Patrick O’Hearn
Patrick O’Hearn
was Frank Zappa’s bass player from 1976 to 1978.
Patrick plays on many of the ‘classic’
late 1970s Zappa albums, appears in the movie Baby Snakes (1979), and can be heard on the posthumous lives
releases Philly ’76 (2009), Hammersmith Odeon (2010) and Halloween 77 (2017).
After leaving Zappa, he worked with
Mark Isham and Peter Maunu
in Group 87. They made two Brian Eno-influenced
records – Group 87 (1980) and A Career In Dada Processing (1984) – the first of which featured
Zappa alums Terry Bozzio and Peter Wolf as guests.
In 1980, Patrick formed the band
Missing Persons with former Zappa guitarist Warren Cuccurullo,
keyboard player Chuck Wild, and Bozzio and his
vocalist then-wife, Dale.
Since then, he has become an acclaimed
new-age artist, making solo albums and composing soundtracks for movies and
television. You can check out his music at www.patrickohearn.com
When I heard that Patrick would be reuniting with Terry Bozzio and Cuccurullo at this
year’s Zappanale, I emailed Warren for confirmation.
He told me, “Terry contacted me and that
was that. I’ve been dying to do something with them, and here it is. We’ve been
working out all the details. All is finalised.”
Having previously interviewed Warren
and Terry, I thought now would be the optimum time to pounce on Patrick.
Terry
Bozzio told me that recording overdubs for The Ocean Is The
Ultimate Solution was effectively your audition for Frank. What are your
memories of that first session?
I was on tour with
saxophonist Joe Henderson. We were playing a week of dates at a club in Los
Angeles. Terry invited me to drop by the studio where he and Frank were working
– they’d start around 6 p.m. and go ’til around 6 a.m.
So, one night
I dropped by after the last set with Joe. I had my upright bass with me, it was
the middle of the night and I didn’t want to leave it in my car parked on the
street. So I hauled it into the studio’s foyer, looking for a place to stash
it, and it just so happened that Terry and Frank were standing there on a break
having a coffee.
Terry introduced me to Frank and
within a few minutes Frank asked me if I would be willing to play some upright
bass on a track that they were currently working on. I enthusiastically agreed
and was ushered into the studio, whereby the engineer begin setting up mics and
getting a sound.
In no time at all, the tape was
rolling and I was improvising to a very interesting track: tempo changes; key
and time signature changes; unusual transitions. It was unlike music I’d played
before and it was pretty damn fun!
Frank seemed satisfied with the
results and asked me if I played electric bass guitar. I told him I did but
that I didn’t have my electric with me. He asked me to come back the following
night after I was through at the club and lay in some bass guitar. I asked him
if I might have a cassette of the track. One was made and I stayed up the rest
of the night and well into the day making a chart and trying to learn the
piece.
I returned the following night and we
recorded the electric bass guitar. Frank and Terry came out of the control room
and approached me in the studio. Frank asked me, “Do you need a job?” – my tour with Joe
was ending and I had nothing else lined up. I said, “Yes, I do.” Frank extended a handshake and said, “Congratulations, you’re hired – effective
immediately.”
It was good fortune, and a great
opportunity.
So
did you replace all of Dave Parlato’s bass work on
the released recording?
If I did replace any of
Dave Parlato’s bass work, I was never made aware of
it.
Okay.
Have you heard Philly ’76? Do you
think Frank would have released the recording of Advance Romance during which your bass rig packed in?
Yes, I’ve heard it. And
sure, it was a live concert. A brief technical difficulty occurred with the
bass rig. The crew swiftly remedied it and the show rolled on. I’m glad that
they didn’t edit out that segment when creating the album.
Do
you know if Lady Bianca sings polyphonically? – there
are moments on that album that sound like it.
I don’t know. I do know
that she has a rich, powerful voice.[i]
True.
What are your recollections of performing on Saturday Night Live in 1976, and the subsequent In New York shows?
I have fond memories of the
’76 SNL experience. The cast members were brilliant. Howard Shore’s ‘house
band’ musicians were brilliant – which as I imagine you know were enlisted, with
the addition of trumpet and saxophonist Brecker Brothers, and off-camera NBC
announcer Don Pardo, to play the live
Zappa In New York shows. It was all very fun and exciting. New York City’s
Times Square still in its gritty Taxi
Driver period, long before becoming family-friendly Disney-esque. Lots of laughter, energy, good vibes, and great playing.
For sure. Have you had a chance to
listen to all of the recently released Halloween
77 shows? If so, what was your reaction now to your playing then?
I have not heard them yet.
