The Magic Band – The Button Factory, Friday September 28th

·16th September 2012·1 min read

The Magic Band return to The Button Factory on Friday September 28th.

“For those who have yet to experience the Magic Band’s truly ambitious weirdness, these shows will astonish you. And for tried and true Beefheart fans like me, these are deliriously momentous occasions with maybe a nostalgic, avant-garde sniffle or two”

Matt Groening (creator of The Simpsons)

The Magic Band famously was a famously difficult environment back in the day. The Captain would work those suckers, work em to the bone. What may occasionally come across on disc as manic experimentation was as regimented and precise, and current main dude and original Magic Band alumnus John French recalls being “screamed at, beaten up, drugged, ridiculed, humiliated, arrested, starved, stolen from, and thrown down a half-flight of stairs by his employer”.

You’d be forgiven for thinking that this version of The Magic Band touring is a bit like Joe English and Henry McCullogh reforming Wings without Macca, especially as few of these musicians actually played with Beefheart back in the day, but they’re still guaranteed to give an utterly wiggy performance, perhaps all the better for knowing that Beefheart isn’t going to beat the shit out of them afterwards with his magic wand or something.

This performance will feature:

John “Drumbo” French, Vocals, Harmonica & Drums
Denny “Feelers Rebo” Walley, Slide guitar
Mark “Rocket Morton” Boston, Bass
Eric Klerks , Guitar
Craig Bunch, Drums