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This is Joe Wong. Welcome to the Trap Set, where each week we explore the lives of drummers.

I want to play something for you.

You're hearing the song Bat Chain Puller by Captain Beefhart in the Magic Band,

featuring my guest John Drumbo French on Drunch.

The world of music is rife with artists so ahead of their time that their work isn't recognized until long after it's released.

And then there are those like French, whose style was so wildly invented and so ahead of his time, he still hasn't gotten his due. French was instrumental in the creation of Beefheart's

most beloved albums, starting with 1967's Safe as Milk, and he was the

band leader for Trout Mask Replica.

The album is loved and loathed in equal measure, but its immense influence has inspired

everyone from Sonic Youth to the Simpsons creator Matt Groening.

It was difficult for John to find a place in music after his departure from Beefheart, largely

because his unique style was honed to match Beefheart's idiosyncratic musical whims.

As you'll hear, the 13-year Odyssey with the groundbreaking band left French with little

in the way of material reward.

But the abusive atmosphere cultivated by its tyrannical leader left the talented drummer

with a lot of trauma.

I recorded our interview in John's home studio in Lancaster, a desert town north of Los Angeles,

...