Spencer Dryden dies

[brownie]

Sad news for fans of Jefferson Airplane...

From AP

JEFFERSON AIRPLANE DRUMMER DIES

Spencer Dryden, drummer for the Jefferson Airplane in the rock band's glory years, including the breakthrough 1967 album "Surrealistic Pillow" and the Woodstock festival, has died of cancer. He was 66.

Dryden, who died at his home Monday, retired from performing 10 years ago but hadn't been working much before that. "I'm gone," he told the San Francisco Chronicle last May. "I'm out of it. I've left the building."

A benefit concert last year raised $36,000 for Dryden, who was facing hip replacement and heart surgery at the time and whose home had been destroyed by fire. He was diagnosed with cancer later last year.

"Spencer had a flow, a way of going, an impulse power that was irresistible and unique," the Grateful Dead's Mickey Hart told the Chronicle in the obituary published Thursday. "He was capable of creating a churning, loving rhythm machine for ecstatic dancing."

Dryden was inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996 for his work with the Jefferson Airplane.

He joined the band in 1966. He had been working as a strip club drummer when he was recommended as the replacement for Skip Spence, who went on to start another noted rock group, Moby Grape. 

Dryden recorded on a number of the Airplane's most famous albums, "Surrealistic Pillow," which included the hits "Somebody to Love" and "White Rabbit"; "After Bathing At Baxter's"; "Bless Its Pointed Little Head"; "Crown Of Creation"; and "Volunteers."

During his stint with the Airplane, Dryden had an affair with lead singer Grace Slick.

He left the band in 1970.

In the '70s and '80s, he played for the Grateful Dead sideline country-rock band, New Riders of the Purple Sage, and a Bay area group of psychedelic rock veterans called the Dinosaurs.

Dryden was married three times and is survived by three sons. His father, British actor Wheeler Dryden, was a half brother of Charlie Chaplin.

 

[bertrand]

The family has set up a website at www.spencerdryden.com.

There is a guest book with tributes from fans, and even some former colleagues (including Kaukonen). The entry from his ex-wife is very moving.

Spencer's interviews in the recent Airplane DVD are the best of all the former bandmates. He seemed to be a really interesting guy.

Bertrand.

[AfricaBrass]

I always liked the Airplane best when he was drumming. Heck, I even dug the New Riders of the Purple Sage.

Jorma Kaukonen had some kind words on his website.

[AmirBagachelles]

Great rocker, nice resume. I love the early New Riders records too. Cosmic American music is among my favorite kinds. I'm putting on those tasty '67 live tracks from the JA Loves You box. The other side of this life indeed.

[Leeway]

The family has set up a website at www.spencerdryden.com.

There is a guest book with tributes from fans, and even some former colleagues (including Kaukonen). The entry from his ex-wife is very moving.

Spencer's interviews in the recent Airplane DVD are the best of all the former bandmates. He seemed to be a really interesting guy.

Bertrand.

Saw that DVD. I'd agree. Dryden looked like a casualty of the era and of the life of the band he was a part of. Others like Kantner and Slick still seemed to have a lot of fight in them. Dryden, in contrast, looked worn out. I liked his drumming and loved the sound of the band in its heyday.

[AfricaBrass]

Saw that DVD.  I'd agree.  Dryden looked like a casualty of the era and of the life of the band he was a part of.  Others like Kantner and Slick still seemed to have a lot of fight in them.  Dryden, in contrast, looked worn out.  I liked his drumming and loved the sound of the band in its heyday.

I don't think he was so much a casualty of that era so much as someone who has been having some major health issues.

Here's a quote from the press release on the spencerdryden.com site:

Spencer had been besieged by bad luck in recent years. A hip replacement that didn't take well left him permanently disabled. In September 2003, fire destroyed his home and all of his possessions and memorabilia. Three weeks after the fire, he suffered a heart attack and was told that he needed cardiac surgery. Friends and family worked tirelessly throughout 2004, including hosting a benefit concert in Dryden's honor, to raise the funds needed for the procedure. A week before he was set to have it performed, he was diagnosed with cancer. His battle with the disease lasted only three months.

Even throughout this difficult period, Spencer managed to maintain the humor and wit that so many people will remember him for. In a December interview, he jokingly remarked, "Well, at least I know how much I'm worth," when speaking in regards to the seven-figure medical debt he had managed to accumulate in two-months' time.

It sounds like he went through hell.

Edited January 14, 2005 by AfricaBrass

[AfricaBrass]

Here's another quote from the press release:

Nephew of the great Charlie Chaplin, Spencer was born in Manhattan, New York in 1938 to English actor, Wheeler Dryden, and Radio City Music Hall prima ballerina, Alice Chapple. The family moved to Los Angeles a year later, where Wheeler Dryden went to work as an assistant director for Chaplin. Spencer grew up honing his drumming skills on the Los Angeles jazz circuit, playing with such notables as Charles Lloyd, Bobby Hutcherson and Paul Bley. In 1956, Spencer joined his first rock band, The Heartbeats, which featured guitar legend Roy Buchanan. Ten years later, he would join Jefferson Airplane.

I never knew of his jazz background.

