Steven Jay Shelley (born June 23, 1962) is an American drummer. He is best known as the longtime drummer of the

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from mainstream or commerci ...

band Sonic Youth, for whom he played from 1985 until their 2011 disbandment.

Biography

Shelley was born in

Midland, Michigan Midland is a city in and the county seat of Midland County, Michigan. The city's population was 42,547 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Midland Micropolitan Statistical Area, part of the larger Saginaw-Midland-Bay City Com ...

and played in several mid-Michigan bands, including Faith and Morals and Strange Fruit, and was among the original lineup of the punk band The Crucifucks. Since 1985, he has performed with the

noise rock Noise rock (sometimes called noise punk) is a noise-oriented style of experimental rock that spun off from punk rock in the 1980s. Drawing on movements such as minimalism, industrial music, and New York hardcore, artists indulge in extre ...

band Sonic Youth, when he replaced

Bob Bert Robert Bertelli, better known as Bob Bert, is an American rock drummer. Biography Based in Hoboken, New Jersey, Bert initially came to prominence as drummer for the experimental rock band Sonic Youth during the early to mid-1980s. Bert pla ...

. After leaving the Crucifucks, he moved to

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

with a friend, living in the apartment of Sonic Youth's

Thurston Moore Thurston Joseph Moore (born July 25, 1958) is an American musician best known as a member of Sonic Youth. He has also participated in many solo and group collaborations outside Sonic Youth, as well as running the Ecstatic Peace! record label. Mo ...

and

Kim Gordon Kim Althea Gordon (born April 28, 1953) is an American musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the bassist, guitarist, and vocalist of alternative rock band Sonic Youth. Born in Rochester, New York, she was raised in Los Angeles, Califor ...

for dog sitting purposes while the band was in Europe. When the band returned, former drummer Bob Bert had left the band, and they hired Shelley as their drummer without an audition. In 1992 he founded the independent record label

Smells Like Records Smells Like Records is an independent record label based in Hoboken, New Jersey, formed by Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley in 1993. Groups that have recorded under the label include Blonde Redhead, Cat Power, The Raincoats, and The Rondelles. T ...

, based in

Hoboken, New Jersey Hoboken ( ; Unami: ') is a city in Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 60,417. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 58,690 i ...

. Along with friend and

Two Dollar Guitar 2 (two) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 1 and preceding 3. It is the smallest and only even prime number. Because it forms the basis of a duality, it has religious and spiritual significance in many cultur ...

musician Tim Foljahn, he helped advance Cat Power's musical career, serving as drummer on her first three albums. He also produced

Blonde Redhead Blonde Redhead is an American alternative rock band composed of Kazu Makino (vocals, keys/rhythm guitar) and twin brothers Simone and Amedeo Pace (drums/keys and lead guitar/bass/keys/vocals, respectively) that formed in New York City in 1993. ...

's debut self-titled album in 1995 and Cat Power's ''What Would the Community Think?'' in 1996. Steve was able to track down

Lee Hazlewood Barton Lee Hazlewood (July 9, 1929 – August 4, 2007) was an American country and pop singer, songwriter, and record producer, most widely known for his work with guitarist Duane Eddy during the late 1950s and singer Nancy Sinatra in the 1960 ...

in 1997 and secure permission to reissue five of the finest titles of the Hazlewood back catalog.

also released a collection of standards recorded in 1997, which was the first new recording from Hazlewood released domestically in nearly two decades. In 1998 Shelley played on the soundtrack of the film ''

Velvet Goldmine ''Velvet Goldmine'' is a 1998 musical drama film written and directed by Todd Haynes from a story by Haynes and James Lyons. It is set in Britain during the glam rock days of the early 1970s, and tells the story of fictional bisexual pop star ...

'' as a member of

Wylde Ratttz Wylde Ratttz were an American punk rock supergroup. Composed of Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore and Steve Shelley, Ron Asheton (The Stooges), Don Fleming ( Gumball), bassist Mike Watt (Minutemen), Jim Dunbar, and Mark Arm (Mudhoney) the band prov ...

