Lunar Notes - Zoot Horn Rollos Captain Beefheart Experience Pdf
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FREE LUNAR NOTES - ZOOT HORN ROLLOS CAPTAIN BEEFHEART EXPERIENCE PDF Bill Harkleroad,Billy James | 128 pages | 09 Jun 2013 | Gonzo Distributions Ltd | 9781908728340 | English | London, United Kingdom Zoot Horn Rollo – Opher's World There's over ten years of content here so dig in! Subscribe in a reader. It was great fun and I emphasize the word FUN. His voice is also nearly gone due to an undisclosed long term illness rumoured to be Multiple Sclerosis and so even basic speech is slow and painful judging from the film which dates back to He was the first name on my list of favourite guitar players for a piece I wrote for Diskant in August 02 and I Lunar Notes - Zoot Horn Rollos Captain Beefheart Experience a lot of people who feel the same. For someone whose involvement was so central in a music that has often been talked about and analyzed, it seems to me that the opportunity to talk about his view of the time he spent in the Magic Band has not really presented itself to Bill, even when it Lunar Notes - Zoot Horn Rollos Captain Beefheart Experience should have done so. The BBC documentary The Artist Formerly Known As Captain Beefheart featured many Magic Band members but again Bill was notable only by his lack of involvement and the same could be said for Mark Boston, whereas Jimmy Carl Black whose involvement was miniscule in comparison seemed to get a starring role Black played percussion for a brief while in the s after Bill had left the band. As an aside, it seems like the BBC is making a second part to the film as they filmed the reunion shows. When I first started doing a fanzine in about I tried to get an interview with Bill to fill a hole in my own fascination with the Magic Band. I was politely turned down. I tried again in the event of all this Magic Band activity and this time he said yes. I caught up with him via email earlier this year while he was in his studio at home working on music in between teaching guitar and improving his golf handicap. Sorry if it becomes confusing but the actual email was very long and I wanted to put some kind of chronological order on this, hence the dropping in and out of interview mode and the addition of after thoughts on my part. First of all, I wanted to know the reasons for the gaping Zoot shaped hole in the BBC documentary that led me to this interview in the first place. It was strange for me also that Jimmy Carl Black was so prominent, although he did say nice things. This kind of shoulder-shrugging relaxed answer is something Bill seems to specialize in. Take the recent reunion as a prime example. Why else would the current Magic Band reunion be taking place? The idea of a Beefheart-less reunion seems to have some very appealing by-products for those involved. One of the main problems for Magic Band members over the years has been the lack of credit given out for their own roles in writing the songs. A reunion would bring attention to the players and increase their own personal ownership of the music they worked so hard on, so it seemed odd to me that Bill apparently chose not to be involved. I was involved, and it took a lot of time and energy to learn the material and go through Lunar Notes - Zoot Horn Rollos Captain Beefheart Experience business stuff. Rock journalists have offered more complex assessments of the Magic Band and the way the music was made but no one has managed to convey the frustrations and overwhelming bizarreness of the time quite as directly as Bill. Even someone who is unaware of the history of the band can see something huge brewing through Lunar Notes. In the BBC documentary mentioned above, Beefheart delivers this quote from a radio interview. From this it was always my assumption that no one in the Magic Band ever received a percentage share of the publishing writing money from the songs and Bill confirms this. Fahey and Blackwood paid at least the original Trout Mask Replica players. No way to answer that…way too many reasons…but in short: being ripped off, abused, constantly lied to…and on and on. A well adjusted person would have left in ten minutes. Did you know the direction the music was going to go in before you joined? It was over a long period that that record would evolve. It was only after we played live that it became obvious that screaming groupies were out of the question. As far as the direction, we were going to record Strictly Personal so I was playing that material which was strong and reasonably accessible. Beefheart was unhappy with the initial Strictly Lunar Notes - Zoot Horn Rollos Captain Beefheart Experience and when Bill joined the intention was to re-record the Lunar Notes - Zoot Horn Rollos Captain Beefheart Experience with new songs included. However, the album ended up coming out in its original form, apparently without the bands knowledge. The songs mentioned by Bill above were shelved they later came out as part of Trout Mask. The band moved into the now famous group house in Woodland Hills to write and practice Trout Mask. For months on end. I find it hard to believe you were in that house 24 hours a day rehearsing though at the same time when I listen to that album it seems completely believable. All of us went through extreme depravation and at different individual points wanted and did leave the band. The music suddenly changed direction too. Bill told me a little about the music that made him want to learn to play the guitar. Then very quickly it became the blues players and of course the Beatles etc. Don Vliet had quite a pocket full of creative things he was fond of. In most cases if this occurs then the musicians will over ride the request and pretty much play what they want. Part of the weirdness of Trout Mask can also be attributed Lunar Notes - Zoot Horn Rollos Captain Beefheart Experience the sound of the record. 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 Lunar Notes - Zoot Horn Rollos Captain Beefheart Experience house because of complaints from neighbours. I mentioned these things to Bill. 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…. 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. Did you play them the music you made and what was their reaction? For me I was much further into Decals because I did so much of the deciphering. I was very close to all the parts on that album. 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. 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? A big chunk of Clear Spot was based on guitar things I was playing and then expanded into the tunes by Don. 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. Bill is a mysterious exception. But written music or tablature is at a minimum, probably because of the sheer difficulty of working it out. Ditto for pictures or info from the time showing the gear Bill used to get these amazing sounds. I guess I am excusing myself for asking the next question which is geeky to the extreme. I know you had that cool Fender Telecaster with all the modifications what were they? The Gibson was an ES shown in the larger live photos in this piece; you can see the sound holes are taped up to stop it feeding backbefore that on Decals I used a Gibson ES Lunar Notes - Zoot Horn Rollos Captain Beefheart Experience in the Decals era photo with the band in tuxedos. 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. How did you manage that? At least a couple hours a day. Following C lear Spotwhich seems to have been a high point for all concerned, Van Vliet got involved in some complicated business deals which clouded the making of the follow up and seemed to weaken the enthusiasm of everyone Lunar Notes - Zoot Horn Rollos Captain Beefheart Experience by the time the recording Lunar Notes - Zoot Horn Rollos Captain Beefheart Experience came round.