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Biography

Melvins recruited Crover on drums in 1984 from an Iron Maiden cover band, following original drummer Mike Dillard's departure.²³ Crover has been one of the two constant members of the Melvins, along with frontman Buzz Osborne, and is the only band member besides Osborne to appear on all their studio albums. In late 1985, Crover played bass in Fecal Matter, a band he formed with Kurt Cobain and Greg Hokanson. After Hokanson left the band, Cobain and Crover recorded Illiteracy Will Prevail⁴ on a 4-track on Easter 1986 at Cobain's aunt's home in Burien, Washington. Crover played bass and drums on the demo. "Spank Thru" from this demo appears on the Nirvana album Sliver: The Best of the Box. Fecal Matter disbanded in 1986.⁵

Crover drummed on Nirvana's ten-song demo recorded January 23, 1988, at Reciprocal Recording Studios in Seattle. Nine of these songs have been officially released:⁶⁷

• "Floyd the Barber", "Paper Cuts", and "Downer" – Bleach
• "Beeswax", "Downer", "Hairspray Queen", "Mexican Seafood", and "Aero Zeppelin" – Incesticide
• "If You Must" and "Pen Cap Chew" – With the Lights Out

The original incarnation of Nirvana including Crover on drums played a 14-song show in Tacoma, Washington, on the night of the same day that they did the demo session. Three cuts from the show – "Downer", "Floyd the Barber", and "Raunchola"/"Moby Dick" – appear on With the Lights Out.⁸ Later in 1988, Crover and Melvins' bandmate Buzz Osborne relocated to San Francisco, California. Not wanting to break the Melvins up, Cobain asked Buzz for recommendations on who he should recruit as his drummer and it was Osborne who referred Cobain to Dave Grohl, drummer of the hardcore band Scream at that time, commenting of Grohl that, "He's almost as good as Dale Crover." Crover briefly rejoined Nirvana during a short west-coast tour with Sonic Youth in August 1990.⁹ In April 1991, Crover played drums on a demo version of "Drain You" with Cobain on guitar and vocals and Dave Grohl on bass guitar. ¹⁰

In the years 1993 and 1994 the Melvins played a tour visiting every state in the contiguous United States, and released their first record on a major label (Atlantic) which had been nominally produced by Kurt Cobain, toured with Nirvana on the first leg of their world tour for In Utero, and then played a later leg of the tour that ended up including the last shows that Nirvana ever played. The Melvins opened for Nirvana at what turned out to be their final show in Munich after Cobain's overdose in Rome and shortly before his death. Prior to Cobain's departure for what wound up to be a short stint in rehab, the Melvins had several other shows scheduled to open for Nirvana in Europe. When these shows were canceled, the Melvins 'took their Nirvana money' to book studio time in London. They recorded two of their best-remembered albums in one week: Stoner Witch, and Prick. The album released as Prick was originally intended to appear under the title Kurdt Cobain, but this idea was shelved after Cobain's suicide. During the same year, Crover founded the band Altamont with Joey Osbourne and Dan Southwick of Acid King. He produced and performed additional vocals on Acid King's début release that year. During this time he was also married to Acid King's frontwoman Lori S., but they divorced. When Nirvana was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in April 2014, although not officially inducted with the band, Crover was singled out for his work with them during Crover's successor Dave Grohl's acceptance speech. A high proportion of the most substantive and historically informative entries in Kurt Cobain's published journals consist of unfinished letters that he started writing to Dale Crover.¹¹

It may be significant to point out that after Cobain's death and the waning of grunge rock's centrality in the popular culture of the 1990's, Crover's career with Buzz Osborne in the Melvins, though they started playing together a decade earlier in 1984, had still scarcely begun in 1994. The volume and influence of the music that they produced thereafter has only grown over time. Since 1994, the Melvins have released nearly thirty studio albums and twenty EPs while continuing to tour relentlessly since that time. They played with Nine Inch Nails on the Downward Spiral tour in 1995, and on a later tour with Tool they both opened and played as additional personnel with the headlining band after opening for them. They toured with Faith No More and with the legendary, seminal punk musician Jello Biafra of the Dead Kennedys while also putting out a collaborative album with him, and playing guitars and drums during the Dead Kennedys sets during the tour. Their collaboration with Lustmord on the Pigs of the Roman Empire is perhaps lesser known, but much cherished by fans. Crover is credited as the drummer on most of the tracks on Mike Patton's Peeping Tom project from 2006. The Melvins also play with Patton on the Fantomas records and have contributed to various other Patton projects. Crover is credited on nearly 400 releases according to Discogs.¹²

He has released three LPs as a solo artist includingThe Fickle Finger of Fate and Rat-a-Tat-Tat.^13141516 In the summer of 2024, he released Glossolalia on Joyful Noise Recordings with musical guests including Tom Waits, Ty Segall, Kim Thayil and Rob Crow.¹⁷ Crover has also released a number of other one-off projects at Joyful Noise including the percussion project Hew Time, which enlisted the drummers Coady Willis (of Big Business) and Joe Plummer (of Modest Mouse).

