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Two Bands Of Brothers –
in conversation with John Cowsill -
AGD talks with The Beach Boys drummer.
Here’s a trivia question – who’s been the drummer in not one but two ‘family’ bands ? John Cowsill, that’s who. The stellar improvement in the sound of the touring Beach Boys is due in no small part to his taking the drum stool vacated by Mike Kowalski, but he’s not merely a great musician (and singer – check out his renditions of “Darlin’” & “Sail On, Sailor”), he’s also a truly all-round nice guy. This summer past, he took time out between shows to respond to the following inquisition, for which I thank him. If the touring BB are in your area, go see them – these days they are outstanding.
AGD: Let's paint in a little background: The Beach Boys are thought of as a 'family' band, but The Cowsills leave them standing - five brothers, mom & baby sister in the band, dad managing and the remaining brother as road manager. What was that like - you were like, 8 or 9... and why the drums ?
Cowsill: It was abnormally normal. I just loved the drums. I sat down and was just able to play. When you’re young you can do anything. And we did. It actually started with four of us: Bill, Bob, Barry and myself. Mom and Susan were added after our first MGM release. Before that, it was a no nonsense rock/R&B band playing Beatles, Beach Boys, Stones, tons of Motown and a slew of British invasion bands. It was late 63. I was 7 years old playing college frat parties and wine cellars. 1964 we signed with our first record company Joda Records, which was Johnny Nash’s Label - he was so cool. After that fizzled we ended up at Mercury/Philips 1965. There we met a man named Shelby Singleton. He was head of A&R. It was 180 degrees the opposite direction. He saw us and went “Awe, how cute” and proceeded to hand us material that was absolutely belittling. “I love my Siamese cat/because she’s not very fat”. Or “Don’t put your feet in the lemonade, we’re running out of water/Go soak your car in some ginger ale, though it may get sticky sorta”. Blah Blah.
But there was someone watching us and approached my Dad and said, “Let’s get out of here”. That man was Artie Kornfeld. He took us in the studio with his own money and we recorded what would be our first MGM release. He and Steve Duboff wrote our first hit “The Rain The Park And Other Things”.
Q: Four Top 40 singles, two of which went to #2, a top 20 live album - so why are The Cowsills essentially a footnote to rock history ? A lot of bands in the R&R Hall Of Fame don't have those stats.
A: Who knows… We weren’t heavy enough I guess or cool enough. There still
are a lot of politics involved in “The Business”. Screw ’em.
Q: Do you ever watch yourself - in The Cowsills - on YouTube ?
A: I have seen one or two…excruciatingly painful at times to watch one’s self.
Q: Is it true that Bill was asked by Brian to join The Beach Boys in the early 1970s ?
A: As far as I know it was actually Carl who asked… Billy and Brian hung out for a while… doing “things” together and who knows what else… One day Billy went to the house and a new person answered the door and uninvited Billy… it was Dr. Landy… probably a good idea.
Q: So, why no Cowsills box ? :-)
A: It would probably fit in a lunch sack… I haven’t seen many sack sets. J
Q: It all pretty much ended for The Cowsills after 1972 - what did you do then ?
A: Well, Bill, Bob, Barry and myself reformed and had a single out on London Records called “Covered Wagon”. We toured a little and then just went our ways. It’s a very foggy period. Too bad none of us kept a journal. I moved back east and played with a band called Grease The Cat for a year. Then I got a call from my brother Paul who was doing sound for Helen Reddy at the time. He just got a deal on Capitol Records along with my brother Bill. So I flew back out to California to join them. The band, Bridey Murphy, now consisted of Bill, Paul, Barry, Waddy Wachtel, myself and Lindsey Buckingham (for all about twenty minutes)… It was absolutely insane. Bill was out of control…alcohol, drugs…well hell, we all were but the rest of us weren’t gonzo like Bill…so we had to force him out. Waddy ended up producing the project. Well, we were recording at Keith Olson’s studio (he was also engineering) and we were putting on background vocals. We see Billy walk in the booth: he grabs the 24-track two-
inch tape off of the machine and starts running around the booth stuffing it in his mouth…end of project. John Carter at Capitol got wind of it and poof ! I believe there is a song about it written by Jackson (Brown) and Warren (Zevon) called “Billy Ate The Tape”
Q: Cocaine Drain. It's out now, sort of - thoughts ?
