because he plays drums and he also programs the shit out of drums. His last album, Liars, has entirely programmed drums, and I had to learn those very specific parts. I have to admit, as good as they sounded on the compositions, the songs sounded much better with a live band.

BANDS VS. FREELANCING

DH: Is it easier or more difficult being in a band or being a freelance drummer? PP: That’s a tough question to answer. I mean, you’ve worked out these relationships with people, and, depending on the people you’re working with, that’s how you learn to gauge the difficulty of the undertaking. The same is true with bands: how smoothly things run will vary from band to band.

I find it probably more challenging with The Tubes because I have more creative input. It’s usually left up to me to come up with something brilliant or everlasting or meaningful at the moment.

With Jefferson Starship, I’m just playing the music of the band’s heyday. There’s not a whole lot of new stuff coming up, but the songs that are newer are both recycled and jammed out. That’s the thing I enjoy about that band of musicians and the music, it’s very open and we can jam out on songs. I really enjoy that.

Then there’s my band, Don’t Push the Clown, with Ray White [Frank Zappa], and Terry Haggarty [Sons of Champlin] on guitars. Ray White is an amazing talent. Bobby Vega, the bass player, has played with Sly, Bo Diddley, Etta James, Tower of Power, Steve

Kimock band. Steve Kimock is a brilliant guitar player who’s played with Bobby Vega in their band Zero for years.

DH: Where did the name Don’t Push the
Clown come from?

PP: From a friend of ours. We were at one of what we call “a hippy luau,” a gig at the Fillmore. I was playing with The Jefferson Starship, and another band I formed with Vince Welnick, Henry Kaiser, Bob Weir, and Bobby Vega called the Valentines.

Wavy Gravy was there – he’s the clown. I saw somebody burst out the door and push him out of the way and he said, “Wow, what a bummer! Don’t Push The Clown!” That stayed in my mind; that phrase essentially means: Never harm the thing that brings you joy.