Introduction
Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band are probably the weirdest band that ever
existed, and possibly the best. Many people have described a gig they attended
as life-changing. Few would’ve been as life-changing as my first Captain
Beefheart gig.
In 1967 I was 18 years old, supposedly studying for A-levels, but actually
undergoing a more serious study of girls, music, Kerouac and the burgeoning
underground scene. I was working long shifts through Friday nights at a Lyons
bakery, where I met another crazy longhair called Mike. Mike was a little older
than me and was seriously into underground music: particularly psychedelia
and acid rock. He was a student of English Literature at York University and
had the longest hair around: a major credential at the time. He never brushed
or combed his hair (believing that it caused split ends), but he ran his fingers
through to rid his hair of major tangles. Mike enthused about going to UFO
and Middle Earth in London to drop acid and dance all night to bands like Pink
Floyd. He was into the West Coast acid rock scene and knew about every band
in the Los Angeles/San Francisco area before they’d even released an album.
We spent many happy hours sitting in his room, where Mike would fascinate
me with the debut albums of The Doors, Country Joe and the Fish, Love and
Quicksilver Messenger Service. We were in a world of our own.
Apart from John Peel, who played these jewels on his wonderful late-night
radio show Perfumed Garden, no one else seemed to have heard of this
treasure trove of music. John Peel championed Captain Beefheart and his Magic
Band, claiming they were the best band on the planet. He not only played
them on his show but ferried Don and the band around to gigs and introduced
them onstage. Peel carried a lot of weight in the underground scene, which is
probably why Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band were better known and
had more of a following here in Britain than their native USA.
I first heard Beefheart’s Safe As Milk at Mike’s on the day of its release. To
say I was bowled over is an understatement. I was into both the blues and
psychedelia, but this seemed to combine the two in a way that blasted your
mind and body into atoms. It shook me, and I was hooked. I’d never heard
anything like it. By this time, I was also going to London underground clubs
Middle Earth, UFO, The Roundhouse, The Marquee and Les Cousins. For me, it
was to see mainly Pink Floyd, Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac, Jimi Hendrix and
Roy Harper. When I heard that Captain Beefheart was going to play at Middle
Earth, I was ecstatic. There was only one problem: I was in the midst of my
A-level exams. I had been offered a provisional place at university, and needed
the grades, but music was more important to me, and besides, my biology
exam was a week away. Surely I could afford a night off. High on adrenalin,
I drove to London on my trusty motorbike, only to discover that the gig had
been postponed. Beefheart’s bassist Jerry Handley was ill, and they’d been
replaced by the Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation. Now, I quite liked Aynsley Dunbar,
but he was no substitute for Captain Beefheart, who was rescheduled for the
following week as a double bill with John Mayall (another favourite of mine).
That made it an absolute must.
The gig was now going to be the night before my A-level biology exam.
If I went, I wouldn’t be home until 3:00 a.m., and my exam started at 9:00
a.m.. I would have no last-minute revision, and I’d be knackered. Still, needs
must. No choice! It was truly one of the best gigs I have ever been to. I can’t
remember anything about John Mayall that night, but Beefheart just blew me
away! Needless to say, I didn’t get the required grade, and the course of my
life changed. However, I’d seen Captain Beefheart in all his glory! I wouldn’t
change that even if I could.