Drummer and musician with Captain Beefheart's Magic Band, dubbed 'Drumbo' by Van Vliet. He played on Trout Mask Replica and also on various other Captain Beefheart records.
During the Trout Mask Replica sessions, French transcribed the musical ideas Beefheart played for him on piano for the rest of the band, thus making him one of the unsung musical geniuses within the Beefheart legend.
He grew up in the same area of California as Frank Zappa, Don Van Vliet and other Magic Band and Mothers of Invention members. He was interested in the local music scene as a teenager, hanging out with Doug Moon and watching The Omens on stage.
Around 1964 he played and recorded with Merrell and The Exiles, a band that featured Jeff Cotton on guitar. French and Cotton joined Mark Boston in another band in 1966, sadly never recorded, called Blues in a Bottle. Bill Harkleroad (aka Zoot Horn Rollo) joined later, thus forming the nucleus of what would become the Magic Band.
French was invited to join Beefheart and the Magic Band in late 1966, as a replacement for Paul Blakeley. Having played on Safe as Milk (1967), his distinctive drumming style moulded the driving heavy psychedelic blues of Strictly Personal (1968) and Mirror Man (1968 released 1971). French was strangely and contentiously omitted from the credits of Trout Mask Replica, as well as being absent from the band photos taken for the artwork. Shortly after the completion of Trout Mask Replica, Beefheart replaced him with the inexperienced Jeff Bruschell. Drumbo was soon invited back however, and played on the critically acclaimed albums Lick My Decals Off, Baby and The Spotlight Kid, sharing percussion duties with Art Tripp (aka Ed Marimba). Then in late 1972, just before an American tour, he was inexplicably sacked again.
Beefheart's contractual problems in 1975 forced him into touring with Frank Zappa's Bongo Fury tour, but he then set to reforming the Magic Band. French was recruited as both drummer and musical director. 1976 saw the recording of Bat Chain Puller, which due to legal ownership problems remains unreleased as a regular album. French also played guitar on some of these songs. He walked out on Beefheart when his friend John Thomas (keyboards) was sacked from the band.
He was back to help out again in 1977, but had become disillusioned working with Van Vliet. When Van Vliet had no guitarist for an upcoming 1980 tour, Drumbo got the part, and also recorded Doc at the Radar Station with the band. Again he left, only to be invited back in 1982. He might have accepted had not Van Vliet handed him 40 songs to learn in two weeks. French sealed the walkout the next day by returning the guitar Beefheart had loaned him.
French has subsequently made solo records and played with the experimental group French Frith Kaiser Thompson and again with Henry Kaiser in Crazy Backwards Alphabet. 2003 saw him reform the Magic Band as a live act with Mark Boston, Denny Walley and Gary Lucas, with French handling the vocals and harmonica and Robert Williams on drums. They released an album Back To The Front in 2004 and a live CD, 21st Century Mirror Men, in 2005.