, along with

The Stooges The Stooges, originally billed as the Psychedelic Stooges, also known as Iggy and the Stooges, was an American rock band formed in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1967 by singer Iggy Pop, guitarist Ron Asheton, drummer Scott Asheton, and bassist Da ...

Ron Asheton Ronald Franklin Asheton (July 17, 1948 – c. January 6, 2009) was an American musician , who was best known as the guitarist, bassist, and co-songwriter for the rock band the Stooges. He formed the Stooges along with Iggy Pop and his brother, ...

, Mike Watt, Don Fleming,

Mark Arm Mark Arm (born Mark Thomas McLaughlin; February 21, 1962) is an American singer and songwriter, best known as the vocalist for the grunge band Mudhoney. His former group, Green River, was one of the first grunge bands, along with Malfunkshun, ...

of Mudhoney and Jim Dunbar. Other significant work away from Sonic Youth includes recording and performing with an array of artists such as

Christina Rosenvinge Christina Rosenvinge Hepworth (born 29 May 1964) is a Spanish singer. A veteran of the music industry with a career spanning more than thirty years she was a member of the Spanish groups Alex y Christina and Christina y Los Subterráneos, whic ...

Chris Lee
John Wolfington
Michael Powers

Michael Rother Michael Rother (born 2 September 1950) is a German experimental musician, best known for being a founding member of the influential bands Neu! and Harmonia, and an early member of the band Kraftwerk. Early life and education Born in 1950, ...

Howe Gelb Howe Gelb (born October 22, 1956, in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania) is an American singer-songwriter, musician and record producer based in Tucson, Arizona. Projects Gelb's approach to music is collaborative and he has recorded with a number of s ...

, and

Enrique Morente Enrique Morente Cotelo (25 December 1942 – 13 December 2010), known as Enrique Morente, was a flamenco singer (in Spanish, cantaor) and a celebrated figure within the world of contemporary flamenco. After his orthodox beginnings, he plunged in ...

. In 2007, Shelley recorded a number of tracks for the

I'm Not There ''I'm Not There'' is a 2007 musical drama film directed by Todd Haynes, and co-written by Haynes and Oren Moverman. It is an unconventional biographical film inspired by the life and music of American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. Six actors de ...

soundtrack with a supergroup called The Million Dollar Bashers, featuring

Lee Ranaldo Lee Mark Ranaldo (born February 3, 1956) is an American musician, singer-songwriter, guitarist, writer, visual artist and record producer, best known as a co-founder of the alternative rock band Sonic Youth (guitar and vocals). In 2004, ''Rolling ...

Wilco Wilco is an American alternative rock band based in Chicago, Illinois. The band was formed in 1994 by the remaining members of alternative country group Uncle Tupelo following singer Jay Farrar's departure. Wilco's lineup changed frequently d ...

guitarist

Nels Cline Nels Courtney Cline (born January 4, 1956) is an American guitarist and composer. He has been the guitarist for the band Wilco since 2004. In the 1980s he played jazz, often in collaboration with his twin brother Alex, a percussionist. He has w ...

Television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

guitarist

Tom Verlaine Tom Verlaine (born Thomas Miller, December 13, 1949) is an American singer, guitarist and songwriter, best known as the frontman of the New York City rock band Television. Biography Verlaine was born Thomas Miller in Denville, New Jersey and ...

, Dylan bassist Tony Garnier, guitarist

Smokey Hormel Smokey Hormel (born circa 1959)Cohen (2017) quotes Hormel as saying he was "4 or 5 ears old when "I Want to Hold Your Hand" by The Beatles was "a big hit on the radio"; the song was released in America in December 1963. is an American guitarist ...

and keyboardist

John Medeski Anthony John Medeski (born June 28, 1965) is an American jazz keyboard player and composer. Medeski is a veteran of New York's 1990s avant-garde jazz scene and is known popularly as a member of Medeski Martin & Wood. He plays the acoustic piano ...

. In February 2009, Shelley spent a weekend in Chicago recording with Chris Connelly,

Sanford Parker Sanford may refer to: People *Sanford (given name), including a list of people with the name * Sanford (surname), including a list of people with the name Places United States * Sanford, Alabama, a town in Covington County * Sanford, Colorado ...