Appearances

Dale Crover made an appearance in Neil Young's video "Harvest Moon" playing Neil Young. This was largely due to his physical resemblance to the younger Young.¹⁸¹⁹²⁰

Cartoon versions of Crover and bandmate Osborne appear in an episode of Uncle Grandpa as well.²¹

Discography

External links

• Dale Crover discography at Discogs

References

1. Weingarten, Christopher R.; Dolan, Jon; Diehl, Matt; Micallef, Ken; Ma, David; Smith, Gareth Dylan; Wang, Oliver; Heller, Jason; Runtagh, Jordan; Shteamer, Hank; Smith, Steve; Spanos, Brittany; Grow, Kory; Kemp, Rob; Harris, Keith; Gehr, Richard; Wiederhorn, Jon; Johnston, Maura; Greene, Andy (March 31, 2016). "100 Greatest Drummers of All Time". Rolling Stone. Retrieved September 14, 2021. /wiki/Maura_Johnston ↩

2. "Bleach: Krist Novoselic Interviews Dale Crover The Nirvana bassist chats with the Melvins drummer about making Bleach, Metal Church, and their friend Kurt". seattle weekly. Retrieved February 17, 2021. https://www.seattleweekly.com/music/bleach-krist-novoselic-interviews-dale-crover/ ↩

3. Buzz Osborne. "Liner Notes to Mangled Demos from 1983". Ipecac Recordings. May 31, 2005. /wiki/Mangled_Demos_from_1983 ↩

4. Gillian Gaar. "Nirvana Timeline, Booklet to With the Lights Out". Geffen Records/Universal Music Group. November 23, 2004. /wiki/With_the_Lights_Out ↩

5. Michael Azerrad. "Come as You Are: The Story of Nirvana". Doubleday, 1993. ISBN 0-385-47199-8. /wiki/ISBN_(identifier) ↩

6. Live Nirvana: Studio session: January 23, 1988. http://www.livenirvana.com/sessions/studio/january-1988.php ↩

7. "Super Rare Nirvana Demos Shared By Friend Of Cobain, Featuring Bleached Demos With Dale Crover On Drums". mxdwn. Retrieved February 17, 2021. https://music.mxdwn.com/2018/01/14/news/super-rare-nirvana-demos-shared-by-friend-of-cobain-featuring-bleached-demos-with-dale-crover-on-drums/ ↩

8. Live Nirvana, Tour history: January 23, 1988. http://www.livenirvana.com/tourhistory/88/01-23-88.php ↩

9. Nirvana Live Guide, August 1990 tour (08/16/90-08/25/90) Archived November 22, 2006, at the Wayback Machine. http://www.nirvanaguide.com/1990.php ↩

10. "Live Nirvana – Sessions History – Practice Sessions – (The Retards) April 22, 1991 – Melvins practice space & Crover residence, San Francisco, CA, US". Livenirvana.com. Retrieved January 11, 2019. https://www.livenirvana.com/sessions/home/april22-1991.php ↩

11. Cobain, Kurt (2002). Kurt Cobain: the journals. London: Viking. ISBN 978-0-670-91370-1. OCLC 51438583. 978-0-670-91370-1 ↩

12. "Dale Crover". Discogs. https://www.discogs.com/artist/261337-Dale-Crover ↩

13. "Dale Crover // The Fickle Finger Of Fate // Joyful Noise Recordings | Joyful Noise Recordings". www.joyfulnoiserecordings.com. Retrieved August 22, 2024. https://www.joyfulnoiserecordings.com/products/the-fickle-finger-of-fate ↩

14. "Dale Crover Interview". bionicbuzz.com. Retrieved April 21, 2021. https://www.bionicbuzz.com/music/dale-crover-interview/ ↩

15. "Ep155: Dale Crover (Melvins)". protonicreversal.com. Retrieved April 21, 2021. https://www.protonicreversal.com/2020/04/14/ep155-dale-crover-melvins/ ↩

16. "Ep230: Dale Crover (Melvins, Redd Kross, Dale Crover Band)". protonicreversal.com. Retrieved April 21, 2021. https://www.protonicreversal.com/2021/02/16/ep230-dale-crover-melvins-redd-kross-dale-crover-band/ ↩

17. "Dale Crover's New Solo Record". Spin Magazine. https://www.spin.com/2024/06/melvins-dale-crover-solo-album/ ↩

18. "Dale Crover". IMDb.com. Retrieved January 11, 2019. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0189512/otherworks ↩

19. "Protonic Reversal Ep230: Dale Crover (Melvins, Redd Kross, Dale Crover Band)". protonicreversal.com. Retrieved February 17, 2021. https://www.protonicreversal.com/2021/02/16/ep230-dale-crover-melvins-redd-kross-dale-crover-band/ ↩

20. "Performance Anxiety: Dale Crover (Melvins)". Performance Anxiety. Retrieved February 17, 2021. https://www.radio.com/podcasts/pantheon-20984/performance-anxiety-dale-crover-melvins-354757585 ↩

21. "Watch Melvins Get Animated on Cartoon Network Show "Uncle Grandpa"". pitchfork.com. Retrieved February 17, 2021. https://pitchfork.com/news/67160-watch-melvins-get-animated-on-cartoon-network-show-uncle-grandpa/ ↩