“When I first joined the group, Don was going to the library looking up books on how to control people, and literally how to brainwash these young kids. We’re talking sleep deprivation, food deprivation.” Drummer French told Beefheart biographer Mike Barnes that during the Trout Mask retreat, “I remember once going for a month and all we had to eat every day was one four-ounce cup of soya beans.”