Terry Chambers grew up in Swindon, England and is widely regarded in as one of the most innovative drummers in the UK, was founding member and drummer of Brit-pop innovators XTC.



In an 2002 interview with Chalkhills, Terry Chambers recalled how he started playing drums:



"Dad said, 'Well, we can't afford one of those, so you're not going to be doing that. It won't fit in any of the rooms, we can't get it in, it'll be too big, you won't stick with it, and basically it's not happening.'"



"I was walking down the road one day - we used to go to the Saturday morning pictures in town, and you had to walk past this music shop to get to the cinema - when I saw this sparkling drum kit in the window, an old Broadway kit - God only knows what happened to them. It looked so beautiful and blue and chrome and sparkling. (...) I had, I dunno, 40 or 50 pounds, which was sufficient to acquire this drum kit. And I thought, 'Well, bugger it, I don't need Dad now, I've got the money. I'm just going to walk home with this drum kit, and it'll be there.'"



"When I got this kit home, I thought, "Well, how the hell do I set it up?" I was trying to remember how I'd seen this thing set up in the window of the shop, but I had no idea, really. I thought, "Hang on, am I going to play this big one with my right foot or my left foot?" I had no idea. I thought, "Well, I better go this way," because just it seemed a little bit more natural to me. If you pick up a guitar, you've either got a right-handed guitar or a left-handed guitar -- but with a drum kit, it's a little more versatile, as you know."



Terry is featured on all of XTC's albums until his departure during the 1983 sessions for 'Mummer'. He did play on several songs though, including Beating of Hearts and Wonderland.



After the departure of their original drummer Terry Chambers, XTC used several drummers in recording their albums. Prairie Prince of The Tubes and Dave Mattacks of Fairport Convention turned in superb "feel" drumming performances on 'Skylarking' and 'Nonsuch' respectively, whilst current King Crimson drummer Pat Mastelotto was meticulously, almost mathematically precise on 'Oranges and Lemons'.



Terry Chambers moved to Australia, briefly drumming with the band Dragon between 1983-1985. He is featured on the Dragon albums 'Body And The Beat' (1984) and the live album 'Live One' (1985). Dragon went to America twice and they slit up in 1979.



Terry also played with Icehouse for a while.



He names Ian Paice, John Bonham, Bill Bruford, Carl Palmer, Bill Ward, and Brian Downey as drummers who have been influential.



Factoid: Terry's son Kai Chabers has decided to follow in his dad's footsteps. He has grown into a well-known drummer in the Sydney/Newcastle area, drumming with a group called Starpark and - more recently - with Valanti.