I used to have several of them on cassette tapes decades ago – the
front-of-house board tapes. But they’re long gone. In the mid 1970s after I
joined Frank’s band, I began playing my bass guitars closer to the instrument’s
bridge with my right hand. This resulted in a more articulated but thinner
sound. (I pluck the strings with my fingers and not with a pick.) By the 1980s
I was once again playing much closer to the end of the neck, away from the
bridge, returning to a fuller, warmer tone. It’s how I started as a youth and
how I continue today. Tone is very important to me, and playing fewer notes I
suppose.
Well
today, Halloween 77 – and your playing on it – sound fantastic.
In his memoir, Of Course I Said Yes! The Amazing Adventures Of A
Life In Music, Arthur Barrow says Frank told him that he fired you
and Terry because you were taking too many liberties with his arrangements –
instead of playing the parts he had given you. That doesn’t seem to ring true
to me – do you think that was Frank’s way of getting Arthur to play it
straight?
Terry and I were not fired: we left the band
in order to start our own group. The 1978 European tour had concluded and Frank
would not be touring again for another five or six months, so the time seemed
right. Frank, although sorry to see us go, was understanding and supportive.
As I thought. Arthur’s least favourite
question is, “Why were there two bass
players in 1978?” What is your response?
Frank reached out to me in
October of ’78, I believe, and asked if I’d be willing to join the band on the
road for a few dates. Evidently there was tension between Arthur and the band
members, and Frank thought I might add some moderating levity to the mix.
When
you temporarily re-joined the band, what was it like to ‘jam’ with Vinnie Colaiuta after your years playing with Terry?
Playing with Vinnie was a
blast. He’s a wonderful musician and a soulful chap.
What
are your recollections of performing on Saturday
Night Live in 1978?
My strongest memory is of Don
Pardo stopping me in the NBC studio hallway before rehearsal and saying: “Pat! Where’s the men?
Where’s the band!” He was referring to Terry, Eddie Jobson, Ruth Underwood,
Ray White – the band members from 1976. I was the only
familiar face to him from the earlier Zappa
In New York outfit.
Regarding the performance? It was good
to see the SNL folks again, and watch all the excitement and energy that goes
into live television sketch comedy. But overall it was a more subdued
experience for me than the ‘76 show.
Frank had a number of guests join him on stage
during your tenure: can you give me your impressions of them – firstly, L.
Shankar?
Great
musician and lovely man.
Flo & Eddie?
Funny and smart.
Sugar Blue?[ii]
One of the best harp tones
since Little Walter.
Roy
Estrada?
Funny and eccentric.
Ralphe Armstrong?[iii]
Terrific
bass player.
John
Belushi?
Funny and highly creative.
And finally, Warren Cuccurullo?
Fantastic musician, highly
creative, good friend.
Do
you look back at your time with him and Terry in Missing Persons with fondness?
Absolutely.
When
was the last time you spoke with Frank?
April of 1992 I believe. I
was living in Atlanta at the time, but was in Los Angeles finishing work on a film
score gig. Warren was in town, too (he lived in London at the time), as was L.
Shankar and Terry. Gail thought it would be great to host a get together with
us as well as other musicians Frank had worked with. She threw a hastily arranged party. It was
lively and great fun. Frank was energized and the spirits were high. The house
was packed with family and friends. He played us several tracks he’d been
working on; edits and excerpts of former concerts and studio tracks – like The Ocean Is The
Ultimate Solution – that were from different times and places, yet edited
together as a collage. He was a Master at that. It’s the last time I saw him
and the last time we spoke. It is a very fond memory.
It’s
fair to say that bass has not been your main instrument for a number of years.
Tell us about your life post-Frank and Missing Persons, as a new age composer.
I became interested in
electronic instruments in the early ‘70s. By 1978 I began collecting some and
before long I was fascinated by and immersed in making electronic music. I was
signed to a label in 1984 and released my first solo album in 1985. I had not
heard the term ‘new age’ but that was the genre my album was filed under in
record stores. I continued to make albums and eventually was approached to do
film and TV work. I did a fair amount of that from the late ‘80s through the
mid ‘90s, then started a DIY vanity label and returned to album work, which I
continue today.
I never lost interest in or stopped
playing bass – my focus just shifted to other areas from time to time.
Have
you been approached by the Zappa Family Trust about playing with Frank’s
hologram – would you be interested in doing so?
No, and I don’t think so. I
loved playing with Frank. There was always a lot of lively spontaneity. It
would be odd for me to relive those days with a hologram.
Okay.
So what can we expect from the Bozzio-O’Hearn-Cuccurullo
Power Trio at Zappanale?
Three
of Frank’s former band members, ‘laying it down, carving it up, and serving it
in thick slices’.
Can’t wait! Thanks for your time,
Patrick.
Interview conducted on
5th February 2018.
***
Photo of Patrick
taken by Valentina, used with kind permission.