New interview with Dale

[black stallion]

https://eu.desertsun.com/story/life/entertainment/music/2022/05/20/home-dale-crover-melvins-drummer-enjoys-living-la-quinta/9801212002/

[CoryCory]

https://eu.desertsun.com/story/life/entertainment/music/2022/05/20/home-dale-crover-melvins-drummer-enjoys-living-la-quinta/9801212002/

I'm sure that'd be a great read if not for that pesky paywall. So Dale moved out of LA too and in the same area where the Yawning Man dudes live, no less?

[black stallion]

https://eu.desertsun.com/story/life/entertainment/music/2022/05/20/home-dale-crover-melvins-drummer-enjoys-living-la-quinta/9801212002/

I'm sure that'd be a great read if not for that pesky paywall. So Dale moved out of LA too and in the same area where the Yawning Man dudes live, no less?

this is a great interview. I can maybe copy/paste the full thing if you couldn't read it.

[))))((((]

Nice to have another interview even if it is small, especially since things seem to have gone very quiet in Melvins land recently. Anyway it's interesting that both Buzz and Dale have moved now. I would have thought that after not being able to tour the band might have downsized but it seems Dale has gone up the property ladder!

[bUTTHOLEmAN]

https://eu.desertsun.com/story/life/entertainment/music/2022/05/20/home-dale-crover-melvins-drummer-enjoys-living-la-quinta/9801212002/

At home with Dale Crover: Melvins drummer enjoys his status as a new La Quinta resident

BRIAN BLUESKYE   | Palm Springs Desert Sun

During a recent visit to Melvins drummer Dale Crover’s new home in a La Quinta gated community, the first thing I see as he opens the door is an electronic drum set.

There’s also a guitar amplifier and a keyboard, which he explained is for his two children. Crover also has a drum set in his garage. But how does his wife, Maureen Crover, feel about having one in the living room?

“She’s like, ‘There can be a drum set in here if it’s a cute old Gretsch drum set,’” Crover said. “She’s not happy, but my daughter will come out and play it, and it’s cool to get (the children) interested in that, and we can jam together.”

Crover joined Melvins in 1984 and also played with Nirvana in 1988 and 1990.

Melvins has a unique sludgy psychedelic sound that puts the group somewhere between hard rock and metal featured on all its albums since the band's 1987 debut “Gluey Porch Treatments.” Atlantic Records signed the trio in 1993, the same year the musicians released their fifth record, “Houdini,” which sold over 100,000 copies. The following albums “Stoner Witch” and “Stag” didn’t do as well. Almost all of the group’s releases since 1999 have been released on Ipecac Recordings.

In August 2021, the Crover family moved from their home in the Eagle Rock neighborhood of Los Angeles, a few blocks away from where singer-songwriter Billie Eilish lives, to La Quinta for reasons such as COVID-19 and the current real estate market. Maureen is also a Palm Desert native, and the family has spent every major holiday in the area for the past 23 years.

“Maybe we should have done moved a long time because it would have been better when the kids were younger,” Crover said. “They were okay with leaving their friends. We had one bathroom for four of us and one thing we told our daughter was ‘You can have your own bathroom if we move’ and she’s like ‘OK, sounds good.’

Crover has been aware of the desert music scene's history for a while now, and even contributed to it through a few performances. In his now-home of La Quinta, he shops at Finders Keepers Records, and in the high desert, he has played several shows at Pappy and Harriet’s. He’s never played the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, but attended once in 2003 to see a reunited Iggy Pop and the Stooges.

On June 16, Melvins will perform at Pappy and Harriet’s with Helms Alee and Harsh Mellow.

One activity Crover enjoys since moving to the area is golf. He recently played at The Golf Club At Terra Lago and Indio Municipal Golf Course, and told a story about how he and bandmate Buzz Osborne played a round at a Los Angeles course with Afghan Whigs frontman Greg Dulli, who didn’t recognize the duo at first.


