Spencer Dryden
| Spencer Dryden | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Background information | |
| Born |
April 7, 1938 New York City, United States |
| Died | January 11, 2005 (aged 66) Petaluma, California, United States |
| Genres | Psychedelic rock, acid rock, country rock, jazz |
| Occupation(s) | Musician |
| Instruments | Drums |
| Years active | 1966–1995 |
| Labels | RCA, BMG, Columbia |
| Associated acts | The Peanut Butter Conspiracy, Jefferson Airplane, New Riders of the Purple Sage, The Dinosaurs |
| Notable instruments | |
| Fibes Drums | |
Spencer Dryden (April 7, 1938 – January 11, 2005) was an American musician best known as drummer for Jefferson Airplane and New Riders of the Purple Sage. He also played with The Dinosaurs, and The Ashes (later known as The Peanut Butter Conspiracy).
Spencer Dryden was born in New York City to Alice Chapple (1911–2005), a ballet dancer with Anna Pavlova's dance company as well as a member of the Radio City Ballet Company and to George Dryden Wheeler Jr. (1892–1957), an English born American actor and director who was a half-brother of Charlie Chaplin. Dryden carefully concealed his relationship to his world-famous half-uncle, not wanting to be judged on his name.
While Dryden was an infant, his father went to work as an assistant director for Chaplin and the family moved to Los Angeles. His parents divorced in 1943, but Spencer fondly recalled playing at his famous uncle's Hollywood studio as a child. In the late 1940s Dryden became friends with jazz fan Lloyd Miller also born in 1938 and living down the street on Royal Boulevard in Rossmoyne in Glendale. Miller said they should start a band and encouraged Dryden to play drums. Since Dryden didn't have a drum set, Miller fashioned an instrument by thumb-tacking an old inner tube over a wooden barrel with no ends. Miller would pump his player piano, play cornet or clarinet and Dryden would bang out beats on the drum.
One day Lloyd walked up to the end of Royal to Spence's house and heard a full drum set which Spence had acquired and was playing Baby Dodd's solos to perfection even the difficult nerve sticks. Soon they had recruited trumpet player Buzz Leifer a Glendale High acquaintance of Spence's, a trombone player and a friend of Lloyd's Faith Jackson on piano and a banjo player. The band called the Smog City Six would rehearse in Lloyd's garage but soon his parents complained so they went on the road to appear on neighborhood lawns for short concerts until they had to flee from potential cops.
Soon they were a sought-after occurrence for their blitzkrieg lawn jams. Their final New Orleans jazz gig was for the spring festival at Miller's school Flintridge Prep after which Spence 'went modern' and began playing cool jazz in Hollywood and Los Angeles. Miller also added modern jazz to his styles and the two jammed a few more times at Miller's before losing contact.
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