Andrew Hickey

speaker

2,253 appearances 4 recordings 1 series first heard Jul 2026 last heard 3 Sep

Andrew Hickey’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

Trend

recordings per month · last 12 months

Recordings per month over the last 12 months — 4 in all, peaking in Jul 2026 with 3.

Appearances

newest first · ▶ plays the moment

A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs · Song 185: “Peaches En Regalia” by Frank Zappa · 21 Jul 2026 podcast

Cool, cool water by the Beach Boys.

and Going Back by the Birds.

Among many, many, many other records.

At the time that Preston knew him, Beaver was a tinkerer and had a home studio full of exotic keyboard and electronic instruments, which inspired Preston to return to playing keyboards and to start building his own synthesizer, which by 1966 he had done, a year before Moogs came on the market.

Preston had moved to LA in the early 60s, and not long after he had gone back to being primarily a keyboard player, he had met Frank Zappa, who was in 1962 or 63 putting together a guitar, sax, organ trio to play clubs.

Preston had joined this trio on organ, but according to Preston it only lasted as long as the audition, when their music was deemed unsuitable by the club manager.

Preston says that one of the songs they played at the audition was the instrumental piece that would later become the Mothers of Invention song, Oh No.

Over the next few years though, Zappa and Preston would get together and play experimental music, improvising to abstract images projected onto a screen, along with Buzz Gardner and Buzz's younger brother Bunk.

This went on for a year or two, in parallel with Zappa's other activities of playing R&B music with bar bands, and making knock-off surf records with Paul Buff.

Preston didn't see Zappa for a year or two, and then found out that Zappa had formed the band that became The Mothers.

Zappa invited Preston to audition for the band, but quickly discovered that Preston was not yet familiar enough with rock or R&B music to be a mother.

Preston's knowledge of modern classical music and free jazz was all well and good, and exactly the kind of thing Zapper loved.

But he also needed someone who was able to just play Louie Louie and other thuggish three-chord garage band staples with the requisite enthusiasm and feel.

And Preston wasn't there yet, so he went away and spent a year playing with other rock bands, learning the music.

And then when Van Dyke Parks left the Mothers, Preston was invited to audition again, and this time was successful.

Joining this line-up as Ingber's replacement was Del Kasher.

Kasher was a very, very seasoned guitarist who had been playing sessions for many years.

He was older than many of the rest of the Mothers, having been born in 1937.

Like Preston, he was something of a tinkerer and inventor.

He had been inspired by Les Paul to invent various early echo devices to augment his playing, and he had been a professional musician since the 50s.

Showing 941–960 of 2,253 · page 48 of 113