Fear Is A Woman’s Best Friend: Q & A with Deerfrance

Popshifter: What influences inspired you to get into music? Were there any bands or artists who ultimately inspired you?

Deerfrance: I listened to Motown as a child in the inner city (I grew up in Manhattan). I hated white bands, the Beach Boys, and commercial music. My neighborhood was funky and so was the soundtrack. Great vocals and beats.

I moved to Haight Asbury in ’69 and performed in a band there. Janis Joplin was my neighbor and I would do chores for her. She would single me out in concert and once jumped off the stage to kiss me during a song. I was smitten and haven’t stopped singing and performing since then. I was always a singer/songwriter. I preferred singing to speaking and spent many a year silent when not on stage.

Captain Beefheart changed my life also. He was performing at Ugano’s in NYC and I was on acid. When he took off his shades I somehow went with him into the Akashic Records and learned the mysteries of the Universe.

The early 70s were abysmal for the ears and I wound up at a recording studio as an assistant engineer to bands like Traffic, then went downtown below 14th Street and stayed there ’til the nineties when I went back to California. I went to CBGBs to see Bob Marley, Patti Smith, Suicide, and Iggy Pop. Also for sanity I listened to the Band. But I always liked quirky singer songwriters like Laura Nyro, Ezra Mohawk, Aretha Franklin, and soul singers, anything on Stax Records.

Popshifter: How did you become involved with John Cale’s band?

Deerfrance: In 1975, Cale started performing at CBGBs. He was mesmerizing. I worked the door there at that time and got tight with Jane Friedman, Cale’s manager and girlfriend. She also managed Patti Smith and Television. I did sound for Patti and was soon on tour with Television in Europe ’77. During the tour I would keep John accountable. Being an outlaw myself I didn’t tell on him then and won’t now.

When we returned to the States I recorded with Tom Verlaine on his first solo album and did backup on “Red Leaves.” Then Jane asked me to join as John’s backup singer. I stayed with Cale ’til mid-1980 when I went to Paris and recorded with Ramuntcho Matta.

Bettie Ringma and John Cale, CBGBs
Photo © Mark H. Miller
From the 98Bowery website

Popshifter: What sort of involvement did you have with his band (I am aware you played keyboards and sang)? Did he ever give you any songwriting duties?

Deerfrance: I played percussion, not keyboards, John and Joe Bidewell played keyboards. She [Jane Friedman] thought I would again keep tabs on him but instead became his partner in crime. He was “Ready for War” and tearing up the countryside. He was decades ahead of his time, always has been. John never left a room in the state he found it, onstage or off. I have never seen a performer give more and being on stage with him was like being strapped into an Apollo spacecraft.

John would attract a very specific kind of audience. Even during those dark days in the late 70s he could attract the strangest of the strange. The front row would be filled with people in wheelchairs, people cutting themselves. Backstage would be even more interesting. John could hold his own with crazies and geniuses and we met them all along the way. The tour lasted the length of the Iranian hostage debacle. We had a running joke on the day count. He was the perfect person to ride those days out with. There was many a mercenary backstage after our shows. It coincided with the end of the Vietnamese war and Vets were always a part of the evening. The US Government supplied party favors!

I wrote a song—”Rape”—during the tour that we used to perform. It was written after a real event. We were in Houston, Texas. I never wanted to go to Texas; it represents the worst of America, even back then. The Texans killed Kennedy. Anyway, I had to finally go to Texas and I met up with fate on a country road. We had finished our show and were back at our hotels; I couldn’t find Doug Bowne the drummer and was concerned. Being in a band is like being in a big family.

I took off towards the fast food place down the road around 3 a.m. in fuck-me-heels, a leather jacket, latex pants, and an orange crew cut. In 1979. A pickup truck slowed down long enough to pull me in and drove off into a field. Thanks to my stiletto heels I broke the window and attacked my attacker and got free. When I returned back to the hotel the guys were so cool. The police came and they defended and supported me and we got out of town without me being arrested.

The song was a healing part of the tour for me, and John put beautiful music to it. John was very open to input and we all contributed to songs and covers, with John at the helm and editing table. Really, there was never a need for anyone but John, him being so very capable. He did write a song for me to sing, “Only Time Will Tell.”

Click to read more from Deerfrance on. . .

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