ROBERT WILLIAMS:
HISTORY
Robert, age 17
Born in Boston, as one of seven children, I began playing drums at the age of five. Starting off in drum and bugle corps. and working in rock and roll night club bands through high school, I eventually made my way to Hollywood when I was twenty one. Soon after settling in I landed a job with Bo Donaldson and the Heywoods ("Billy Don't Be A Hero"), playing theme parks throughout the U.S. The day after getting fired by the manager (Bo's mother!) for having a girl in my hotel room, Ed Mann (former Zappa percussionist) called me to let me know that Captain Beefheart was looking for a drummer.
Let me back up a little. When I was seventeen I went to a club where Beefheart was supposed to play that night and for a seven day run.The Captain's manager, Augie DiMartino was arguing with the manager of the club over who was going to move the equipment between shows. I got the job and at the end of the week got a whopping twenty dollars from Augie, but the experience was worth millions. Dr. John was in search of a drummer and was in the audience on the last night. I convinced him to stay and let me audition for him before I packed the drums away. Back then I wasn't hip to New Oreans style "second line drumming", and I did a Billy Cobhamesque drum solo. Dr. John didn't hire me, but Beefheart pulled me aside and said, "Man, if I ever need a drummer, you're the one!"
Don Van Vliet & Robert.
The first record I ever played on was Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band "Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller)" It was the best time of my life until now. We were on Saturday Night Live, toured the US and Europe a couple of times, did another Beefheart record called "Doc at the Radar Station," and some other TV shows.
Beefheart circa 1967
During that time I did a duo album with the singer/guitarist for The Stranglers, Hugh Cornwell called "Nosferatu," then recorded two solo records for A&M called "Buy My Record" and "Late One Night" and was doing sessions all over LA.. That was before Roger Linn developed the drum machine.
An old friend of mine told me about Gabor Csupo, of Klasky Csupo (Rugrats, Wild Thornberrys, The Simpsons) who was opening a restaurant called Lumpy Gravy (after a Zappa record title). I called him up and left a message on his machine telling him who I was. Actually, I was hoping to get a job painting the inside of his restaurant. He called me back saying that he was a big fan and that he had all the recordings that I had played on and that he had a record company with some cool music. I told him that I had a tape he might be interested in hearing and he signed me to a contract right after hearing it. That's how "Date with the Devil's Daughter" was born.
"Date with the Devil's Daughter" is a slightly off beat mosaic connected by the grout of my mind. There's a song with Wild Man Fischer answering machine messages put to music, one about some psycho next door neighbors I had (sung by Mark Mothersbaugh of Devo), and another about my sister's husband claiming to have been abducted by aliens on the Oprah Winfrey Show, and even one about a Johnny Rotten type character called "John Liar."
