Micky Underwood played drums with Ritchie Blackmore. Underwood took lessons with Jim Marshall, the man who is probably best known as founder of Marshall Amplification (electric guitar amplifiers).



Mick Underwood's musical career began because, in common with fledgling drummers everywhere, "as a kid I was always hitting things!" As a consequence of this, he was given a very old second-hand snare drum for his 14th birthday, and later a girlfriend at school said her father had an old bass drum he could have. As Mick elaborated, "None of this stuff was branded or much cop but to me it was great and I had a kit (of sorts)."



Blessed with supportive parents, Mick Underwood was treated to some lessons by the legendary Jim Marshall (now far more well-known as the inventor and manufacturer of the Marshall amp), but in those days, "he was teaching kids like Micky Waller, Mitch Mitchell and me how to hit things." Over time, with his enthusiasm undiminished, the quality of Mick's gear steadily improved, and by the time he had left school and started his professional career he had a pro-standard Premier kit.



He started out by getting together with other kids who also couldn't actually play, in the time-honoured tradition of trying to copy the hits of the day. As some started to improve at their chosen instrument, various line-ups were formed and the odd small gig was played here and there. Mick explained, "I met Ritchie Blackmore during this time, and he was far ahead of the rest [even] then." Finding that they got on well both personally and musically, it wasn't long before they were performing together in a band grandly called The Dominators, playing an assortment of smallish gigs. Alas, this promising partnership was abruptly terminated when Mick was fired for being too loud ("–even then!" he remarked ruefully).

Harvey Hinsley would later go on to great commercial success with Hot Chocolate, supplying the deliciously infectious riffs for classic songs like "You Sexy Thing" and "Everyone's A Winner".



However, Mick Underwood was soon asked to join The Satellites, who were somewhat more busy, and after a few more months he was then invited to join one of the area's top bands, The Crescents, who were playing residencies at large ballrooms, their huge popularity undoubtedly related to the presence of talented lead guitarist Harvey Hinsley. It was all great experience, allowing the young drummer to hone his chops even further.



Unfortunately this intensive gigging activity meant Mick Underwood's schoolwork suffered, mainly because he found himself nodding off over his books after being out pounding the drums the night before! Salvation came in the form of an offer he simply couldn't refuse, a chance to work with bassist Jet Harris, former member of the legendary Shadows. Leaving school just before his seventeenth birthday, Mick never looked back.



To his immense excitement, Mick Underwood found himself touring all over Britain with the likes of Sam Cooke and Little Richard. Despite a complete lack of professional experience, it was a gig he took on with enthusiasm and gusto, learning a great deal, and very quickly. However, it only lasted a few months, and Mick lost no time in looking for something new. He went to a Screaming Lord Sutch gig, looking for a lead, whereupon Sutch helpfully suggested he approach independent record producer Joe Meek.



Mick Underwood's timing was perfect. Meek's protegés The Outlaws, not only highly-regarded sessionmen, but also established recording artists in their own right, had been reduced to just two members, bass player Chas Hodges and guitarist Ken Lundgren, and they needed a drummer. So Mick headed off to Meek's studio, R.G.M. Sound, in the Holloway Road, North London, to meet them. "We had a bit of a jam and I was asked to join... then they said they also wanted a lead guitarist, did I know anyone who might be interested?"



It's now a matter of rock history that Mick Underwood lost no time in phoning his mate Ritchie (then known as "Ricky" – it was Meek himself who suggested the change in moniker) Blackmore, and the two of them discussed the possibilities: being a part of Meek's house band at R.G.M., lots of recording sessions, including recording their own singles, and, of course, lots of gigs! So ultimately the boys made the kind of pact that any pair of eager seventeen-year-olds would: "I'll do it if you'll do it!"

The Outlaws, feat. Mick Underwood



What followed was an exciting period indeed. As well as playing on hundreds of Meek's recording sessions with numerous artistés, The Outlaws recorded four singles of their own during this time. As Mick Underwood recalled, "We were doing five or six sessions a day. We'd start around ten and finish at seven in the evening, while Meek wheeled them in and out!" They were also in great demand as a backing band both in the UK and on the continent, and in fact headlined at the Star Club in Hamburg on separate occasions with both Jerry Lee Lewis and Gene Vincent. This was also the line-up that appeared in the 1964 film "Live It Up!", performing their single Law & Order. Their final single, regarded by John Peel as "the first ever heavy metal guitar record," was the raucous Keep a Knockin'.



After about eighteen months however, the band started to get less session work with Meek, as the producer had decided to concentrate his energies on blond bombshell Heinz Bert. Though The Outlaws had backed Heinz on numerous sessions, they declined to perform live with him. Ritchie, however, made the decision to move on, joining Heinz' backing band The Wild Boys, so Mick called up Harvey Hinsley, who ably stepped into the breech for the remaining 12 months or so of the bands' existance. Remaining good friends though, Ritchie still participated with his old bandmates in recording sessions with Meek's engineer Derek Lawrence, who produced his own sessions on the side, targeting the lucrative US market with his output.



Eagle-eyed viewers of Live It Up! will spot the name "Mike" written across the bass drum during The Outlaws' appearance in the film, but unlike his mate Ricky, Mick stuck to his own favoured nickname, and the name change did not stick.

One of the Derek Lawrence sessions would result in Ritchie Blackmore's first official release, the now highly sought after 7" "Get Away / Little Brown Jug".



As Meek himself had recognised, the pop world was rapidly changing, spearheaded by the rapid rise of Merseybeat and the R&B boom. Work for instrumental bands like The Outlaws was diminishing accordingly, and by his own admission, Mick himself was getting a bit tired of the "old rock stuff". Just as he was starting to think about casting around for something new, the decision was made for him. "I got a call from a band called The Herd who were busy, and more importantly playing the R&B that I like."



After a stint in Heads, Hands & Feet in the early seventies, Chas Hodges would become half of novelty pop duo Chas and Dave, who are still performing today.



Though he'd never even heard of the band when they called him up out of the blue, Mick Underwood readily accepted the gig on hearing that they were short of a drummer and needed a replacement at short notice. As he explained, "I played their show and really liked what they were doing - good R&B, played well, to an enthusiastic audience." He found it fresh, new and exciting, so when they asked him to join the band, he jumped at the opportunity.



The rest of the line-up was initially Terry Clark on vocals, Andy Bown on bass, and Gary Taylor on guitar, but before too long Andy moved to the Hammond organ, and bassist Louis Cennamo came on board. The band's popularity was such that they were playing at all the major venues on the circuit, such as the Marquee Club and Eel Pie Island. One night in particular stands out in Mick's mind. Sitting in the van after the gig, they were approached by Jeff Beck, and they had a long and friendly chat with the normally infamously taciturn guitarist about his burning passion, the blues.



As a member of The Tridents, Jeff Beck was a regular at Eel Pie Island, one of the premier music venues on the live circuit. Louis Cennamo was later to join Steamhammer, performing on their final album, the critically acclaimed "Speech". Andy Bown would spend time as a session musician before becoming a member of Status Quo, with whom he still plays. Peter Frampton would ultimately go on to become one of the highest grossing solo artists of the seventies with his album "Frampton Comes Alive".



The Herd continued their busy gigging schedule all around the country, even finding time to record a couple of singles, which, however, did nothing in the charts, despite their live following. Terry left, to be replaced by probably the band's most well-known member, Peter Frampton, and with Louis' subsequent departure, Gary moved over to the bass.



Mick Underwood began to feel increasingly frustrated by the band's lack of progress, and after a bit of soul-searching, decided not only to quit the band, but to give up the music business as well. (The Herd would go on to score a couple of big hits after he had left, before imploding under the intense media focus on Frampton as a highly marketable teeny-bopper pin-up.)



