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Flying Colors, Macho Jolly, The New Age Crystal Minstrels, and My Mojave Desert Ceilidh Band
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| go to DNL & His MDCB page |
I 'went acoustic' somewhere in the early 1980s. In a sense, it was a reversion to type: people who knew me as an acoustic
folk performer could not believe that I had ever been a punk rock screamer.
My main issue with rock music was its volume. I did not care for the ringing in my ears, for one thing. What I had achieved
as a rock musician was that sense of on-stage catharsis, ritual sacrifice. A valuable gift. However, my songs were buried
in the rubble, so to speak. My very early love of traditional forms and melodies had long since been pushed aside also.
That high volume catharsis, however, does not prepare you for acoustic performing. In many ways I was starting over: finding
my singing voice as a musical instrument rather than a bent thorny stick — finding a style of guitar accompaniment which
evoked the lost worlds in which I had always dwelt.
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| Flying Colors: Regan Hardman & DNL |
In 1982, singer songwriter Regan Hardman and I formed Flying Colors, an all acoustic duo and later a trio. With trips back
to BLaM and a side-trip to the Eddy DeTroit Band, I fleshed out many of my Flying Colors songs for a recording, my first of
full length, called DARK AGES.
The strangeness of this completely original repertoire was not received well in the small clubs of Los Angeles or in the music
journals which reviewed products of the then fledgling independent music scene. I retreated into traditional British Isles
folk music because (a) I had always loved it and (b) it connected to my audiences. If it weren't for (a) I would agree with
those that say I took the easy way out.
There were two David Nigel Lloyd trios. Brandon "Straitjacket" Curtis played fiddle in both. In the first incarnation, Pat
Meehan played an abbriviated drum kit. In the second, Reuben Burleson (the playwright Bob Burleson's son) played bass.
There was about that time a band so vague I couldn't tell you who was in it. We were called Macho Jolly. Regan may have cooked
up that name. Bodhrán and whistle player Warren Casey was the leader, I played guitar and sang. Dwight Rowe played a variety
of instruments both Celtic and Bulgarian but most often, an old banjolin. Hector Bezanis, played whistle. Catherine Jean (later
Warren's wife and then ex-wife) and gita sang. Except for gita and me, the players lived in Ventura. We would arrive Friday
night at Warren and Dwight's beach house for rehearsals on Saturday mornings. These were formless and would have been extremely
frustrating if they had not metamorphosed into some of the finest breakfasts I can remember. Huge pancakes stuffed with cranberries
and hazel nuts, glistening with maple syrup. All washed down with Anchor Steam beer. And such high conversation and company!
Macho Jolly was a great band!
I was working at the time at the Boddhi Tree Bookstore in West Hollywood. There I met percussionist composer Jeff Klein. I
recall a few conversations about the British folk baroque band Pentangle and how nobody had ever attempted to form a similar
band (hint hint). I had met Dave Beltane, editor of the folk fanzine ROGUE'S GALLERY and the only LA bassist who could play
like Ashley Hutchings. I was already working with Straitjacket on a trad/DNL album and Dave and Jeff had both guested on it.
One rainy evening in Jeff Klein's Silverlake cottage, we cooked up the name Mojave Desert Ceilidh Band and assembled Brandon
and Dave for rehearsals to be it. The order of events may have been different but essentially, that's how the first line-up
of David Nigel Lloyd and his Mojave Desert Ceilidh Band came to be. The album that came out of this, AN AGE OF FABLE, was
very favorably reviewed.
After Jeff left for the desert (Colorado not Mojave), I asked John MacAdams with whom I'd played in De De Troit's band to
replace Jeff on drums. The second lineup of DNL & his MDCB were louder. I even got out my old Stratocaster on some tunes.
MDCB mark II recorded four songs only. A pity, indeed.
During the Christmas season after Jeff's departure, a Zen Buddhist monk pal of mine named Jimyo and I formed the New Age Crystal
Minstrels. Jimyo played banjo and I played mandolin. We were joined by John MacAdams on guitar and percussion and Dave "Ashley
Planxty" Beltanovich III on bass. Jimyo and I also worked at the Bodhi Tree and there was some thought that the repertoire
was only an in-joke to be enjoyed by jaded spiritual bookstore employees. Here's a sample set list: "S-E-D-O-N-A," "Born to
Be Mild,' and "Went to See My Guru/I Feel My Kundalini Rising." The other thought was that this stuff was damn funny and would
take us right to the top, baby! We only played twice. Or was it thrice? In the words of the late Taizan Maezumi Roshi, "Oh,
well..."
In 1990 I moved to the Southern Sierra which made Mojave Desert Ceilidh Band rehearsals ultimately too difficult. We disbanded.
Dave and I went on to tour as a duo. In a diffused form, the band came back together to play "A Ballad of Cole Younger" on
my CD HOW LIKE GHOSTS ARE WE. Dave and John merged with a band called first the Clumsy Lovers and then Craicmore.
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| In Pasadena, drumming at the birth of the Wicked Tinkers: DNL with John MacAdams |
John MacAdams meanwhile had hit the craickpot... I mean jackpot. Earlier, I had introduced him to Warren Casey whom he now
appointed as best man at his wedding to Craicmore's singer Nancy Johnston. Warren duly arranged a bachelor party which took
us not to the titty bars but to all the best eating, drinking, and dancing venues between Pasadena and Santa Monica with the
twist that the groom and party were dressed in full highland regalia (with some improvisations away from tradition). Wherever
we went, we entered musically. We were probably a half dozen assorted percussionists (I played bodhrán) and one extremely
good piper: Aaron Shaw. Since I accepted the role of designated driver, my recollection of the evening, is perhaps better
than any other. Perhaps.
Shortly after the wedding, John, Warren and Aaron went off busking in Santa Monica to make a few bucks and hopefully pay a
few bills. The rest, as they say, is history. The Wicked Tinkers, as they soon called themselves, went on very quickly to
be a very popular and successful band. In the liner notes to their first eponymous CD, I am thanked for my poetry and music.
What can I say but "You're welcome!" —DNL
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