GRTR!’s Joe Geesin penned a tribute to musician and friend Mick Underwood…

Drummer Mick Underwood, best known for his work with Ian Gillan in Gillan, died on 28 July, after a long illness.

Pictured left to right: Pete Robinson, John Gustafson, Mick Underwood

Born in the mid 40s, Mick started recording in the mid 60s, with some sessions and work with The Outlaws crossing paths with guitarist Ritchie Blackmore. A short tenure with The Herd overlapped with Peter Frampton’s stint with the band, before he joined Episode Six, which then featured singer Ian Gillan and bassist Roger Glover.

In 1969, when he heard that Deep Purple were looking for a new vocalist, Mick recommended his then colleague Ian to his former colleague Blackmore, who took both Ian and Roger to Purple.

That move essentially broke Episode Six, and Mick then formed the prog rock band Quatermass, with pianist Peter Robinson and bassist John Gustafson. Their sole LP was recorded at Abbey Road in 1970, in the studio next door to where Pink Floyd would have been recording Atom Heart Mother, with my dad Ron Geesin.

Mick later played in Peace, with former Free vocalist Paul Rodgers. Paul soon went back to a reformed Free, who would rework some of the Peace tracks, but one track by Peace did appear on The Free Story, and a track recorded live at the BBC on a rare compilation album.

Mick then recorded an album with Sammy, produced by Ian Gillan, and then joined Strapps. By then, former Quatermass bassist Gustafson was playing in the Ian Gillan Band.

In 1979, Mick, alongside guitarist Bernie Torme, replaced Pete Barnacle (touring drummer who’d replaced Liam Genocky) and guitarist Steve Byrd in Ian Gillan’s more rock oriented Gillan Band.

His audition with them included a track called Swifty, which would later be reworked into Vengeance. Mick’s debut with Gillan was their second album Mr Universe, released on Acrobat in 1979. Sadly the label went under, and the band moved to Virgin for 1980’s Glory Road. By now Gillan were an established rock band who mixed classic rock with touches of blues and punk, and they had several hit singles.

My personal intro to Gillan was an episode of Top Of The Pops in 1981, also on the bill was Graham Bonnet, featuring Cozy Powell.

Mick released a solo single Earthquake At The Savoy/Redwatch in Germany (featuring other Gillan members).

Gillan were always rumoured to struggle financially, it was too easy to blame Ian, but one rarely mentioned factor was the death of (either Ian’s or the band’s, I’m not sure) accountant in 1980, and various holes in the accounts were uncovered, which would explain why the band were always on a wage rather than a royalty.

Mick once told me that Bernie had seen the light and that was one reason he left the band after 1981’s Future Shock.

The band recorded two more albums with guitarist Janick Gers, before splitting. A number of quality period live sets have since been released, including several of the band’s appearances at Reading. All are well worth checking out.

Pictured left to right: Mick Underwood, Joe, Jeff Summers

I first met Mick in 1997, in a pub in Wallington, Surrey, while we were both working for Angel Air (I was writing sleevenotes, Mick was recording an album as Quatermass II, with Don Airey and former Deep Purple bassist Nick Simper)

Mick and I became good friends, and we met again at a gig at the Purple Turtle in London, his band Raw Glory were playing with Paddy Goes To Holyhead (Danny Hynes, featuring Praying Mantis’ Tina & Chris Troy). We’d work together again early 2010s, when Cherry Red reissued the Quatermass album, with a bonus DVD (5.1 surround sound mix), and a special playback at the Metropolis Studios in Chiswick, west London. I wrote a feature on Quatermass for Record Collector magazine that year. Check out that feature here

After that I’d make regular trips to Twickenham to catch up with Mick, over a pint or three, and this continued whenever possible even after I moved to Worcestershire. Occasionally his wife would join us; Mick was very much the family man and never the rock star.

Mick is survived by his wife Sue and daughter Lauren.

Words & photos by Joe Geesin

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David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast on 3 November 2024.

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Power Plays w/c 11 November 2024

ARCANE MOON Hello Sun (indie)
S8NT ELEKTRIC XTC (Long Branch Records)
ARCANA KINGS Here We Go (Curtain Call Records)
KLOGR face The Unknown (Zeta Factory)
BEYOND UNBROKEN Dance With The Dead (FiXT)
REVENGIN Decadent Feeling (Wormholedeath)

Featured Albums w/c 11 November 2024

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Singer Songwriter)