Melvins band members Dale Crover (left), Buzz Osborne (center) and Steve McDonald (right).
BRIAN BLUESKYE/THE DESERT SUN

“Buzz is really good, but I’m not very good and have a high handicap,” Crover said. “There’s so many golf courses out here and I’ve barely scratched the surface. Some places you look at, it doesn’t seem real. I’m looking at the mountains around here and everything looks like it’s on another planet.”

What Crover lacks in his golf score he makes up for in his rock ‘n’ roll resume, which includes playing in the early years of the band Nirvana.

Growing up in the same town as Kurt Cobain
The town of Aberdeen, Washington on the Olympic Peninsula was an epicenter for the fishing, timber and tourism industries in the late 19th century. It’s also labeled the “Hellhole of the Pacific” because of its past in the early 1900s as a haven for gambling, prostitution and murder. Starting in 1910, a bartender named Billy Gohl began murdering sailors and throwing their bodies into the Wishkah River.

The town never recovered from the financial hit of the Great Depression, and the 2020 documentary “The River” examines the many homeless encampments in the city.

Aberdeen is also where musicians such as Crover, Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain and Pansy Division bassist Chris Freeman grew up. Joining Melvins in 1984 would eventually provide a ticket out.

“There wasn’t a lot to do besides play music and normal teenage stuff like looking for a way to get some beers,” Crover said. “I think (playing in a band) saved me and got me out of there. We used to come home from school, rehearse for hours and maybe play one gig every couple of months.”


Melvins drummer Dale Crover in his La Quinta, Calif., home on May 18, 2022.
BRIAN BLUESKYE/THE DESERT SUN

Crover said many people he grew up with married, had children and never left the area. He struggled when asked what career options there would have been if music or getting out of the area wasn’t an option.

“A crap job. Managing the Taco Bell or something,” Crover said. “I would have figured something out and gotten out eventually because there’s not much going on there.”

It took some time before the music paid off. Melvins didn’t realize what was in store for bands in proximity to the Seattle music scene during the late ’80s and early ’90s.

Nirvana went through several drummers during its early years. Crover first joined in 1988 to record a 10-song demo and joined again for a 1990 tour as the opening act for Sonic Youth. Some of the demo material featuring Crover is included on Nirvana's 2004 box set "With the Lights Out" and 2005 compilation "Sliver: The Best of the Box." A 1988 video of Crover performing with the group in a RadioShack store in Aberdeen is available on YouTube.

Drummer Dave Grohl joined Nirvana in 1990 right before recording sessions began for “Nevermind,” which would launch the group into the mainstream. Crover said the band “needed a drummer like Dave.”

“My only regret is they told me they would probably use me for ‘Nevermind,’ but it all worked out,” Crover said.

But Nirvana’s success provided other bands with opportunities.

Melvins performed on Lollapalooza while the event was still a traveling festival in 1996 and Ozzfest tour in 1998 after headliner Tool and its frontman Maynard James Keenan demanded the band be added to the roster of acts that also included Limp Bizkit, Megadeth and System of a Down.

"Tool said they wanted to bring a band they liked,'" Crover said. "Ozzfest said 'OK, well you have to pay them' and Tool said 'No, you have to pay them.' They both paid us. The guys were nice enough to let us ride on their bus and took care of our gear. Other bands are rarely like that."

Making it without a manager
Melvins finished a two-month tour with the industrial metal band Ministry in April, and the bandmates are heading out again for a month on their own in June. Crover said it felt “weird” going on the road again after being off for two years because of the COVID-19 pandemic but said it felt “normal” after two weeks.

Part of Melvins’ success is because of the group's independence — and the absence of a manager. Osborne does most of the tour planning and tries to avoid long drives between dates. He keeps overhead costs down by asking for the food money venues provide for backstage riders to purchase their own meals from Whole Foods Market or nearby restaurants. But one expense hit the group hard during its previous tour.

