THE HOLLYWOOD PERSUADERS ~ DRUMS-A-GO-GO

THE HOLLYWOOD PERSUADERS ~ DRUMS-A-GO-GO. Paul Buff and Frank Zappa pioneered many of the recording techniques and musical styles that continue on today by using the studio itself as a dynamic music instrument, rather than a static capture environment. At Pal, the classic divide between engineer and musician was non-existent. When Pal was not booked for artists on Buff’s record labels (Pal, Emmy, Yukon, Plaza and Vigah), a rotating crew of musicians, The Pal Studio Band , regularly laid down tracks with the hope of placing them with major record labels. The band featured regular appearances by young guitarist Frank Zappa, who learned recording studio operations from Paul Buff. Records cut by Buff and guitarist Ronnie Williams were issued on Buff’s in-house Emmy label as by The Masters, with one track (“Breaktime“) featuring dual lead guitars by Zappa and Williams. Other releases with Zappa involvement from this period include The Tornadoes, Ron Roman, Baby Ray And The Ferns, Brian Lord & The Midnighters, The Heartbreakers, Ned And Nelda and Bob Guy, among many others. Concurrent with his Pal activities, Paul Buff started working with Art Laboe, owner of Original Sound Records. After the sale of Pal Studios to Frank Zappa in 1964, Buff became Original Sound’s studio engineer. Besides recording many Original Sound artists, Buff made his own recordings for the label. This output started in 1963 as The Bongo Teens, followed by The Hollywood Persuaders, The Rotations, Mr. Clean, The Catalinas, Lori Allison, The Buff Organization, The Friendly Torpedoes (with The Music Machine’s Sean Bonniwell) and Ricky Dean. Non-Original Sound clients, such as the entire output of the All American label (known for Strawberry Alarm Clock’s Incense And Peppermints“) and Sugarloaf, were also engineered by Buff.