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Dale W Miller

Why not start from his roots? Dale was brought up in the mostly upper middle class town and suburb of Philadelphia, Marlton, NJ. The occupations of his immediate family varied from being in warehouse management to being a factory worker, educator, university coach (Don Yonker, NSCAA Hall of Fame), carpenter, butcher (Miller's Grocery, Camden, NJ), farmer, engineer & prison guard and none were based in music.

Though no one was involved in the arts there was continuous support & this sense of rooted diversity has always pushed him towards wanting the same from the musical genres and relationships all of those different players. He tends to have an idealistic vision of every sincere act supporting, sharing and respecting what each artist brings to the world of music.

His development as a drummer and performer seems to continuously morph from one side of the music spectrum to the other. It was the early days of MTV when any band that made any sort of video or had recorded some live footage was played. All sorts of English bands were especially thrown at him and he sucked them all in with desire to listen to anything that came his way. From the sounds of 80's new wave and punk rock to classic bands such as Black Sabbath, Hendrix and the Beatles were in his roots.

As he matured into what some would say a musical snob, he found most music that is commercially viable to be contrived and boring. He has thought on many occasions how interchangeable most bands are. It is not just from time to time, but with in genres and songs even. Production and choice of instruments seem to establish a sound but many bands nursery rhyme melodies and lyrics make even the pop boy band seem as interchangeable with most post punk bands.

Local musicians seem to be his continuing education and source of inspiration. Some are even on a national level, but it seems those who do not have the pressures of major corporations looking to profit from them give a lot more memorable performances. Looking at his CD collection and most recent purchases of independent rock and free jazz it's hard to fathom the music he grew up listening to. It appears to him now that if it isn't dangerous, he can't enjoy it, yet he is proud of his past love of early MTV.

He has played with Tony Gordon, Blaise Siwula, Eyal Maoz, Jeffrey Hayden Shurdut, Chris Welcome, Jesse Dulman, Andrew Crenshaw, Witt Mills, Marc Steinberg, Dave Roth, Ellen McGrail