Mick Avory

What are your thoughts on Mick? For those of you who don't know he is the drummer for a band called the Kinks. I just started listening to the kinks again, a revival if you will, and I had completely frogotten how he makes the simplest grooves sound so memerable and great. A lot of people praise drummers for their technical abilities, which is just great, but this is one guy who just played the pocket like one of those old jazz cats. Once he was in the zone, he wouldn't do anything fancy, he just sat back and kept grooving like nobody's business. Great drummer IMO! I was recently asked who my favorite drummer was and I thought for several days and decided that if I was judging on skill and technical abilites I would say the Keith Moon is tops there (no comments please, just my opinion), but I also thought that if I was judging on the drummer that uses a simple repertoire to the greatest effectiveness (aka the best feel/groove drummer) I would have to say that Mick takes the cake for me. Anyone else like the Kinks or Mick in particular?

I haven't heard that much material of the Kinks in their early years. I do however know the type of drummer you're talking about. It's the drummer who keeps on grooving and laying down the tight beat the music played needs. I love those kind of drummers. I always think a good drummer is a drummer who plays what the song needs at the moment. Next to that I like drummers with great personality. Keith Moon is definitely one of those drummers. I don't think he was technically that good, but the Who never was the same without him. I mean, I like "You better you bet", but Kenny just isn't Keith. I have to say that Keith was at the peak of his abilities just before he died. He plays some great stuff on "Who are you". But I'll check Mick's drumming some more anyway.

Yeah I really like his sound

Although Mick is/was a competent drummer in a very influential band - many of the early Kinks tracks (60's), Mick didn't actually play on. It was a guy called Bobby Graham, a UK session great who "replaced" many other name band's drummers during the recording process. This was common practise in order that the producer could get a good, tight drum track down quickly without the band's drummer messing up and costing more studio time. ("Ringo" was in fact a chap called Alan White on the first Beatles album).

Since about 1982 (I think), the Kink's drummer has been Bob Henrit, another UK drumming legend and all round nice bloke.