Mark Boston

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Mark Boston (* 1949 in Salem , Illinois , USA ), better known as Rockette Morton , is an American musician ( electric bass and electric guitar ). He has appeared primarily as the bassist and guitarist of Captain Beefheart's Magic Band and as a co-founder of Mallard .

Rockette Morton 2013

Career

After Mark Boston moved to Lancaster , California in 1963 , he played in the band BC & The Cavemen , where he met guitarist Bill Harkleroad ( Zoot Horn Rollo ). Around 1966 he also played in John French's band Blues In A Bottle , in which Jeff Cotton was guitarist. Bill Harkleroad, John French and Jeff Cotton were already members of the Magic Band when bassist Gary Marker stepped out while preparing the album Trout Mask Replica (produced by Frank Zappa ). Mark Boston was invited to audition and was tuned to the blues- based music that Captain Beefheart had been playing until then. He wasn't prepared for the shock the Trout Mask Replica Songs gave him. But since he played the bass part of "Steal Softly Through Snow" like no one before, he got the job.

Rockette Morton and Feelers Rebus

His aggressive bass style, he played with 3 finger picks and a normal pick , became the trademark of the Magic Band sound. The same was true of his electric guitar playing. Although he was “soft, like a teddy bear” (“... he was as soft as a teddy bear.”), He played “as if he were beating the last of the guitar out of the guitar. The result sounded like Jackson Pollock was trying to play John Lee Hooker . ”(“ But he could beat the shit out of a guitar - the result can best be described as Jackson Pollock trying to play John Lee Hooker. ”). In 1969 he was named "Bassist of the Year" by Playboy magazine . Visually, he was an impressive part of the Magic Band's stage show. He stood out not only for his double-necked Danelectro Longhorn bass, but also for his frenetic dance interludes , as well as for an electric toaster that he wore tied on his head.

From 1969 to 1974, Boston was the mainstay of the Magic Band with Bill Harkleroad. After long arguments with Don Van Vliet (Captain Beefheart) and a constant lack of money, Boston, Harkleroad and John French finally left the Magic Band and formed the band Mallard . Highly respected by critics and musicians, there was no commercial success here either and Mallard finally broke up in 1977 after two albums and an extensive European tour. Worth mentioning is the excellent appearance on the German TV program Rockpalast from 1976.

In the 1980s, Mark Boston played in numerous local bands in the greater Lancaster, Fresno, Porterville area. With his friend and former Beefheart drummer Michael Traylor, he formed the band Duck , which played top 40 material mainly in US Army bases in America and overseas.

In the 1990s he went to Nashville , where he could hardly find work. He was later fortunate enough to become a permanent bassist for country singer Leon Everette . He moved to Aiken , South Carolina , which is where Everette lives. In his job he installed alarm systems. In addition, he built up his own studio, Bomark Studios, from the income from the Beefheart compilation Grow Fins .

In 2003 the Magic Band reformed with Mark Boston, John French, Gary Lucas and Denny Walley . That year Boston also recorded his solo album Love Space . He is a permanent member of the Magic Band and appears regularly on publications by other musicians.

Trivia

  • Mark Boston cast the role of Gorgonzola in Frank Zappa's "teenage opera" Captain Beefheart vs. The Grunt People
  • The avant-garde band Nurse With Wound has on their album A Sucked Orange (1990) the pieces Rockette Morton Part One and Rockette Morton Part Two released

Discography

With Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band

  • 1969: Trout Mask Replica
  • 1970: Lick My Decals Off, Baby
  • 1972: The Spotlight Kid
  • 1972: Clear Spot
  • 1974: Unconditionally Guaranteed
  • 1999: Grow Fins: Rarities (1965-1982)
  • 1999: The Dust Blows Forward: An Anthology

With Mallard

  • 1975: Mallard
  • 1976: In A Different Climate

With Ace & The Eights

  • 1979: Explosion / Face in the Fire , 7 "

solo

  • 2003: Love Space

With The Magic Band

  • 2003: Back To The Front
  • 2005: 21st Century Mirror Men
  • 2011: Oxford UK June 6 2005

With The Fourfathers

  • 2004: Jam

With Roger Hurricane Wilson

  • 2008: Exodus

With Short-N-Morton

  • 2009: Short-N-Morton

With Ant-Bee

  • 2011: Electronic Church Muzik

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Mark Boston Biography , accessed May 17, 2014
  2. ↑ Harkleroad, Bill. Lunar Notes: Zoot Horn Rollo's Captain Beefheart Experience . SAF Publishing 1998. ISBN 0-946719-21-7 , p. 21 ff.
  3. ↑ Mark Boston, Biography , accessed May 17, 2014
  4. ↑ Harkleroad, Bill. Lunar Notes: Zoot Horn Rollo's Captain Beefheart Experience . SAF Publishing 1998. ISBN 0-946719-21-7 , p. 32 and 37.
  5. ↑ Mark Boston, Biography , in Discogs , accessed November 11, 2012
  6. ↑ Mark Boston, Biography , in Discogs , accessed November 11, 2012
  7. ↑ Mallard , accessed May 17, 2014
  8. ^ Mark Boston Biography , accessed May 17, 2014
  9. ^ Mark Boston Biography , accessed May 17, 2014
  10. ↑ Mark Boston, Biography , in Discogs , accessed November 11, 2012
  11. ↑ Mark Boston, Biography , in Discogs , accessed November 11, 2012
  12. ^ Nurse with Wound, Discography
personal data
SURNAME Boston, Mark
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rockette Morton
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American bass player and guitarist
DATE OF BIRTH 1949
PLACE OF BIRTH Salem