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Peter's music has been heard on hundreds of radio stations and has been on SiriusXM rotation for over a decade. As a multi-award winning artist, Peter's music has also topped Billboard's Classical and Crossover charts.
For Captain Beefheart, a maverick-artist-musician, who was not just a complicated man but highly demanding and by most accounts very difficult to deal with. It was appropriate that Beefheart's Magic Band was to prominently feature a bassist as accomplished, bold and adventurous as Mark Boston, a.k.a Rockette Morton.
Born on July 14, 1949, Mark began life in the small town of Salem, Illinois before his family moved out to Lancaster, California when he was 13. With a bassist and steel player for a father, Mark gained a great appreciation for country and bluegrass along with the R&B and rock’n’roll that was on the rise. Within a year of the Boston clan moving out to Lancaster, Mark befriended a young guitarist by the name of Bill Harkleroad.
At a time when the bass guitar was seen as the dummy’s instrument, Mark left quite an impression on Bill with his talent and equipment, leading to the two joining forces to form BC And The Cavemen. With Mark’s mother sewing some outfits for them, the band developed a decent reputation, and the two would also play in a band with Jeff Cotton and John French known as Blues In A Bottle. And then a local hero came calling. Or perhaps screaming and howling!
In that same Lancaster scene, Captain Beefheart And His Magic Band were making a big splash as a top flight blues rock outfit, with 'Safe As Milk' having made a strong impression and 'Strictly Personal' being a strong record as well. But even with a sound that was speaking to people, one that perhaps would have been a more pragmatic one as far as a career goes, Don Van Vliet just wasn’t meant for conventional norms.
The Captain had all these ideas, ideas far too out for many, including early members. He needed new musicians, younger and more impressionable ones that wouldn’t object to his ideas. Already having John and Jeff in the band, now 'Drumbo' and Antennae Jimmy Semens, he then recruited Bill, dubbed Zoot Horn Rollo. And on bass, he found Mark Boston, who took the name Rockette Morton due to his love of outer space. And the classic Magic Band was born.
Trout Mask Replica (TMR) wasn’t an easy album to make. Yet even with all the bizarre ideas and the difficulty in preparing those ideas into music, Mark was a total champ through it all. The Beefheart sound is one of great dichotomy, and Mark can capture all of it. He’s so tight and precise, and yet there’s this raw grit and dirt. He’s highly intelligent and sophisticated in his playing, and yet there remains this childlike sense of wonder and curiosity.
He takes after all the great traditional American music, yet out into a whole other realm of time and space. The bass traditionally serves the role of grounding the harmony while locking in with the drums to provide a foundation, yet Mark’s playing often serves as another melody line in the music. In a lot of ways, he’s like a third guitarist that just happens to be playing bass.
The TMR on its own is a legacy few can compete with, and yet Mark contributed to more classic records like "Lick My Decals Off, Baby", "The Spotlight Kid", and "Clear Spot". There on Decals, you get the equivalent of Godfather II. With Mother Art Tripp on marimba and drums rather Jeff on guitar, you get an album that captures a great deal of TMR's brilliance while being brilliant in its own unique way.
Then you get to 'The Spotlight Kid', with bass godliness on cuts like “When It Blows Its Stack”, resulting in a bass solo that often opened shows, yet Mark proves himself just as talented on traditional in-the-pocket styles as demonstrated on cuts like “I’m Gonna Booglarize You Baby”. And that thing about bassists being failed guitarists? In the 'Clear Spot', with Mark taking guitar and the rhythm section now being a mini Mothers reunion of Art and Roy Estrada, yet nobody missed a beat. Throughout the record, Bill and Mark’s kinship really shines, their weaving right there with what Bill and Jeff had done, or what was done with Alex St Clair early on.
Of course, dealing with Don was quite a task of its own, so it’s inevitable that Mark and the others would all end up departing by 1974. He and Bill soon formed a group of their own called Mallard. For two albums, the first with Art and having some writing help from John French 'Drumbo', Mallard showed itself a pretty decent blues rock outfit. And giving that it was Mark who finally had a chance to create something that was truly his own rather than helping some achieve their vision, it’s understandably the work that he takes pride in. And over time, he’d end up making a solo record and create some cool artwork of his own, as well as performing with 'Drumbo' in the reformed Magic Band, allowing the music to live and breathe on stage again.
If you’re a Beefheart fan, how can you not love Rockette Morton? Not only a uniquely talented bass player but such a great stage presence full of joy, along with a lovably quirky personality and such a sweet guy. Easily one of my favorites from Magic Band members, you can’t help but smile when thinking about Mark. He’s been through some rough weather, including his health scares, and yet he’s still the same Mark we’ve known and loved all the years.
Happy birthday Mark! Thank you for all you have given us and look forward to more.
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Patrick Moore is a freehand drawing artist and freelance music writer.
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Genre-Bender Peter Xifaras
Special Interview/Ravi V. Chhabra
Ravi V. Chhabra: Can you tell us about your academic and musical background?
Peter Xifaras: I studied at the University of Rhode Island (USA) and majored in classical guitar/performance. Courses included music theory, harmony, composition, orchestration, music history and tablature transcription (lute music).
Ravi: Earlier musical interests and musical experiences?
Peter Xifaras: I started guitar lessons at age nine, and gravitated towards rock and fusion music in my teenage years. At 16 I switched over to classical-guitar as was required for college. Besides rock music, I was also influenced by jazz as my older brother was a student at Berklee College of Music at the time and would expose me to the music of many famous jazz artists.
Ravi: What work have you done for giving musical scores in cinema?
Peter Xifaras:I’ve done a couple of short scores as a ‘ghost writer’ and an audio book, however, I am slated to be working on a feature film project for JawDoc Productions.
Ravi: Do you write musical notations?