Suffering badly from burnout, Mick Underwood decided to venture out into the real world for a while, and took a job in The City. Finding the working hours long and the money poor, he nevertheless stuck it out for an entire year without even picking up a drumstick, but the urge to start playing again ultimately and inevitably returned.



Mick Underwood started jamming with Harvey Hinsley and Terry Clark, slowly regaining his chops, until the fateful day he got a call from an old friend, singer James Royal, looking for a drummer to do a two week stint at a very trendy club called Hatchets in London's West End. Mick didn't even hesitate, immediately chucking in his day job, ready to give it another whirl. As he related, "The keyboard player in the band was Peter Robinson, and the die was cast for some future fun."



After the band's London residency finished, they headed off on a tour with Johnny Cash. Also on the tour were Johnny's wife June, Carl Perkins and the Tennessee Three. Mick Underwood remembers being welcomed with open arms into the family for the duration of the tour, and has nothing but fond memories of that time.



Relaxing at the bar after an afternoon film shoot, and his final gig with the James Royal Set, Mick Underwood got to chatting with Peter Grant, then Terry Reid's manager. Mick had gotten to know Grant very well when he was tour manager for Gene Vincent, back when The Outlaws had performed as his backing band. During the course of the conversation, Grant revealed that he was working with guitarist Jimmy Page on a new Yardbirds project, and was on the lookout for musicians to fulfil a commitment for some gigs in Scandinavia - was Mick interested?



As fate would have it, while he was still considering the offer, Mick Underwood got a call from Gloria Bristow, manager of a band called Episode Six. After some friction with their then drummer, John Kerrison, he had decided to leave the group, and they were looking for a replacement. Episode Six were already a well-established pop band, with "great singers throughout," had a recording contract, played regular radio sessions and in fact were featured live on the BBC's Radio 1 Club a record eight times.



On paper at least, this looked like the more lucrative gig to take on, so Mick rang Peter Grant back and let him know he wasn't available, one of those seemingly simple decisions which in hindsight one might choose to change, for Grant's new band would of course become the mighty juggernaut Led Zeppelin.



Roger Glover, bass player for Episode Six, said about their new drummer: "Mick represented a step up for us because he had been around in other bands. The Herd had one fairly big hit so it was as if we had been connected with success."



Furthermore, Mick's arrival in the band coincided with the general trend in pop music towards a heavier sound, to which the band's response was "to turn the amps up louder and continue to play the old mix of pop songs, West Coast songs, comedy turns and originals." The main focus of Episode Six's show was, of course, their theatrical showmanship and their rich vocal harmonies, since everybody (bar the drummer) sang! As well as Roger and Mick, the line-up comprised Sheila Carter (keyboards and vocals), Graham Carter (guitar and vocals), Tony Lander (lead guitar and vocals), and one Ian Gillan (vocals and keyboards).



With Mick Underwood onboard, Episode Six continued its busy round of gigs on the college and ballroom circuit, as well as numerous BBC sessions, and even recorded a couple of singles. In particular, Tony Lander's rousing composition "Mozart versus The Rest" got such a great audience response when it was performed on the radio that it was rush-released as a single in February 1969. Alas, its steady but unremarkable sales did not result in the chart hit the band had hoped for.



While still mulling over the situation, Mick got a phone call out of the blue from Ritchie Blackmore. Fresh from chart success in the US but virtually unknown in the UK, Deep Purple were looking to crack their home market, and they were searching for a new lead singer to do it with. As Episode Six were on the radio the following day, Mick suggested that Ritchie have a listen. Sufficiently impressed, shortly afterwards Ritchie and Jon Lord came to a gig to check out in person the singer they had heard on the radio, and before long had offered the job to Ian Gillan. Unexpectedly, they also invited Roger Glover to join the band, which was a shock for Mick and bad news for his good mate Nick Simper, then bass player with Deep Purple.



