Mick Underwood RIP

I was very, very sad to hear the news that Mick Underwood, famously the drummer with Gillan (the Band) has recently died at the age of 78. Mick Underwood was in a range of bands and in the late 1960's, including the Outlaws where he his tenure included rubbing shoulders with a very young Ritchie Blackmore. It was Mick who very generously recommended Ian Gillan when he was in Episode Six, Gillan was their singer to Ritchie and Gillan (together with fellow Episode Six-er Roger Glover) who joined Deep Purple to form the mighty world beating mark 2 version of the band. The band that wrote such Purple classics as Smoke on the Water, Speed King, Black Night, Highway Star, Lazy, Space Trucking, Woman from Tokyo etc. I was fortunate enough to meet Mick Underwood, who was very gracious and very humble, at a pub at Ipswich and delighted to get his signature then, we met just a few hours before the Gillan band's Magic tour concert at then then Ipswich Gaumont. Mick formed an awesome rhythm section with John McCoy, the bass player, in the Gillan Band and I was fortunate enough to see him 3X in the Gillan Band once at Great Yarmouth Regal Theatre (Double Trouble Tour), once at Ipswich Gaumont (Magic Tour) and also at the Monsters of Rock at Castle Donington (also Magic Tour). He was an incredible drummer and perhaps my 3rd favourite drummer after Ian Paice and the late Cozy Powell. That Ipswich concert lives long in the memory especially Paul Mariner, Alan Brazil and other Ipswich Town greats from the famous Bobby Robson Ipswich FC Team joined the band for the encore. I am now going to look for that Mick Underwood signature now, hope I can find it, rest in peace Mick.