master drummer Terry Bozzio finds independence and solace in his art, music and Ventura County digs
Hoodoo
As the host of a new Web drumming program, master drummer Terry Bozzio
finds independence and solace in his art, music and Ventura County digs
By Paul Sisolak 05/06/2010
http://www.vcreporter.com/cms/story/detail/following_his_own_beat/7888/
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As is often the case with great artists, it�s nearly impossible to
pigeonhole Terry Bozzio into any one single genre. �I�ve gone through so
many personas and lives,� he says.
Peruse any part of his 40-year career trajectory, and you have your pick
of the varietals at hand. Bozzio, to many, is �Terry Ted,� Frank Zappa�s
wild and prodigious drummer at the peak of the late-1970s-era, jazz
fusion-y Mothers of Invention. To others, he�s the glammed-out co-leader
with ex-wife Dale in the �80s commercial music experiment Missing
Persons. And to others still, he�s a respected composer of intricate,
polyrhythmic solo drum kit compositions, proving once and for all that
percussion can exist as a classical centerpiece medium outside the
conventional rock and jazz definitions.
Today, Terry Bozzio is taking on another task: educator. More
specifically, as the host of a streaming Internet program with the
intent of informing and uniting the drumming community via cyberspace.
While his new role as the host of DrumChannel.com makes him the honorary
artist-in-residence of Drum Workshop (DW) in Oxnard, it also heralds
Bozzio�s return to the West Coast, where he and his new wife, Mayumi,
call Camarillo home.
It�s a return to the California roots Bozzio had left behind in the
1990s when he relocated to Austin, Texas, with his family for that
city�s musical and cultural vibrancy. This time, his move to Ventura
County marks a full-time, daily gig at the DW manufacturing plant and
studios, a further strengthening of relationships with a company
Bozzio�s endorsed for years now.
�I get to be here interviewing other drummers, hanging around and
talking,� Bozzio says. �It�s great. It�s a place for drummers to come.�
Part improvised performance, part artist-on-artist interview, �Drum
Channel Live� broadcasts on the Web, where Bozzio sits down weekly with
one of his contemporaries to talk music, life, philosophy and art � but
most importantly, they play. DW founder Don Lombardi had personally
invited Bozzio to host the program, an overnight success in its
multicamera approach and artistic pedigree.
So far, Bozzio�s impressive guest list has included the likes of Airto
Moreira, Mike Portnoy, Dennis Chambers and fellow Zappa alumni Ruth
Underwood, Chad Wackerman and Ralph Humphrey.
In addition to his Internet program, the things that Bozzio, at 59, says
make him happiest today are his drums and a place to play them. �It�s
like being in Santa�s magic toy shop for me. I come here and practice to
my heart�s desire,� he says of one portion of the DW warehouse where he
keeps his massive, custom kit � chromatically tuned on one end,
diatonically on the other.
Although the new gig marks the first time in nearly 25 years that the
fiercely independent Bozzio has found himself a regular member of a band
or permanent musical situation, the DW arrangement offers Bozzio a
unique flexibility to tour when his schedule calls for it.
Last week, Bozzio wrapped up a European tour with prog supergroup
HoBoLeMa (short for Allan Holdsworth, Terry Bozzio, Tony Levin, Pat
Mastelotto), and Drum Channel Live resumes.
But aside from the freedom Lombardi offers, Bozzio�s strong relationship
with Drum Channel counters other frustrating musical ventures with
groups who offered the drummer little respect or authority in the
proceedings. Aside from the collaborative genius of groups like
HoBoLeMa, or the Mike Patton-led Fantomas (�That was the hardest stuff
I�d done since Zappa,� he says), Bozzio�s attempted involvement last
year with members of Korn ended acrimoniously amid managerial and
artistic disagreements.
The Korn debacle served as a reminder of something that Bozzio had
realized years prior: his priorities regarding fame and fortune have
changed. An ardent devotee of author and mythologist Joseph Campbell,
Bozzio had perhaps been listening when Campbell wrote, �I think the
person who takes a job in order to live � that is to say, for the money
� has turned himself into a slave.�
�I�m happy now. I don�t need a lot of money,� Bozzio says. �I learned
that after Missing Persons broke up. I ended up beat, being more rich
and famous than I�d ever been. I was an internationally known drum
artist. I had total artistic freedom. And it dawned on me: I�m the
luckiest guy in the world.�
--
Trout Mask Replica
WFMU.org or WMSE.org; because music channels on
Sirius Satellite, and its internet radio player, suck