With the departure of Gillan and Glover, two new members were brought into the band. Manager Gloria Bristow knew bassist John Gustafson, and Mick himself suggested Peter Robinson. He can't remember if that line-up went so far as to play any gigs, as it seemed that the upheaval was too much for the band. However, during rehearsals, it became apparent to John, Peter and Mick that there was a strong musical chemistry between the three of them. With Episode Six in disarray, it seemed to be the right moment to break out on their own, forming a band which they called Quatermass, while retaining the hard-working Gloria as their manager.



Newly energised, the trio worked hard to get Quatermass into shape, with both John and Peter contributing self-penned material which they speedily worked into their live set. On Mick's part, it was the first time in his career he was an equal partner in a band, rather than merely a "hired gun", and he took on the challenge with relish. As he explained, Quatermass were "very much a band that took a song and used it as a vehicle for improvisation. We did, however, have reference points along the way, and always gave the song the importance it deserved."



The band performed some gigs and a few showcases and the response was very positive, so much so that they were soon offered a recording contract with George Martin's Air London company. The Quatermass experiment had begun!



The band quickly started putting together material for their first album. A great deal was taken straight out of their live set, though the sheer breadth of it meant that they had to cut it back to the bare bones in order to fit it onto the album! As well as their own material, the band included a number of songs by fellow musician Steve Hammond. The recording company found them a Swedish producer by the name of Anders Henricksson, and studio time was booked, with the majority of recording being carried out at E.M.I.'s Abbey Road studios.



The band's eponymous album was released on E.M.I.'s specialty progressive label Harvest, with a distinctive and striking gatefold sleeve by Hipgnosis, featuring a flock of pterodactyls superimposed against an endless expanse of skyscraper. All the signs were good, and Quatermass embarked on a busy schedule of European tours, with performances on radio and television to coincide with the release of the album in various countries. Live, the band were getting great reactions from their audiences, but behind the scenes, there were worrying signs.



This was brought home in painful clarity to the band during their subsequent tour of the US. They were booked into major breaking venues, including the Fillmores East and West, the Whiskey in LA and many more important ones inbetween. However, the lack of sufficient financial backing for a tour of this magnitude put the band in an almost untenable situation. Having to get an advance from the promoters at a lot of the venues before they could even pick up their gear from the airport made them look a shambles. It was probably only dogged determination and the overwhelmingly positive audience reaction they were receiving which kept them going, but the experience had taken its toll.



Disspirited by the turn of events, the band returned to the UK to commence work on their second album. However, during the early stages of recording, in Mick's own words, "it all got very weird." The album was shelved, and to all intents and purposes, Quatermass ceased to exist.



Reflecting back on those days, Mick Underwood commented, "I found John and Pete fantastically inspirational. For me it was a highly developing period and a real joy."



After the untimely demise of Quatermass, Mick heard on the grapevine that Paul Rodgers was looking to form a new band after Free had abruptly and acrimoniously split up. He had always admired Paul's singing, and the lure of the blues connection was irresistable. Though they didn't personally know one another at the time, Mick was able to make contact, and was invited down to Paul's house in Guildford, where he, Paul and bass player Stuart McDonald jammed for a while and decided that the project was a goer. Thus the trio Peace was born.



They spent several weeks at Paul's country house rehearsing in the attached barn. As Mick Underwood recalled, "It was a great summer, and just listening to that voice, with an acoustic guitar and a new song, was magic."



The Island Recording Company took care of the business side of things, and owner Chris Blackwell himself produced some of their recordings at Island's Basing Street studios. They made a good start on material for a debut album, and toured the UK playing support for Mott The Hoople and getting a very positive audience reaction, but it all unraveled when Paul succumbed to the inevidable and Free reformed, less than a year later. Unwilling to lose the momentum, Mick Underwood lost no time in gathering together some good musos and forming a band of his own, one which was nameless until hurriedly christened Sammy after a dog present at their photo shoot! As Mick explained, "We were desperate for a name, and had about 5 seconds to come up with one," though he readily admits to never much liking it.



