Airplane Drummer Spencer Dryden
April 7, 1938 – January 11, 2004
Woodstock alum
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee
Sound clip: “A Small Package of Value Will Come To You, Shortly” from After Bathing At Baxter’s by Jefferson Airplane written by Dryden
Airplane Drummer Spencer Dryden
Not the first
Spencer Dryden was not the Jefferson Airplane’s first drummer. Spencer Dryden was not the Jefferson Airplane’s last drummer. But Spencer Dryden was the Airplane’s drummer.
Born in New York City, Dryden grew up in Los Angeles where his father often brought him to jazz clubs. Jazz was Dryden’s first love and drums his choice of instruments.
Airplane Drummer Spencer Dryden
Peanut Butter Conspiracy
Like many young musicians of the early 60s, the writing on the wall said Beatlemania rock and the emerging folk-rock was the writing on the wall and Dryden became part of the Ashes (later known as the Peanut Butter Conspiracy).
When Skip Spence (guitarist who played drums for the Airplane and guitar again for Moby Grape) left the Airplane to form Moby Grape, Dryden was asked to step in. When Dryden arrived in San Francisco he was surprised and accepting of the communal atmosphere he found in Haight-Ashbury.
Airplane Drummer Spencer Dryden
Skip Grace
Fortunately for the Airplane (and Dryden), they’d also lost their lead singer (Signe Toly Anderson) at the same and in came Grace Slick.
Dryden and Slick formed an unofficial pact that helped drive the Airplane’s musical direction. Along with the other members their first album together was 1967’s Surrealistic Pillow, one of the most famous and well-respected albums in rock.
Airplane Drummer Spencer Dryden
Spencer Dryden
The late 60s carried Dryden and the Airplane along for an amazing ride. The Monterey Pop Festival (1967) and both Woodstock Music and Art Fair and Altamont in 1969.
Here is the Airplane doing Somebody to Love from the sunrise serenade it provided that hazy Sunday morning in August 1969. Dryden’s drums highlight the song’s drive.
Airplane Drummer Spencer Dryden
Grounded
The pressures of success combined with the resources success provided hobbled Dryden. Unpredictable behavior led to difficulties with the band. The group “released” him in early 1970.
Dryden did not leave music. From the Airplane he joined the New Riders of the Purple Sage.
Airplane Drummer Spencer Dryden
Continued to be active
From All Music: “Dryden was enough of a fixture on the San Francisco scene that he was asked in to various combos of veteran Bay Area players during the ’80s, including the Dinosaurs, whose members included veterans of such bands as Country Joe & the Fish, Big Brother & the Holding Company, and the Quicksilver Messenger Service, and played on one of Barry Melton’s albums as well. He was the only member of the classic lineup not to participate in the Jefferson Airplane’s 1989 reunion tour and album, though he was present in 1996 for the group’s induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.”
Dryden died of colon cancer on January 11, 2004.
- Related link >>> Rolling Stone magazine article
- Related link >>> Jefferson Airplane site
