The Dirty Lowdown: The Magic Band

Saturday, July 30, 2011

The Magic Band–UK Tour Announced

Behind the success of the 2009 appearance at the All Tomorrow’s Parties festival in Minehead, UK the legendary Magic Band , of Capt. Beefheart fame has announced an 7 date tour of the UK and Ireland. So far the only dates that are locked in are November 30 in London at Scala, Friday December 2 in Dublin, Ireland at the Button Factory. December 3 at Kazmir in Liverpool,

Then they will be welcomed back at All Tomorrow's Parties - ATP 2011 on December 4 in Minehead, UK where you can also see Fleet Foxes, Joanna Newsom, Yann Tiersen, The Mountain Goats, Low, The Fall, The Apples In Stereo, Sebadoh, Superchunk, Thurston Moore, Tinariwen, Lost In the Trees, Olivia Tremor Control, Jeff Mangum, Boredoms, and 14 more bands, check the ATP web site for specifics.

Then on December 5 they will be at The Pavillion in Falmouth, on the 7th, they’ll be playing at Rescue Rooms, Nottingham, UK and winding up in Leeds on the 8th at The Irish Center.

This years lineup, which features John ‘Drumbo’ French on vocals, is the same as in 2009.

The lineup is: Denny "Feelers Rebo" Walley, Mark "Rockette Morton" Boston, John "Drumbo" French with Eric Klerks, Guitar, and Craig Bunch, Drums.

Rumor has it that John Drumbo French is currently working on new music. Originals that just can’t help sounding like what the band may have done in the past. This will be a follow up to 2008’s critically acclaimed Proper Records release of City of Refuge. If Drumbo is true to form, it will be Magic Band members playing on the new album.

You can get updates on The Magic Bands MySpace Page.

Also, for fans and rock historians alike, look for John French’s definitive biography on the band, “Beefheart:Through The Eyes Of Magic” It is not only a great history of one of the most creative and controversial bands from the 60’s and 70’s but a handbook for anybody contemplating starting/joining a band.

This is as intimate and as detailed a book about Captain Beefheart (and, specifically, the making of TROUT MASK REPLICA and other classics) as we are ever likely to get. EYES OF MAGIC is almost the exact opposite of LUNAR NOTES, which had some interesting material but raised more questions than it answered. The one drawback, and it's a big one, is that this is the UNADORNED TRUTH about what went on in the Trout House and elsewhere in "Beefheart Land," and it's not a pretty picture. If you love Beefheart and his music, your feelings may be somewhat more complicated after reading. One positive is that Frank Zappa comes off much better than expected (certainly more so than in his recent bio) and compared to Don seems almost saintly.