Biography
Dale Crover stands out for his tenure behind the kit in three landmark alternative rock acts. For more than thirty years he anchored the Melvins, the heavy-music trailblazers whose sound reshaped underground rock, and he also filled in briefly on drums for Nirvana while maintaining an ongoing role with Redd Kross. His precision and forceful style left a lasting mark on countless players drawn to the heavier wing of indie and alternative music. In 2016 Rolling Stone ranked him sixty-ninth on its list of the 100 Greatest Drummers of All Time. Crover later proved his range beyond the drum throne with his own recordings, beginning with the 2017 solo debut The Fickle Finger of Fate and continuing through the 2024 release Glossolalia, which assembled an all-star roster of contributors.
Born in Aberdeen, Washington on October 23, 1967, Crover already played guitar, bass, and especially drums with notable facility by his mid-teens. At fifteen he performed in his high-school ensemble and, outside school hours, joined an Iron Maiden tribute group whose guitarist was Buzz Osborne. When Osborne started the Melvins, Crover received an invitation in 1984 to replace the band’s departing original drummer. His first recorded appearance came on the Melvins’ 1986 debut EP, Ten Songs. Although personnel shifted around them over the ensuing decades, Crover and Osborne remained the group’s unchanging core through four decades of activity.
In 1985, fellow Melvins admirer Kurt Cobain asked Crover to handle bass in the short-lived project Fecal Matter; Crover played both bass and drums on that band’s 1985 demo tape Illiteracy Will Prevail. After Fecal Matter dissolved, Cobain enlisted him again to record a 1988 demo for Nirvana during a period without a permanent drummer. Three of those tracks later appeared on Nirvana’s 1989 debut album Bleach, while additional selections surfaced on the compilation Incesticide and the box set With the Lights Out. Crover also rejoined Nirvana for a West Coast tour in 1990 before Dave Grohl joined the lineup.
Although the Melvins remained his primary commitment after 1986, Crover pursued numerous side ventures. In 1992 he issued a four-song solo EP issued alongside similar releases from Osborne and then-Melvins bassist Joe Preston, a playful nod to the four individual Kiss solo albums of 1978. He followed with the 1996 single Drumb on Man’s Ruin Records. The next year Crover formed the side project Altamont, whose first release was a split 12-inch with the stoner-metal band Acid King; he had already contributed guest vocals to Acid King’s self-titled 1994 debut. Between 1998 and 2005 he recorded three albums with Altamont and made guest appearances on projects by Men of Porn, Shrinebuilder, Hank Williams III, and Conan Neutron & the Secret Friends. He also collaborated with Mike Patton on the Faith No More singer’s side projects Peeping Tom and Fantomas. When Redd Kross bassist Steven McDonald joined the Melvins, Crover reciprocated by touring with Redd Kross and drumming on their 2017 album Octavia.
In 2016 Crover released the distinctive twelve-sided lathe-cut single Skins, whose dozen brief tracks, each lasting between sixteen and thirty-two seconds, could be played by aligning the disc on any of six spindle holes. In 2017, more than three decades after his first Melvins 7-inch, he issued his first full-length solo album, The Fickle Finger of Fate, performing guitar, bass, vocals, and drums himself. His 2021 follow-up, Rat-A-Tat-Tat!, drew additional instrumental contributions from Steven McDonald, Toshi Kasai of Plan D, and Dan Southwick of Altamont. Both records mined a backlog of material written across thirty-plus years, yet that reserve was exhausted by the time Crover prepared his third solo album, Glossolalia. He composed an entirely new set of songs spanning garage-rock grooves and progressive-metal passages. Glossolalia featured guest spots from Ty Segall, Pinback’s Rob Crow, Soundgarden guitarist Kim Thayil, and Tom Waits.
Born in Aberdeen, Washington on October 23, 1967, Crover already played guitar, bass, and especially drums with notable facility by his mid-teens. At fifteen he performed in his high-school ensemble and, outside school hours, joined an Iron Maiden tribute group whose guitarist was Buzz Osborne. When Osborne started the Melvins, Crover received an invitation in 1984 to replace the band’s departing original drummer. His first recorded appearance came on the Melvins’ 1986 debut EP, Ten Songs. Although personnel shifted around them over the ensuing decades, Crover and Osborne remained the group’s unchanging core through four decades of activity.
In 1985, fellow Melvins admirer Kurt Cobain asked Crover to handle bass in the short-lived project Fecal Matter; Crover played both bass and drums on that band’s 1985 demo tape Illiteracy Will Prevail. After Fecal Matter dissolved, Cobain enlisted him again to record a 1988 demo for Nirvana during a period without a permanent drummer. Three of those tracks later appeared on Nirvana’s 1989 debut album Bleach, while additional selections surfaced on the compilation Incesticide and the box set With the Lights Out. Crover also rejoined Nirvana for a West Coast tour in 1990 before Dave Grohl joined the lineup.
Although the Melvins remained his primary commitment after 1986, Crover pursued numerous side ventures. In 1992 he issued a four-song solo EP issued alongside similar releases from Osborne and then-Melvins bassist Joe Preston, a playful nod to the four individual Kiss solo albums of 1978. He followed with the 1996 single Drumb on Man’s Ruin Records. The next year Crover formed the side project Altamont, whose first release was a split 12-inch with the stoner-metal band Acid King; he had already contributed guest vocals to Acid King’s self-titled 1994 debut. Between 1998 and 2005 he recorded three albums with Altamont and made guest appearances on projects by Men of Porn, Shrinebuilder, Hank Williams III, and Conan Neutron & the Secret Friends. He also collaborated with Mike Patton on the Faith No More singer’s side projects Peeping Tom and Fantomas. When Redd Kross bassist Steven McDonald joined the Melvins, Crover reciprocated by touring with Redd Kross and drumming on their 2017 album Octavia.
In 2016 Crover released the distinctive twelve-sided lathe-cut single Skins, whose dozen brief tracks, each lasting between sixteen and thirty-two seconds, could be played by aligning the disc on any of six spindle holes. In 2017, more than three decades after his first Melvins 7-inch, he issued his first full-length solo album, The Fickle Finger of Fate, performing guitar, bass, vocals, and drums himself. His 2021 follow-up, Rat-A-Tat-Tat!, drew additional instrumental contributions from Steven McDonald, Toshi Kasai of Plan D, and Dan Southwick of Altamont. Both records mined a backlog of material written across thirty-plus years, yet that reserve was exhausted by the time Crover prepared his third solo album, Glossolalia. He composed an entirely new set of songs spanning garage-rock grooves and progressive-metal passages. Glossolalia featured guest spots from Ty Segall, Pinback’s Rob Crow, Soundgarden guitarist Kim Thayil, and Tom Waits.
Albums
Singles