An old hand now at how it all worked, Mick Underwood quickly organised a management deal for the band, and a recording contract soon followed. Sammy were soon out on the road and busy gigging.



Calling on his old mate Ian Gillan to produce their first single, Mick and the band subsequently spent a week in the country rehearsing their first album, but recorded the whole thing in a single marathon 72-hour session at one of the very same studios used by Quatermass. "The floor was moving for me at the end of that session," Mick remembered. "NOT the way to get good performances, and we didn't."



Naturally enough, given the haste with which it was all put together, Mick Underwood wasn't entirely happy with the finished product, and not unsurprisingly, Sammy achieved very little airplay. Before too long, increasingly uncomfortable with the band's lightweight musical direction and the unrewarding slog of gigging on the college circuit, Mick decided it was a good time to go back to being a "hired gun". On quitting the band, he plunged back into session work, and what followed was a fairly busy period of recording sessions, gigging, and a long US tour with a singer-songwriter.



A little further along the way, Mick Underwood met up with an Australian singer-guitarist called Ross Stagg. Mick thought that Stagg had "some good songs, and some pretty wild ideas!" as well as a female manager with excellent connections. They cast around for some more players and soon came up with "a fine bass player in Joe Reed and a total loony in Noel Scott on keys." The band Strapps was about to bravely venture forth, just as the UK was embracing one of its most extreme musical periods yet - punk!



Strapps went into a period of prolonged rehearsal before eventually being signed up to E.M.I.'s Harvest label, and subsequently recorded their first album at Ian Gillan's Kingsway Recorders studio. The Episode Six / Deep Purple connections didn't stop there either, for it was none other than Roger Glover occupying the producer's chair, resulting in the release of the band's eponymous debut album in 1976.



All went precisely according to plan, and the band were soon out on the road touring the album and single. Unfortunately, the band's marketing strategy didn't go down equally well with everyone - publicity photographs taken with a topless model raised the ire of some radical feminists. The women subsequently fronted up at some of their university gigs and made things pretty uncomfortable for the band.



Despite this minor blaze of negative publicity, they were given the support slot on labelmate Deep Purple's final tour of the UK, gaining invaluable exposure with their target audience, though it was not the happiest of times for the headliners, and would prove to be the swansong of the once mighty Purple.



In contrast, the tour had gone well for Strapps, and they soon hit the recording studios again, this time with a double bonus - as well as utilising the talents of one of Mick's favourite producers, Chris Kimsey, the sessions also took place in Island's Basing Street studios, one of Mick Underwood's favoured haunts. The end result was the band's second album, "Secret Damage". The cover photography was still high gloss and somewhat glammy, but apart from one tiny image hidden on the inner sleeve, the subject matter consisted of less contentious material than their previous release, namely only the band members themselves.



The band continued to do well, playing lots of gigs and receiving a reasonable amount of promotion. In particular, Japan took quite a shine to them, with Ross coming back from a promotional tour utterly bowled over by the reception he'd received. This loyalty and enthusiasm was proven even years later, when Mick was touring Japan with Gillan, as he recalls being asked to sign "shed loads" of Strapps albums!



Out of the blue, Mick Underwood received a call from Ian Gillan, wanting to know if Strapps were interested in taking the support slot on the UK tour of the Ian Gillan Band, with a line-up which included Mick's old mate from Quatermass, John Gustafson, on bass and backing vocals. Were they what?! It was very quickly agreed, and turned out to be a highly enjoyable time for all, playing medium-sized venues, and for most of the tour Mick travelled along with Ian, Ian's then partner Zöe and keyboardist Colin Towns.



Strapps' straight-forward rock generally went down very well, whereas IGB's jazz-fusion approach led to some confusion amongst the punters. Mick sometimes took the opportunity to view the show from within the audience after playing his own set, and "really picked up this bewildered vibe. The fans just couldn't connect with the music, however well it was played."



