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.