The Beat Farmers New Album: Manifold

O'Hara/Lilia

"The world moist with anticipation...asking `Could it be?'"
A new record from the Beat Farmers.
Pulling up to a Beat Farmers show you might expect to see Country Dick
Montana's horse tied to a hitching post outside. On stage, they are
dressed in black like cowboys gone bad in their search for justice. Rolle Love's
bass and Montana's drumbeat drive behind the forceful rhythm of guitarists
Jerry Rainey and Joey Harris, conjuring images of locomotives, wild horses, and
the wide open plain. They sing about love, undying and unrequited. Rebellious
and sarcastic. Lonesome and lovestruck. Dick is the charismatic master of
ceremonies in the Beat Farmers traveling circus. In a voice that has been
described as unbelievably "basso profundo" he sings about how his baby
left him, he dances around and proceeds to dump the contents of his pitcher on
the floor and dives across room on his belly. The crowd encourages him by
chanting "Dick! Dick! Dick!". His bawdy camp fire sing-a-longs are a big
hitwith the crowd. Dick never passes up an opportunity to serenade a pretty
girl. A consummate showman, he is also a minister of the Universal Life
Church. Their live performances are filled with joy and abandon. This
contrasts with the fine structure of their studio works.

During the recent shows at the Silver Eagle the band reflected on their
efforts leading to their latest release. Joey Harris narrates "My uncle
Nick Reynolds was in the Kingston Trio in the early sixties. So there was
always music in the house, a lot of big band, folk music, and things like
that. I
just got in from the beginning. Right after high school in '75 I got a job
with another ex Kingston Trio guy named John Stewart who is a song writer
in sort of the Tom Waitts, Randy Newman, John Prine kind of vein. By the end
of that four years I started writing a little bit by myself.

"At the end of 79 is when we started The Fingers. That's when all the punk
stuff started to happen so I cut off all my hair and dyed it purple,
bought a lot of leather outfits and then we started The Fingers. I started
writing
back then, it was just kind of goofy songs because it was what everybody
else was writing. Then I did a solo for MCA Records called Joey and The
Speedsters. While waiting for that to come out Dick and I put together a
band called Country Dick and the Snuggle Bunnies. That was a bunch of local
musicians playing a lot like what we are doing with the Incredible
Hayseeds now."

Rollie explains "I come from heavy metal style of music but that is back
in the seventies. Then I went to playing the upright bass and I got in to
playing my roots, even listening to mariachi and norte stuff. I kind of
got into that country style from there I just got hooked up with the Beat
Farmers when I was 19. We all had an interest in the same music. It just worked
out, I got lucky really."

>From the first few records the Beat Farmers got a lot of critical acclaim
and they were doing really well. "This was when The Blasters and Los Lobos
came out," Joey recalls, "there was this whole sort of American music sort of
American rock and roll roots sort of band thing. They just did really well
on the first record in Europe. When the Speedsters went down I was just kind
of not doing much around San Diego. I put together a little band with Paul
Kamanski called the Electric Suns. Meanwhile the Beat Farmers went off and
got a record deal, went to Europe, and all that stuff. Then Buddy Blue
suddenly wanted to quit after the second record. I sang background vocals
on both of them and contributed songs. So by the time Buddy left they just
had just asked me to join and play guitar. The first tour I did I was actually
promoting the second Beat Farmers record and everyone thought that I was
Buddy Blue.

"The Beat Farmers have done three different tours to Europe. The fans
there are funny. Half of them come just to see an American rock and roll band,
they don't even care who they are or know, and about the other half are Beat
Farmers fans. When they see Country Dick guy throwing beer everywhere they
go crazy. The Germans really identify with him. We are supposed to go to
Europe to support this album. In the past we have done all the Scandinavian
countries, Germany and England. This time we may do France as well. There
is always talk about an Australian tour. I believe they have a good
distribution deal down there now for this album."

The Beat Farmers played for the grand opening of the Hard Rock Cafe in
Tijuana in 1992, sponsored by 91X. They also played in Iguanas. They would
like to play in Tijuana again if the right job comes along. Jerry says "I
think we scared them, they said `These guys think they are John Wayne'."

The Beat Farmers had also been known to perform under different musical
identities. In 1989 and again in 1993 they toured as The Pleasure Barons.
This was a Las Vegas style review inspired by the greats like Elvis, Tom
Jones, and Dean Martin. A grand undertaking by an eleven piece band
featuring Mojo Nixon, Dave Alvin, John Doe, and others. More recently they have
played as The Incredible Hayseeds with Steele Bone Dick (Tim Cook) on the slide
guitar and trombone. Here they are able to express their country alter
ego.

So Joey continues "Our audience in San Diego is great. We are also well
received in Minneapolis and Santa Cruz. Vancouver is probably my favorite.
We can do anything we want and they just go nuts. We go around the country
once a year. The band is twelve years old now and the people who came to the
first show are still coming. We haven't had to get day jobs yet but it has been
pretty close the last few years. There has not been a lot of money around
anyway but now everybody has a band. There are all these kids out playing
for 200 bucks. They got their dad's station wagon out there and sleep in it,
but we are a bunch of old guys, we need hotel rooms. We are about to start a
tour with the Blasters, it is going to be about five weeks. I think we will
tour in California in November.

"The band drinks a lot , Dick drinks a whole lot. For a lot of years I was
just doing it for the work and it was not very exciting. I found myself
saying `OK, three more songs and then I get off the stage.' It was a kind
of weird for a while. The good thing about getting sober for a while it was
that I kind of rediscovered the music. It is not easy, because your life is in
a bar it is very hard not to drink". It hardly ever happens that someone is
so drunk that they cannot play", Jerry adds, "You may not be that good in bed
later on but you can still be good on stage. Day times are hell after a
show, but who likes daytimes anyway?" Jerry is the funniest one in the whole
band.

Dick is an anarchist in the truest sense he is anti everything. During the
show he comments "No we don't have day jobs. Would you hire us? We tried
to get jobs. But... we don't even know how to do this."

Joey goes on talking about the Beat Farmers' media relations, "The story
behind our appearance on the David Letterman show is that we were with
still Curb records and we just released the live record Live, Loud, and Plowed.
Our manager at the time got a call from the Letterman people who said `we have
been looking for you guys for months, Curb Record says you are not with
them anymore', when we were. It just goes to show how little they got involved
in our careers. At first we felt we had to do something wild, because this
was going to be a big shot on national TV. The word came back that David
Letterman loved this song Hideaway. I still feel that doing King of Sleaze
or something like that wold have been great, but they said no. Everyone
really had a fun time during it.

"The record company didn't do anything to take advantage of that. Curb
just dropped the ball and for the next two years we just spent all the time
just trying to get off that label and get them off our backs. Those years were
tough. You could not even buy the records in San Diego for long time.
George Varga would write a good piece for us and that was about it. We did a
video for Hollywood Hills. MTV played it for a while. We had been looking for a
new record company and also looking for a new manager. We finally found Alex
De Felice. He is our manager now. Our new label is Sector 2 Records."

There are many kinds of music in the new album called Manifold. Jerry came
up with the name that describes something made of many parts. There has
always been something hard for people to understand and work with in the band.
It's not one singer and not one type of music. There is a lot of rhythm and
blues. Everyone in the band is inspired by the British invasion bands. Dick was
the president of the Kinks' Society in southern California. Rolle being a
little younger came from sort of kind of heavy metal style. Rolle and Buddy were
very involved in a rockabilly kind of band right before they put together
the Beat Farmers. This is the seventh studio release. The recent "Best of"
album was done without the band's knowledge. It's hardly a true representation
of them best work. The interest in Viking Lullabys was very strong, enough so
that Curb got out all the old records again.

"I really think Manifold is a superior record due to the songs", Joey
continues, "we did it ourselves in a great studio in San Diego, nobody was
between us and the tape machine so there is a lot more, the guitars are
loud because the guitar players wanted it loud. I think it is something really
good. I have a rule when it comes to recording, if we are going to have
effect like an echo, a guitar, a solo, a drum fill, you turn it up loud,
the whole mix can come up, everything. It is a lot more important than setting
it and letting it run by itself or trying to outthink it by finding just the
right amount. There 's 14 new originals by the band on the album and we do
one song by Bob Dylan Positively 4th Street.

"I think this time Jerry is going to have the songs that get the most
attention. Got It Bad For You is great. Memphis to Nixon is about Elvis
got all hopped up in drugs and forced his way in the White House to get an FBI
badge saying `We are going to bust the Beatles for drugs and I am the guy
who can do it.' Texas Heat is a great example of something we never could do
before. Dick and I are singing with just a little acoustic guitar. I tried
to do that in past records and the idea was rejected by the producer."

 If this goes as well as they think they will bring on extra musicians
like another drummer so Dick can play piano. He is really modest about his
drumming. Before the last record he said he did not want to play because
he is not a drummer. Part of what makes him a really great drummer is because
he is such a musicologist. He has so many references in his head to pick
from.

Dick comments "If I am really a bad boy in this life I am going to come
back in the next life as my own drum set because I beat hell out of them. I go
through about 10 sets a year." It is his intense strength and enthusiasm
that makes his performance a pleasure to see.

Dick explains "We are going to do everything we have to do to promote the
album. We are going to give party hats, confetti and there will be nudity
all over the place. I don't think people realize how much it helps to have the
fans call the radio stations and ask for the songs. "

Interestingly enough the band has also been gaining popularity through the
internet. Ken Drew is a club manager we met in Chicago and a big fan. He
has an online fan club with postings of recent Beat Farmer activities at his
e-mail address kenneth.drew.3@nd.edu. He has received letters from all
over the world. They also have a local address of PO Box 2128 El Cajon, CA
92021.
The annual publication of The Beat Farmers Almanac is an amusing prize
full of advice and biographies of the band. When you get the chance, check
these guys out, bring a kazoo, and check your prudence at the door.

Country Dick Montana died of a heart attack Nov. 8, 1995 in Alberta Canada
playing to a sold out crowd.