Scott K Fish

SKF NOTE: Author Joel Selvin’s biography, “Drums & Demons: The Tragic Journey of Jim Gordon,” is scheduled for release on February 27, 2024.

As stated in the “Drums & Demons” press release, Selvin wrote the book, “With full cooperation from the late Gordon’s family, and based on his trademark extensive, detailed research, Joel Selvin’s account is at once an epic journey through an artist’s monumental musical contributions, a rollicking history of rock drumming, and a terrifying downward spiral into unimaginable madness that Gordon fought a valiant but losing battle against. One of the great untold stories of rock is finally being told.”

Selvin interviewed me several months ago for “Drums & Demons.” Mostly he wanted to know how my Modern Drummer feature interview with Gordon came to pass. I was happy to talk by phone with Selvin; to tell my story and to answer his questions.

Last week I received an Advance Reader Copy (ARC) of “Drums & Demons.” I look forward to reading it, but, of course, the first thing I did was to flip through to the pages where I am mentioned.

My name is misspelled in one spot as “Scott L Fish,” not Scott K Fish.

On page 219, where Selvin writes about the conditions during my Gordon phone interview, “[Fish] had not reviewed Jim’s career or listened to any records.”

I wrote Selvin, thanked him for sending his book, and asking if he could correct my misspelled name.

Also, I asked him to consider rewriting what he wrote on page 219 because it is incorrect. At best, it gives readers the wrong impression.

I wrote Selvin, “It would be accurate to say, ‘Fish had not prepared to interview Gordon in the thorough way Fish normally prepared for Modern Drummer feature interviews.’

“Normally, before interviewing Gordon, I would have listened to everything he recorded, or as much of his recorded works as possible. And I would have read as much as possible, although there probably wasn’t much in print at the time. Maybe some liner notes,” I wrote Selvin.

He sent me an email reply graciously promising to make the corrections in “Drums & Demons” second printing.

That’s great.

Meanwhile, you can now order “Drums & Demons” for deliver when it is published in late February. Click here.

And you can listen to Jim Gordon’s full interview here: