill harkleroad
	1995 all day thumbsucker revisited
	1996 frank zappa- the lost episodes (drums)
	1996 scott colby: slide crazy! (drums)
	john french: o solo drumbo (1998, cd, jpn, avant avan024) - incl.various beefheart related compositions
	1999 captain beefheart- grow fins: rarities 1965-1982
	1999 captain beefheart- the dust blows forward
	henry kaiser: here's to you, zoogz (1999, cdr, usa, private release) - incl. various van vliet compositions
	derek bailey: playbacks (1999, cd, usa, bingo) - feat.john french
	cucamonga by rudy vanderlans (2000, book + cd, usa, emigre) - a photo-book plus cd incl. john french: ' vienna sausage waltz'
	2000 songs in the key of z: the curious universe of outsider music
	the magic band: back to the front (2003, cd, uk, atprcd 7) - all compositions by don van vliet
	the magic band: live in concert & crow's milk (2004, dvd, uk, subdiva) - all compositions by don van vliet
	the magic band: 21st century mirror men (2005, cd + dvd, uk, proper records) - all compositions by don van vliet

Drumbo is currently working a book.. details forthcoming!
Readers are probably most aware of John French's work as a Magic Band member, but there was at least one instance of him jamming with Zappa, as can be heard on "Alley Cat" from "The Lost Episodes".

I remember very little about that particular jam (Alley Cat). I do recall jamming in the basement studio and doing a thing in 3/4 time. I was the only drummer around at the time and there were quite a few musicians there. It was just before Trout Mask Replica was recorded. Frank had a little chord change/ melody written out and I just played by ear. I think Eliot Ingber was there. It turned out very nice. However, Don was very upset with me for "getting into Frank's music more than I got into his music." I tried to explain that Don's music was very difficult to learn and Franks piece in 3/4 was much simpler and left more room for liberties.

Note: I don't want people to get the idea that I think Frank wrote "simple music," some of his stuff was very complex, but it didn't break as many rules and so therefore was easier to grasp than Don Van Vliets.

The John French entry had a couple of errors. Thanx to Chris Fisher and Duncan Kimball. Here we go:

Just a quick note to give you some info and possible corrections for your John French entry:

FYI there are two John Frenchs. The 'other' John French is a noted Australian producer-engineer, based in Melbourne. He is not the same person as John 'Drumbo' French of the Magic Band.

The following production/engineering credits you have listed on that page are for 'our' Aussie John French:

audihaun says: "I recently received a message from John Drumbo French to update me on progress with his new recordings"

So here Rockette and I are at Proper Record's wonderful new studio recording my new CD "City of Refuge" which is basically a Magic Band influenced compilation of music I've put together over the last year and a half.

I'm listening to Rockette put a bass line on a song called "Maybe That'll Teach Ya" which is based loosely on a jam that was done by Don, Doug Moon, and myself. I used the Moon riff and Don's line "Maybe That'll Teach Ya" and wrote a whole song around it about the futility of revenge. It's a more bluesy kind of simple piece.

I don't think Mark or I have ever sounded better together. This has been a lot of fun and I'm sure that Beefheart fans will be pleased as this will fill a particular need for new fresh material in the style of the Magic Band. I started getting these ideas about six months into the project, I suppose, as a result of the complete saturation I was undergoing to achieve a reasonable MB sound.