Disappointingly, Strapps' success on stage did not translate into sales. Unable to sell sufficient records to appease their record company, they were dropped from the roster. Thankfully, however, the Far East had not forgotten the band, and they were able to strike up a new, smaller deal for distribution in Japan only. A third album, "Prisoner Of Your Love", was recorded at The Manor, with another of Mick's favourite producers at the helm, Pip Williams. For the fourth and what was ultimately to be the band's final album, "Ball Of Fire", the sessions took place once again at Kingsway Recorders.



As Mick Underwood reflected, in a different era, probably even a mere few years later, the band could have been much bigger than they were, rather than fighting an uphill battle during the turbulent and ultimately short-lived reign of punk.



While Strapps were at Kingsway Recorders putting the finishing touches to "Ball Of Fire", studio owner Ian Gillan called Mick to ask a favour, wanting to use a couple of hours of their studio time to lay down a vocal with his new band Gillan. Curious, Mick listened in on the session. The track, he thought, was okay, though the lyrics were a tad over the top! He didn't think much more about it until a few weeks later, when Ian called him up to say that there were to be some personnel changes in the band, and would Mick be interested in taking over the drum seat?



At first Mick wasn't too sure. Knowing IGB's work, he felt that they had missed the point somewhat, and from what he had heard in the studio, he was concerned that Gillan's new band was going to go the same way. Despite these initial misgivings, he duly fronted up for a try-out with the band, which now included Bernie Tormé on guitar. As they jammed together for the first time, it became abundantly clear that all the elements were now in place for this to be an incredible band, one that would finally bring to the people what they had long been waiting for.



The following day they started recording the "Mr Universe" album. The wheels had been set in motion.



The band played their first ever gig at The Marquee Club in London on July 10, 1979, the first of three consecutive sold-out nights. The club was a total sweat box, the atmosphere so electric that the band had snaffled some oxygen for the dressing room "—and we needed it!" related Mick, who still vividly recalls leaving the venue with his feet not quite touching the ground.



Thanks to that stunning debut, a huge buzz developed about the band, and they went on to do a series of one-off gigs, steadily raising their profile, including an appearance at the Reading festival (though a fair way down on the bill). In the autumn they started on what was to become their annual tour of the UK.



The next issue to address was their lack of a suitable record deal - all that they had was a residual contract of Ian's, covering only Japan and the Antipodies, but this was soon rectified by signing up with UK label Acrobat.



On its release, "Mr Universe" was enthusiastically embraced by an audience desperately starved of good music and eager to sample the latest project from the former Deep Purple frontman. The album was accordingly propelled straight into the UK charts, ultimately hitting #11. Unfortunately, just as everything started to go into overdrive, their small record label went into meltdown, seemingly unable to handle such rapid success! Luckily, Virgin Records were quick to recognise the potential of the band, snapping them up, and all such problems became relegated to the past, leaving the band to get on with what they did best, making music.



So started a seemingly never-ending round of touring and recording — if the band weren't on the road, they were in the studio. Mick reflected that it was great fun most of the time, though sometimes veered dangerously close to burn-out. As he explained, "We were touring just about any country that we could and this didn't give us much time to write new material, but somehow it came together."



Subsequent albums "Glory Road", "Future Shock", "Double Trouble" and "Magic" hit even higher chart placings at home and in Europe and also spawned a significant number of hit singles, resulting in frequent appearances on Top Of The Pops. Though they had hardly envisioned becoming a singles band, it was well-deserved recognition of just how good they were, and how much the public had taken to them.



During four intense years of non-stop gigging and recording, only one change in the band line-up occurred, with Janick Gers replacing Bernie Tormé on guitar, but the show continued without a hiccup, cumulating with a triumphant headline slot at Reading. However, during their 1982 UK tour, Ian announced that he would be calling it a day after the band's final gig at Wembley.



Said Mick Underwood, "Somehow we stuck it out during the final leg, and after the Wembley show, Gillan was no more."



Mick is currently performing with Mick Underwood's Glory Road.