, and Jeremy Lemos. The results of this collaboration were released under the moniker The High Confessions by Relapse Records on July 20, 2010. In 2010, Michael Rother played shows in Europe with Shelley and Tall Firs guitarist Aaron Mullan as Halogallo 2010. This group performs music "in the spirit of"

NEU! Neu! (; German for "New!"; styled in block capitals) were a West German krautrock band formed in Düsseldorf in 1971 by Klaus Dinger and Michael Rother following their departure from Kraftwerk. The group's albums were produced by Conny Plan ...

including some tracks by

Harmonia In Greek mythology, Harmonia (; grc, Ἁρμονία /Ancient Greek phonology, harmoˈnia/, "harmony", "agreement") is the immortal goddess of harmony and concord. Her Rome, Roman counterpart is Concordia (mythology), Concordia. Her Greek op ...

and from Michael Rother's solo albums. Other 2010 concert dates included the ATP New York 2010 music festival in Monticello, New York and Incubate 2010 in

Tilburg Tilburg () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, in the southern province of North Brabant. With a population of 222,601 (1 July 2021), it is the second-largest city or municipality in North Brabant after Eindhoven and the seventh-larg ...

, Netherlands. His enthusiasm for the music of

Daniel Johnston Daniel Dale Johnston (January 22, 1961 – September 11, 2019) was an American singer, musician and artist regarded as a significant figure in outsider, lo-fi, and alternative music scenes. Most of his work consisted of cassettes recorded a ...

and

Townes Van Zandt John Townes Van Zandt (March 7, 1944 – January 1, 1997) was an American singer-songwriter.

led to his appearances in the documentaries ''

The Devil and Daniel Johnston ''The Devil and Daniel Johnston'' is a 2005 documentary film about American musician Daniel Johnston. It chronicles Johnston's life from childhood up to the present, with an emphasis on his experiences with bipolar disorder, and how it manifested ...

'' and ''

Be Here to Love Me ''Be Here To Love Me: A Film About Townes Van Zandt'' is a 2004 documentary film directed by Margaret Brown which chronicles the often turbulent life of American singer-songwriter Townes Van Zandt. The film includes interviews of Van Zandt's imme ...

''. Shelley is also in charge of operating Sonic Youth's own record labels, SYR and Goofin'. In 2010, he started a new label called Vampire Blues whose inaugural release was a 7" by

Hallogallo 2010 ''Neu!'' is the debut album by German krautrock band Neu!. It was released in 1972 by Brain Records. It was the first album recorded by the duo of Michael Rother and Klaus Dinger after leaving Kraftwerk in 1971. They continued to work with pro ...

. In 2011 he joined

Disappears Disappears is an American rock band from Chicago, Illinois, United States, which formed in 2008. The band played a mixture of shoegaze, krautrock and garage rock. The band was formed by Brian Case (ex- 90 Day Men, The Ponys) and Graeme Gibson ...

. In 2012, he left the band due to scheduling conflicts. From 2014 to 2017, Shelley played the drums for Sun Kil Moon on the albums ''Benji'', ''

Universal Themes ''Universal Themes'' is the seventh studio album by American indie folk act Sun Kil Moon, released on June 2, 2015 on Caldo Verde Records. The album was preceded by the singles, "The Possum", "Garden of Lavender" and "Ali/Spinks 2", and features ...

'' and ''

Common as Light and Love Are Red Valleys of Blood ''Common as Light and Love Are Red Valleys of Blood'' is the eighth studio album by the American indie folk act Sun Kil Moon, self-produced by primary recording artist Mark Kozelek. The album was released on 17 February 2017 on Caldo Verde Record ...

''. He also toured with Sun Kil Moon on select 2015 dates.

Non-Sonic Youth discography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Shelley, Steve 1962 births Living people American male drummers American rock drummers American entertainment industry businesspeople Noise rock musicians Maracas players Musicians from Hoboken, New Jersey People from Midland, Michigan Sonic Youth members American punk rock drummers Record producers from Michigan Musicians from Michigan American alternative rock musicians 20th-century American drummers Dim Stars members