A: Didn’t know you knew about that one. You’re good. That was mid 70’s to early 80’s. We were Chuck Plotkin’s pet project. He produced all of the Bruce Springsteen, Orleans, Bob Dylan, Bette Midler, Tommy Tutone albums. He was mixing Bruce’s Darkness On The Edge Of Town when we met him. Jackson Brown introduced us to him. Any way the Cocaine Drain album was a five-year project, “to boldly go where no man has gone before”…recorded at Clover Studios. I got to play with Buzzy Feiton, Billy Pane, Ernie Watts, and a cast of incredible musicians along with my incredibly talented siblings… I think it was hard for The Cowsills during this period. You must remember, we weren’t cool. We were literally called “The Secrets”. As soon as someone found out it was us, they said “no thanks” so blah blah blah…so you can find this unreleased gem on iTunes. Also you might as well pick up Global.
Q: How did the invite to join Mike & Bruce come about ? Was there any contact before that ?
A: After I left the previous scene I went up to Santa Barbara where my mom was living (long retired from the business.) She had emphysema pretty bad. So I just needed to get out of LA and clean up my act. My brother Barry was up there and he introduced me to Jeff Foskett and Randell Kirsch. I fell in love with these guys. They were so much fun and made you feel great to be around them… and they didn’t do drugs. So I started playing with them in Santa Barbara. 1979-80…Jeff lived on the Mesa at The Love Foundation. He just got the Beach Boy gig I think. Well he introduced me to Mike again. I first met Mike and the Beach Boys in 1966 opening for them at Yankee Stadium. The Bill was: Ray Charles, The McCoys, The Byrds, The Gentry’s, Stevie Wonder, there’s more just can’t remember. So anyway I ended up recording a demo with Mike, Jeff, Randell, and my brother Barry. (I also met Jeff Peters during this period.) Well it wasn’t long before I was invited to play with Mike on some Mike and Dean (Jan and Dean) gigs. Spring break stuff… so that’s the contact-before section. After several gigs I was not asked back out…due to my mischievous behaviour that I shall not get into here. Dean asked me if I wanted to play with him and Jan, so I jumped on that one for six years. Then quit in 1986 – the “silent” years…
Flash forward to 1998. I get a call at midnight from Chris Farmer. I hadn’t spoken to Chris since I left Jan and Dean, so naturally I assumed he wanted something. That something was to drive to the airport and get on a plane to Minneapolis. Mike Kowalski was having some inner ear problem and had to get off the plane, so I filled in for a small string of gigs on drums. While on that trip Adrian Baker asked if I could sub for him on a few dates, New Year’s being one of them. I said I would do it if I didn’t have to play any leads on guitar. So… I did a week for Adrian, and that was that. Then just about a year and some months later, Phil Bardowell asked if I could sub for him in Europe while he worked on his solo project. (I had no idea they were simultaneously hiring Scott Totten, thank God.) Again, I said I would do it if I didn’t have to play lead, and he said Adrian would do them.
So, I am practicing my ass off for a month trying to learn Phil’s guitar and vocal parts (and mind you, I’m not a genius on guitar), I get a call from Farmer about a week before we go out and he says “Are you ready”? I said as long as I’m not playing lead guitar I’m good to go. He said “Oh didn’t anybody call you? You’re playing piano.” I said “Really?” So I was in a mild panic. They send me a copy of the show with Timmy’s piano parts. I had no idea Mike Meros was leaving the band. So I’m thinking to myself, “what a daunting task to be sure”. Then “LIGHT BULB”!!! So I called Billy Hinsche…my hero. My good friend to this day. Man, he sent me everything and even offered to meet with me and go over the parts. So I do the summer in Europe and by the end of the run, Phil has decided to not return and I was hired. TA DA!!!!!
Extract from Beach Boys Britain Newsletter Vol 10 No 4
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