Michael Shrieve – Meet Your Heroes & Move On

Posted on November 7, 2026 by Scott K Fish

SKF NOTE: Michael Shrieve was easy to interview. A very likable human being.

However, the Modern Drummer feature interview we were creating was not easy to finish. Before the internet, the lag time between when MD interviews happened and when they were published was often months.

Shrieve and I first met after he launched his pop group Novo Combo. I think we met three times to button up Shrieve’s MD interview. This interview took place in a NYC restaurant. Shrieve had been in-and-out of his group Automatic Man. Also, he was no longer with his amazing band, Go, with Stomu Yamashta, Al DiMeola, and others.

Michael Shrieve’s heart, it seemed to me during our interviews and private conversations circa 1981, was more comfortable with more experimental music. His music with percussionist/keyboard player Stomu Yamashta is a case in point.

Shrieve introduced me to music healing, and the relationship of sound to color.

And so, Michael and I would finish an interview, and the music project Shrieve was working on at the time would be replaced by a new project, prompting an amendment to our initial interview.

My Shrieve interview came out–finally–in the July 1983 Modern Drummer.

Posted in Audio, SKF Blog | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Smoky Dacus – Drum Pioneer

Posted on November 5, 2026 by Scott K Fish

SKF NOTE: In 1982, working on a five-part feature series for “Modern Drummer” magazine called “The History of Rock Drumming,” I spoke with Smokey Dacus, drummer with Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys, about that band’s western swing influence on the early rock-and-roll musicians like Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Roy Orbison; early rockers who very much built their music on a country music foundation.

During our interview I realized: Smoky Dacus is a pivotal drummer. A drum pioneer.

He was the first drummer to play in a country band.

Bandleader Bob Wills had the idea, in Smokey’s words, to add oomph to Wills’s fiddle band. “So he hired me,” says Smokey.

Smokey went from working in bands and orchestras where everything he played was written, to the Texas Playboys where nothing was written. How Smokey adapted is a key piece of drumming history.

In this clip from our interview, Dacus is telling me how he transitioned from a very good high school drummer, to being a sought-after drummer for dates in and around Tulsa, Oklahoma.

You can read the full transcript of Dacus’s interview on my blog starting at https://scottkfish.com/2015/08/10/smokey-dacus-pioneer-of-western-swing-drumming-pt-1/.

Thank you for listening. If you like my drummer research and writing, from the 1970s to the present, please consider supporting my work at https://scottkfish.com/thankyou

Posted in Audio, SKF Blog | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Freddie Gruber–Putting Quality American DW Drums on the Map

Posted on October 31, 2026 by Scott K Fish

SKF NOTE: This interview clip is respected drum teacher, Freddie Gruber, telling me how he and Don Lombardi co-founded DW Drums.

In preparing remarks to go along with this excerpt I am disappointed to find Gruber’s name missing from the origin stories, written and video, on the DW website.

You will hear me ask Freddie, during our “Modern Drummer” interview, “Do you want to talk about DW? How they got rolling? And your involvement with that?”

Gruber’s answer is fully in sync with the origin stories on DW’s website. Except here, Freddie’s in the founding story. On the DW website he’s not. https://www.dwdrums.com/stories/founders-feed/

This excerpt is from audiocassette Side B of my “Modern Drummer” Freddie Gruber interview. We were at Buddy Rich’s NYC apartment kitchen table. Buddy was not home, but I was in awe at being so close to Buddy’s presence.

Gruber’s students include Neil Peart, Steve Smith, Dave Weckl, Vinnie Colaiuta…and DW Founder Don Lombardi.

Gruber, a product of post-World War 2 NYC, is known by his peers of that era as a visionary jazz drummer. Perhaps the best example is drummer Jim Chapin’s description of Gruber’s drumming circa 1949:

Posted in Audio, SKF Blog | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Les DeMerle – Drum Tuning for All Occasions

Posted on October 27, 2026 by Scott K Fish

SKF NOTE: Les DeMerle‘s feature interview appeared in the October 1984 “Modern Drummer.” DeMerle was, and still is, an interesting musician maintaining a unique balance between the business and artistic sides of drumming.

Digital media has no doubt changed the equation. How much, I don’t know. But pre-digital, drummers who excelled at the business of music, like DeMerle, were rare.

As a drummer, DeMerle played all styles very well. Swing, Bebop, and Fusion. Small group, big band, backing a singer–DeMerle is your guy.

At one point, I said to DeMerle, “It’s intriguing that you can remain so active in concerts, in teaching, in clinics, in seminars, in recordings, and in other areas of the music business–-like owning and operating your own night club-–and still grow on your instrument. How do you find the time to do all that?”

DeMerle said, “You have to make time for it. I openly admit that I’m totally dedicated to drumming and to music. Never in my life have I had to do anything other than play drums to make a living,” adding, “In other words, I keep enough things going so that if one falls through, the other one happens.”

I taped this interview in one of the worst environments for taping interviews: a packed noisy restaurant somewhere on Long Island, NY.

But I was able to adjust the sound so our voices are easily understood.

This is DeMerle explaining how he tunes his drums for different settings. Live settings, studio setting, mikes vs no mikes.

Visit DeMerle’s website today and you will see he still excels at performing and business. https://www.lesdemerle.com/

Posted in Audio, SKF Blog | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Dave Weckl—Hand Technique (1983)

Posted on October 18, 2026 by Scott K Fish

SKFNOTE – August 5, 1983 I interviewed 23-year old Dave Weckl in his Bridgeport, CT apartment.

In 1983, no one else at Modern Drummer thought Weckl warranted a feature interview. The feature interview I argued for became a much shorter “Up and Coming” profile.

However, I saved the interview transcription I typed of the full interview. It is available on my blog here: https://tinyurl.com/4w23vxm3

In this clip from that 1983 interview, Weckl is answering my question about his hand technique. The finger control method he learned from Jim Peterczak, and his use of both traditional and matched grip.

Posted in Audio, SKF Blog | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment