John French (musician)
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John ("Drumbo") French is an American drummer and musician.
He played on Captain Beefheart's Trout Mask Replica, and also on various other Captain Beefheart records. Captain Beefheart dubbed him "Drumbo". During the Trout Mask Replica sessions, French transcribed the musical ideas Beefheart played for him on piano for the rest of the band, thus making him one of the unsung musical geniuses within the Beefheart legend.
John French was from the same area of California as Frank Zappa, Don Vliet and other Magic Band and Mothers of Invention members. He was interested in the local music scene as a teenager, hanging out with Doug Moon and watching The Omens on stage. Around 1964 he played and recorded with Merrell and The Exiles, a band led by Merrell Fankhauser and featured Jeff Cotton on guitar. French and Cotton joined Mark Boston in another band in 1966, sadly never recorded, called Blues in a Bottle. Bill Harkleroad aka Zoot Horn Rollo joined later, thus the nucleus of the Trout Mask Replica band was formed.
John was invited to join Beefheart and the Magic Band in late 1966, as a replacement for Paul Blakeley. Having played on Safe as Milk (1967), his distinctive drumming style moulded the driving heavy psychedelic blues of Strictly Personal (1968) and Mirror Man (1968 released 1971). French was strangely and contentiously omitted from the credits of Trout Mask Replica, as well as being absent from the band photos taken for the artwork. This may have been the result of the mind games that Vliet inflicted on the band. Shortly after the completion of Trout Mask Replica Beefheart sacked him, and replaced him with the inexperienced Jeff Bruschell. Drumbo was soon invited back however, and played on the critically acclaimed albums Lick My Decals Off, Baby, and The Spotlight Kid, sharing percussion duties with Art Tripp aka Ed Marimba. Then in late 1972, just before an American tour, he was inexplicably sacked again.
Beefheart's contractual problems in 1975 forced him into touring with Frank Zappa's Bongo Fury tour, but when he was able he set to reforming The Magic Band. French was recruited as both drummer and musical director. 1976 saw the recording 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 Vliet.
He visited Vliet in 1980 when he was on the phone hearing the news that he had no guitarist for the upcoming tour; Drumbo got the part, and also recorded Doc at the Radar Station with the band. Again he left, only to be invited back in 1982, while working at Tippi Hedron's exotic feline reserve. He might have accepted had not Vliet handed him 40 songs to learn in two weeks. French sealed the walkout the next day by returning the guitar Beefheart had loaned him.
French has subsequently made solo records, and played with the experimental group French Frith Kaiser Thompson 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 documentary The Artist Formerly Known As Captain Beefheart.
2003 saw him reform the Magic Band as a live act with Rockette Morton, Denny Walley and Gary Lucas. They divide the show into an instrumental and a vocal section. French handles the vocals and harmonica, handing over the drum kit to Robert Williams. They released an album Back To The Front in 2004 and a live CD, "21st Century Mirror Men", in 2005.
Of all the regular musicians who have played with Beefheart, French's contribution was perhaps the most under-rated. However more recently he has been recognised as a talented musician. Check out "The Thousandth and Tenth Day of the Human Totem Pole" on his album O Solo Drumbo; he plays both the beat and the melody of this song simultaneously. This took 10 weeks to learn.