Peter Xifaras:Yes. When not manually jotting down notes with a pencil in hand, I use the notation software Sibelius.
Ravi: Do you play any musical instruments?
Peter Xifaras: Guitar and bass.
Ravi: How do you thematically relate your compositions. Your crossover work is stellar. What led you to finetune this genre?
Peter Xifaras:Thank you! I’ve always liked themed compositions that extend beyond one song. It gives the composer a chance to stretch out and tell a story where the music can have several chapters akin to a book.
Ravi: How did your project with trumpet maestro Shunzo Ohno come about?
Peter Xifaras:I did a spoken word project with a writer where I wrote the underlying musical score. Shunzo had heard it and messaged me on social media. Wanting to learn more about the artist, I watched the documentary, ‘Never Defeated’ based on Shunzo’s life and was blown away. His is an extreme story of overcoming adversity. I invite many to watch this on Youtube: https://youtu.be/356vjoaGbrg . I hadn’t played electric guitar in many years and wanted to record an album on electric. So I asked Shunzo if he would be willing to play on the album if I sent him the tunes and he agreed to it!
Ravi: Who financially supports your orchestral/symphonic arrangements. Is there ample money in it?
Peter Xifaras: All my projects are self-financed. I have a recording studio in my home and I own the record label, Music With No Expiration®. Musicians need to be better compensated – the streaming model is tilted toward pop and rap genres where millions of streams can give a good royalty return, however, classical and jazz genres would never hit hundreds of millions of streams.
Ravi: Favorite five western classical composers across all the eras, especially Historical, Baroque and Modern reasons?
Peter Xifaras: Bach – I’ve performed his lute suites on the guitar and love the counterpoint. Beethoven- he was a rebel! Ravel/Debussy – impressionism, Vaughn-Williams – Lush & romantic! Rodrigo – Spanish beauty.
Ravi: From a wide range of musical instruments in the wind and strings categories which are your few favorites?
Peter Xifaras:I love the warmth of the woodwinds and the sublime beauty of all the string sections.
Ravi: What is your composition methodology?
Peter Xifaras: When I get an idea, I usually turn to the guitar to develop the idea. Once a theme is developed, I go into the studio and start working on different variations by using a midi keyboard that triggers virtual instrument packages (Strings, piano, percussion, etc.).
Ravi: Do you listen to Asian and Indian Music. Plans to visit India?
Peter Xifaras:Yes – actually a previous crossover release, ‘Music That Tells A Story’ incorporates Asian & and Indian elements. The physical album is still for sale however I pulled the digital version back as I want to remix and re-distribute for streaming purposes. There are many music video examples of the album to view: check it out here: https://musicwithnoexpiration.com/transcendental.
No plans for a visit as of yet.
Ravi: Do you ascribe to avant-garde and/ or abstract music. If yes, what is the appeal factor for you?
Peter Xifaras:Not really. I’ve written some modern classical guitar pieces but the genre doesn’t appeal to me much anymore.
Ravi: Any plans for composing musicals?
Peter Xifaras: No.
Ravi: Frank Zappa’s last concert was in Czechoslovakia with a great following and your latest orchestral work features the Czech Symphony Orchestra. Is it a coincidence or a connection?
Peter Xifaras:A coincidence. The European Orchestras are some of the best so that is why I ended up with them.
Ravi: In your free time what hobbies do you pursue?
Peter Xifaras:Watching movies, probably because I listen to the scores.
Ravi: Your music-videos are a lot to do with man-made human misery. Thus, how do you view life and death?
Peter Xifaras:I think we all ponder the riddle that is life – why are we here, what is our purpose, and then we go about with our daily routines. Periodically you take a step back and look at World events on the aggregate and take a deep breath. What is it that causes us to do the things we do to each other as a species ? Why is it the luck of the draw that being born in a specific place in the world can guarantee a better outcome for your life than other places ? Obvious answers are economic conditions and government policies. The question above actually contained the reason why I gravitate towards the subject matter – ‘man-made’. Because it is, it doesn’t have to be and we can change it.
Ravi: A few lines about your travel travails?
Peter Xifaras:I haven’t Traveled in quite a while. Being able to record and communicate via the Internet has changed the dynamic immensely. The Czech orchestra sessions in Prague were done over Zoom. The same with other recordings I have done – the musicians are never in the studio with me. It really cuts down on travel & recording costs.
Ravi: Have you undertaken any visits to conflict zones?
Peter Xifaras:No.
Ravi: Any message for leaders of the major world powers. How can there be peace on our planet?
Peter Xifaras: I hope someday the human condition will be focused on providing equal economic access to all humans so that we can enjoy and revel in our achievements as a race in science, engineering, the arts and music, where poverty & destruction were only memories of a past world. Hopefully a dream to aspire to.
Ravi: Do you write music and do transcriptions?
Peter Xifaras:Yes.
Ravi: As an educated musician, how would you sum up “Organized Sound” in context to aesthetics?
Peter Xifaras:I view ‘organized sound’ as the definition of music. Music is an art, a craft, and based on acoustic principles subject to various aesthetic interpretations.
Ravi: Is there a mass audience for your work. Which names come to mind?
Peter Xifaras:I don’t think the genre’s I gravitate towards will gain a mass audience – although that certainly would be nice! For as long as I can reach people on an emotional level, I will consider my job a success.
Ravi: Scope and future of Musique Concrete?
Peter Xifaras:I think any tool for expanding a composers sound resources is always a good thing. Art shouldn’t be limited to a defined set of rules. I’m open to all kinds of works that experiment with pre-recorded sounds and electronics and encourage that type of experimentation.
Ravi: Who takes the photos in your video montage?
Peter Xifaras:I search the Internet on the subject at hand, and contact the photographers or sites representing their work and license the images when feasible.
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