Great Forgotten Drummers In Rock Music

Ok maybe not quite forgotten when in comes to this site, but definitely to the general music public. One I've been listening to a lot lately is the great Tony Newman. Getting his start with Sounds Incorporated in the early sixties and also backing Gene Vincent, he's played with people like Jeff Beck, David Bowie, Donovan, Crystal Gayle, and The Everly Brothers just to name a few. He was also part of groups like May Blitz, Three Man Army, T.Rex and Boxer. Maybe not quite to the level of Aynsley Dunbar, but he became a very in demand drummer in the 1970's and beyond. Here's the very powerful Tony Newman with Three Man Army in 1974.

 

Mitch Mitchell from Hendrix's Experience, Bobby Colomby from BS&T, Reg Isodore from Robin Trower.

 

Prairie Prince of the Tubes, Rundgren, etc. Also, Dennis Bryon of the Bee Gees. You NEVER hear about him, and yet he is on millions of albums!


Dan

 

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Dennis Diken of The Smithereens......one of the best rock drummers out there.

 

Pep Perrine of the Bob Seger System


And of course, the great Corky Laing of Mountain

 

Slim Jim Phantom. The great rockabilly drummer of Stray Cats.

 

Mick Avory

 

Jimmy Carl Black - The Indian of the group.

 

Tony Thompson of Chic, Power Station, Let's Dance (David Bowie), Like a Virgin (Madonna). Great sound and talent

 

...and of course he was the drummer on XTC's Skylarking and Apple Venus Volumes 1 & 2. In an interview on Rundgren Radio, Andy Partridge described Prairie as one of his very favorite drummers.

He's an amazing drummer. I once saw him play three different shows in as many days - a production of Sgt. Pepper's, a private Arena show with Todd Rundgren and a show with The Tubes.

Another unsung Todd drummer is original Utopia drummer Kevin Ellman, who was cited by Neil Peart as an influence, particularly in his use of concert toms in a rock band.

 

Tony Brock of The Babys. He also played with Rod Stewart in the early eighties.

 

I miss Tony!


Dan

 

John Maher of the Buzzcocks. Listen to "Ever Fallen in Love" and you'll know what I mean.

 

Frankie LaRocka

Drummer in the David Johansen Group, and also played with Scandal, Bryan Adams and John Waite among others.

 

Duris Maxwell never seems to get any notice for some reason. You'd think a guy who has played with the likes of Little Daddy and the Bachelors, with Tommy Chong, The Chessmen, The Good Shepherds, Bobby Taylor and the Vancouvers, Jefferson Airplane, Skylark, Brahman, Genni Maxwell, Country Love, The Jim Byrnes Band which he formed and he played on Powder Blues, where his sound is very much a large part of their formula, Trooper, Money Talks album, Jerry Doucette Mama Let Him Play and even a track off of Heart Dreamboat Annie, might get some recognition. He also played with Jimi Hendrix one night in England and was asked to play in his band. The guy is really something to watch live.

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Brian Downey from Thin Lizzy. Unreal drummer.

 

Pete Best

 

Bob Bert of Sonic Youth and ***** Galore. Very creative and powerful drummer. He mounted an automobile gas tank atop his kick drum and used it as a normal drummer would their snare.

 

Stan Lynch from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Great player.

 

Another one of those solid drummers that played on a ton of things was Bobby Chouinard

 

Danny Mihm

 

Jim McCarty

 

Killer drummer, great choice!

 

Stephen Perkins / Jane's Addiction.