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"LUNAR NOTES: Zoot Horn Rollo's Captain Beefheart Experience"
by BILL HARKLEROAD (Zoot Horn Rollo) SAF Books 1998 ISBN 09467 19217
From MOJO The Music Magazine (London, England) June 1996, Issue #31
"The 100 Greatest Guitarists Of All Time":
Number 79 - ZOOT HORN ROLLO [William Earl Harkleroad, ASCAP]
"Zoot's beautiful slide and riffing is what latter day American blues
should be."
John Frusciante, *Red Hot Chili Peppers*
One of several in the distinguished line of guitarists to claim membership of Captain Beefhearts' spectacular Magic Band, Bill Harkleroad - known to everyone but his parents as Zoot Horn Rollo - played on all of Don Van Vliet's very best records.
He made his recording debut at 19 on, of all albums, "Trout Mask Replica". the one-two punch of dual guitarists Harkleroad and Jeff "Antennae Jimmy Semens" Cotton, combined with Van Vliet's unforgettable lyrics and Wolfian bellow, makes this the masterwork it's acclaimed to be, but it was the albums that followed which established Harkleroad's individual worth.
After John "Drumbo" French temporarily departed post-"Trout Mask", the awesome task of translating Beefheart's creative outpourings into playable parts fell directly upon his shoulders. "It became my job to try to deal with whistling parts, piano things, him playing guitar, whatever," he recalled in 1994.
Young Bill provided both glass finger and steel appendage guitar to the Captain's finest records, "Lick My Decals Off, Baby", "The Spotlight Kid" and "Clear Spot". If proof be needed of Harkleroad's dexterity, listen to his staggering work on "Clear Spot", which, thanks to producer Ted Templeman , boasts crystal-clear sound and example after example of fretboard work which would influence more than one generation of guitarists to come.
After 1974's disappointing "Unconditionally Guaranteed", he recorded with fellow ex-Magic Banders as *Mallard* in '75/'76, before putting away his Zoot suit for good. In 1994, living in Eugene, Oregon, Mr. Zoot Horn Rollo was making a living working at a record store, giving guitar lessons, and producing "corporate video stuff". [by DdM aka Dave DiMartino]
Guitar: Danelectro, Fender Telecaster
Highlight: *Big Eyed Beans From Venus*, conclusion, 3:40 [from "Clear Spot", Reprise, 1972]
"Zoot Horn Rollo - An Interview With Bill Harkleroad" by David Gabrielsen from DISCoveries [December, 1988]:
DG: What about Fifties music?
BH: I'd listened to that from the time I was five years old, because of my older sister. I totally identified with Elvis Presley, since my birthday is also January 8th. So, there's a big part of me that's in the '50s stuff. It was music that was alive.
Hubert Sumlin became one of my favorites [guitarist with Howlin' Wolf]. To my knowledge, he's the first guitar player to play that out-of-phase Stratocaster sound, which you can't get away from in almost any record now. So I listened to real hardcore blues, and the early bands I was in would do Beatles and Rolling Stones [covers], 'cause that was what got us gigs.
I used to fall asleep with John Coltrane on the headphones. That was my transition from blues to jazz. And for me it had to be black or I didn't like it. I had an attitude that black music had more of a gut-level feel than the totally intellectual music. I mean, for me it was the artistic black stuff, as opposed to the mainstream, notey stuff. For me at the time, it was an easy way to corner it by saying I like black avant garde music, whether it's blues or jazz. It was a label for me.
DG: How did you meet Don "Captain Beefheart" Van Vliet?
BH: I grew up in the same town. I used to see his group and Zappa, when he was just starting out, in a group called the Blackouts, playing dynamite blues guitar. They'd rehearse in the junior high gymnasium, and I'd sneak in and listen to them. Here were these old guys and a nineteen-year-old playing this blues music.
DG: How did you get into the Beefheart band?
BH: With each new generation, there's more technique that's expected as the norm. So my group, as we grew into it, had chops that what rivaled the older guys in his group - but not the soul. Do you know what I mean? We started showing up at parties where Beefheart was playing. One of the members of the group I was in was closer to their age. I'd sneak in bein' sixteen, bein' the kid, and I'd jam with them and they'd notice, "Hey, the kid can play!"
One by one, a guitar player I played with and a drummer named John French, who's been around that scene forever and one of my favorite musicians, joined the band as Don was replacing the older members. Trying to move on was his idea, and the older members were straight-ahead blues people, and he was starting to expand [his music]. Safe As Milk came out, and for me that was it. I couldn't believe the music! Ry Cooder replaced Doug Moon, and he ended up playing on that whole album. He went from Taj Mahal's band to Beefheart's band. They were the two most influential blues bands to me at that time, and by far the strongest L.A. bands. Buffalo Springfield was another real good one.
DG: What made you decide to leave Captain Beefheart and form Mallard?
BH: I needed to get on my own and get out of this form of existence. I was not taking care of my life. It took me six years to be able to say no to the man. There was so much hero worship, and I needed to breathe and have a life.
DG: Did it give you a bad taste toward the music business?
BH: Not necessarily. I wanted to get away from that situation. It was even the thought of whether I wanted to play music or not.
DG: Was Mallard supposed to be your band?
BH: It was the Magic Band without Don. We figured we had a career, and it was the band that was a spinoff of Beefheart. But here I was the person who's feeling that I'm going to be the leader because I'm the guitar player. Now, I'm the one who has to write and come up with the music. So, I felt the pressure of that, and I kind of took over as the leader of that band.
The first album was basically a demo tape. I never really considered it an album. It was a demo tape to get a record deal. I thought it was pretty weak. There were some parts of it that were okay. But my intent was that this music was a demo. Virgin bought it and it came out in the U.K. as an album, Uh ooh!
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