It makes sense to me now, seeing that he wasn't as heavy handed as some of the other rock drummers that came after him in the band.

[Leeway]

Saw that DVD.  I'd agree.  Dryden looked like a casualty of the era and of the life of the band he was a part of.  Others like Kantner and Slick still seemed to have a lot of fight in them.  Dryden, in contrast, looked worn out.  I liked his drumming and loved the sound of the band in its heyday.

I don't think he was so much a casualty of that era so much as someone who has been having some major health issues.

Here's a quote from the press release on the spencerdryden.com site:

Spencer had been besieged by bad luck in recent years. A hip replacement that didn't take well left him permanently disabled. In September 2003, fire destroyed his home and all of his possessions and memorabilia. Three weeks after the fire, he suffered a heart attack and was told that he needed cardiac surgery. Friends and family worked tirelessly throughout 2004, including hosting a benefit concert in Dryden's honor, to raise the funds needed for the procedure. A week before he was set to have it performed, he was diagnosed with cancer. His battle with the disease lasted only three months.

Even throughout this difficult period, Spencer managed to maintain the humor and wit that so many people will remember him for. In a December interview, he jokingly remarked, "Well, at least I know how much I'm worth," when speaking in regards to the seven-figure medical debt he had managed to accumulate in two-months' time.

It sounds like he went through hell.

Yes, certainly his health was a big factor. But it was clear also that he was still hurt by the band' decision to replace him and get a new drummer. He didn't seem to have the sort of ego that could stand up to Slick, Balin, and Kantner.

[AfricaBrass]

Yes, certainly his health was a big factor. But it was clear also that he was still hurt by the band' decision to replace him and get a new drummer. He didn't seem to have the sort of ego that could stand up to Slick, Balin, and Kantner.

Good point!

Heck, Balin couldn't even handle Slick and Kantner.

[7/4]

Nephew of the great Charlie Chaplin, Spencer was born in Manhattan, New York in 1938

No chit!

[DrJ]

Sorry to hear this, I love the old Airplane stuff, and he was still so relatively young. Sad.

Hey this is probably as good a time as any for me to check out Moby Grape, something I've always wanted to do. What is their stuff like? Close to the original Airplane at all, or what?

[danasgoodstuff]

oby Grape are more like the song-oriented, Marty Balin side of the Airplane than the Slick/Kantner agtit-prop side or the Jack & Jorma jamming side, although the Grape also suffered from the too many directions at once thing. One of many bands that must've seemed impossibly hip when they were signed in '66 but really weren't by the time the greater public heard them a year or two later - Love, Buffalo Springfield, etc. Now that I've alienated three or four groups of fans I'll shut up, or not. Insert appropriate smilie here to make it all better...

[DrJ]

Thanks for the take on Moby Grape...still something I'd like to check out (first eponymous LP, per my understanding, is "the one" if you gotta have any) but nice to have an advance opinion.

[ghost of miles]

Skip Spence was always a figure who intrigued me... I read an interesting piece about him in MOJO several years back.

[AfricaBrass]

DrJ - I'm a big Moby Grape fan. Been one for many YEARS!

I'd suggest checking out their first album. I really think it's a perfect record.

Basically, you had four vocalists, three guitars, groovin' bass. They had talent to spare.

On the guitar front, you had Skip Spence playing rhythm (in his own cool style), you had Peter Lewis fingerpickin' and you had Jerry Miller playing great lead.

On the vocal side, you have great harmonies on every song, plus most members took turns on lead vocals. My favorite vocalist being Bob Mosley (who was the bassist) who had a huge vocal range and sang quite soulfully.

Ghost mentioned Skip Spence. He is one of those casualties of rock (like Syd Barrett). The story is, during the sessions for their second album in New York, Skippy was dating a witch and taking too much acid. I guess the combo didn't serve him well and he attacked another band member with a fire ax.

He was arrested and spent six months in Bellvue. Upon his release, he drove a motorcycle to Nashville and recorded the album Oar in a few days, playing all the instruments himself. He never really recorded much after that. A couple years later he appeared on a Moby Grape reunion album, but he wasn't nearly as present as he had been on their first album.

I'd highly recommend the first Moby Grape album and Spence's Oar. There was a Moby Grape compilation called Vintage put out by Sony around 10 years ago. If you see a used copy, I'd grab it.

[BFrank]

Anyone have the original cover of that first Moby Grape album with the full middle-finger extension?

[AfricaBrass]

Anyone have the original cover of that first Moby Grape album with the full middle-finger extension?

Yeah, I've got that version and the version with the offending digit removed.

I guess that was pretty punk in 1967.

You can see it on the photo above on the washboard.

[BFrank]

You can see it on the photo above on the washboard.

I couldn't tell for sure - it's so small.

Actually, as long as this is about Dryden, the cover of "Surrealistic Pillow" was re-cropped at the waist because there's a noticable bulge in Spencer's pants

Edited January 16, 2005 by BFrank

[AfricaBrass]

You can see it on the photo above on the washboard.

I couldn't tell for sure - it's so small.

Actually, as long as this is about Dryden, the cover of "Surrealistic Pillow" was re-cropped at the waist because there's a noticable bulge in Spencer's pants

I didn't know that!