The Mothers were run like a business. As Jimmy Carl Black [drummer] explained; “It was like an office job where you have to put in at least forty hours a week. If you were sick, you could be asked for a doctor’s excuse or get docked a day’s pay. This was toward the end before we split up. We were making more money and the Mothers were run like a business” [Miles p. 175]. Bunk Gardner [sax] agreed: "Frank Zappa was not a particularly fun guy to work for or with, for many reasons. He had a huge ego and he was definitely a workaholic who could rehearse hour after hour after hour and then make a critique and criticize after all that hard work, and also display a complete intolerance for anyone making a mistake while playing his music ... I can still remember Frank Zappa walking around in a rage after many concerts because someone fucked up and made a mistake which Frank said was a lack of concentration and being tuned into him” [p.171] They all put up with his autocratic approach in the hope of one day achieving fame and fortune, but he decided not to put up with them. Things began to take a turn for the worse in Zappa's mind and he made a drastic move. In 1969 he decided to suddenly disband The Mothers to everyone’s utter surprise. A decision which he perhaps soon regretted as it wasn’t long before he began to reassemble new Mothers line-ups. Why not apologize and ask for the originals to join him once again? Zappa’s ego was always too big for his own good.
Don Preston explained the breakup: "There were a number of reasons why The Mothers disbanded. One of them was that Zappa was paying us all a salary ... he couldn’t afford the Mother’s salary, but he kept hiring more and more musicians ... the other thing was that he used to get very angry when people would respond to the solos more than his compositions ... the other thing was that we sometimes during a concert would only play three or four songs. The rest would be all improvisation ... I think he wanted more kinds of control on the music” [p.185]. And Black elaborated that, “Frank has got to be king; he’s the boss ... it wasn’t Frank Zappa and the Mothers, it was The Mothers, and that’s the reason he got rid of us” [p. 186]. Others also claimed that Zappa had only started the band so that he could hear what his music sounded like and now that he knew he no longer needed them. He also had a lot of material recorded and stored and was able to release eight Mothers albums after they disbanded. His record labels and producing were also taking up a significant amount of him time and actually starting to bring in money.
Zappa’s side of the story? “I got tired of playing for people who clap for all the wrong reasons” [p.185] He had had enough of people coming to shows for the theatrics and not caring about his music. It was pure jealousy of his band. Jealousy that fans clapped for the improvised sections which he had nothing to do with. Jealousy that his band could read music better than he ever could. Resentment that he used their ideas in his works and they called him a thief. It's no surprise at all that when you have an individual as strong-headed and unforgiving as Zappa working with a group of individuals who challenge him and outshine him at times, that the individual will reach a breaking point sooner or later. Zappa had reached his.
Not making himself look any better he then told the band that their salaries had now stopped and that, basically, they could move on now and not bother looking back. No warning, no heads-up and the band resented him for it even more. Black; “He hasn’t got much feeling; doesn’t care about people that much.“ [p. 187]
No comments:
Post a Comment