Jeff Bruchell

Bruchell arrived at 'The Magic Band' house and among Vliet's circle of now highly-stressed musicians at the closure of the "Trout Mask Replica" recordings. He replaced John French (aka Drumbo, sadly the uncredited drummer & transcriber of the TMR works), who had literally been 'kicked down the stairs' by Vliet and out of the band in favor of this drummer, who was an acquaintance of Victor Hayden (Vliet's cousin). Bruchell's tenure existed during the band's tour of Europe in the fall of 1969 and was short-lived. He allegedly broke some of Jeff Cotton's ribs in this period of acrimony which surrounded the band. Vliet had also married Jan Van Vliet at this point and thereafter "His Magic Band" (a name developed around 'a band who would appear when he drank Pepsi' as a Grant Associates PR marketing strategy) became a collection of rotating musicians using the band's original nomenclature "The Magic Band", as formed by Alexis Clair Snouffer (aka Alex St. Clair Snouffer). (Thereafter, the former band title would only officially reappear on "The Legendary A&M Sessions", later released from archive material).