Mick Underwood

Michael John Underwood (5 September 1945 – 28 July 2024) was an English drummer. He first played drums at the age of 14 and was a professional musician by the time he left school.

Underwood collaborated with a number of notable musicians and groups, including Jet Harris, the Outlaws (with Ritchie Blackmore), the Herd (with Peter Frampton), Episode Six (with Ian Gillan and Roger Glover), Quatermass (with John Gustafson), and Gillan (again with Gillan). He was also the drummer for Mick Underwood's Glory Road and Raw Glory.

Underwood was born in Middlesex on 5 September 1945. At the age of 14 he was given his first drum, a second-hand snare drum, and added a third-hand bass drum shortly after. He received drum tuition from Jim Marshall, who went on to become the inventor and manufacturer of the Marshall amplifier. During this period, Underwood met Ritchie Blackmore (then known as Ricky Blackmore) and the two played together in a band called the Dominators, although Underwood was eventually asked to leave the band for "...playing too loud!"

Underwood's next band was the Satellites, until he was invited to join the Crescents, who were playing residencies at large ballrooms. Underwood left school at 16 to work with Jet Harris, and joined a tour of Britain with Sam Cooke and Little Richard. It was at the end of this tour that Screaming Lord Sutch (in whose band, the Savages, Blackmore now played) suggested he approach the independent record producer Joe Meek for further session work.

Meek's studio, RGM Sound, was based in North London, where he used a band called the Outlaws as his permanent studio musicians, also allowing them to record material under their own name. When Underwood arrived to audition for Meek, the Outlaws were also recruiting for a lead guitarist and it was Underwood who suggested Ritchie Blackmore should fill the role, an invitation he duly accepted.

Between January 1963 and June 1965, the Outlaws released six singles, as well as playing on hundreds of Meek's recording sessions with various artists. They also headlined at the Star-Club in Hamburg with both Jerry Lee Lewis and Gene Vincent. In 1964, they appeared in the movie Live It Up!, performing their single "Law & Order", mislabelled "Law and Disorder" on the end screen credits.

A reviewer of Underwood's work at this time described his drumming style as "...coupling Charlie Watts type steadiness with little Jim McCarty style flourishes." Blackmore eventually moved to another of Meeks' bands, joining Heinz Burt's backing band the Wild Boys, but he and Underwood still collaborated in recording sessions with Meek's engineer Derek Lawrence. One of the Derek Lawrence sessions produced Blackmore's first official release, the now highly sought-after single "Get Away" / "Little Brown Jug", released in July 1965. They also recorded "Earthshaker" and "Satan's Holiday, " which were released on the Titan label, credited to the Lancasters. "Satan's Holiday" was a fast, rock adaptation of Grieg's "In the Hall of the Mountain King", a tune that stayed in Blackmore's stage repertory right into the 1990s. Shortly afterwards, Underwood also left the Outlaws to take up an offer to join the Herd.

With the Herd, Underwood began playing at all the major venues on the circuit, such as the Marquee Club and Eel Pie Island. Despite their busy schedule and the release of three singles, Underwood grew increasingly frustrated at the band's lack of success, and in 1966 he resigned from the band and the music business. A year later he accepted an invitation from singer James Royal as a session drummer for a two-week residency at Hatchets in London's West End. At the end of the residency, Underwood decided to stay with the band, the James Royal Set to tour with Johnny Cash.