“We were spending so much money on gas,” Crover said. “(Ministry) had this tour booked a couple years ago and tried to salvage some dates and I think that’s how they did the routing. The first show was Columbus, Ohio, then Pittsburgh, then back to Cincinnati and it was back and forth. At one point it went from Houston to Chicago, then Cleveland, Milwaukee, Detroit and St. Paul.”


Melvins drummer Dale Crover plays a drum set in the living room of his La Quinta, Calif., home on May 18, 2022.
BRIAN BLUESKYE/THE DESERT SUN

Tour buses, which are an enormous expense even for mainstream touring acts, have never appealed to Melvins.

“Sometimes bands get a taste of having a bus and the big rock star thing, and when that doesn’t go well for them, they can’t go back and tour like we do,” Crover said.

Melvins don’t get too many offers for festivals, but have played some in the past. Crover said while the paydays for festivals are better, there are drawbacks, such as being rushed to put equipment on and off stage and sound issues, which he remembers happening while playing in the supergroup Fantômas with Osborne and Faith No More frontman Mike Patton.

“I remember we were setting up, the sound people were confused about everything and trying to get anything in the (sound) monitors was chaos,” Crover said. “It was disastrous because there was something going on with Mike’s gear, but we got paid a ton of money.”

Interest in Melvins has been growing over the years as music lovers have discovered the band for the first time or rediscovered its music years later. Crover said most bands have fans of the same age demographic, but every two years, he and his bandmates see younger people coming to shows.

Crover enjoys a cult status among music lovers, but few local residents have recognized him in public.

“I finally told (the next-door neighbor),” Crover said. “We were getting ready to leave on tour, had the van outside and I told him I was taking off. He was like, ‘What? My sister really likes you guys and is going to see you in Austin, Texas.’ It’s better than having neighbors that don’t talk to you or keep to themselves.”

When asked if Crover enjoys living in a gated community, he said it’s “weird” but in a good way.

“Once we first got in here, we’d drive by and everyone waved,” Crover said. "Everybody’s really nice. I’ve met a few other people in here and my wife’s cousin is in here too."

Brian Blueskye covers arts and entertainment for the Desert Sun. He can be reached at brian.blueskye@desertsun.com or on Twitter at @bblueskye.

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[))))((((]

Funny how Dale looks like some kind of mafia boss sat there in that first photo!

[black stallion]

Thanks Butty

[Nizamark]

thanks for that. some good tidbits on the economics of their touring, which i've always been interested in. 

[Dumpster D]

just imagining Dale as a Taco Bell Manager, with Buzzo workin' the Grill:

huh-huh-huh, This like, sucks more than anything that has ever sucked before. Huh-huh.

Yea yea!!! it SUCKS!!! IT SUCKS!!! IT'S NOT FAIR DAMMIT!!! 



Dale is just a really nice guy.

[black stallion]

some good tidbits on the economics of their touring, which i've always been interested in.

my thought exactly

[amazonAMAZON]

just imagining Dale as a Taco Bell Manager, with Buzzo workin' the Grill:

I would hope Buzz would shout nonwords to the kitchen as he takes your order.

Guest: two bean and cheese burritos...

Buzz: Like steel moanin' Ludlow!

Guest: and, uh, a Mexican pizza with no tomato

Buzz: I can low like a hundred well dole, mm!

[vince furnier]

just imagining Dale as a Taco Bell Manager, with Buzzo workin' the Grill:

I would hope Buzz would shout nonwords to the kitchen as he takes your order.

Guest: two bean and cheese burritos...

Buzz: Like steel moanin' Ludlow!

Guest: and, uh, a Mexican pizza with no tomato

Buzz: I can low like a hundred well dole, mm!

https://youtu.be/w93VCLyOvB0

[dead mike]

At home with Dale Crover: Melvins drummer enjoys his status as a new La Quinta resident

When I read this headline, I thought maybe he was having trouble with the missus and was living in a motel now.

[spunkmonkey]

My wife’s first job out of college was at the Desert Sun.

[black stallion]

https://www.spreaker.com/user/heavy/melvins-dale-crover-interview