He is an English drummer, guitarist, bass player and songwriter who started out by playing the guitar when he was a teenager.
He initially played with The Casuals before becoming a professional musician, which was when he decided to switch to the drums as his instrument of choice.
He became a member of Lulu’s backing group, The Luvvers, and after touring with her following her success with her cover of “Shout“, he moved on to drum in The Jeff Beck Group. He then became a member of Trifle and soon after that he was recording with Juicy Lucy.
In the early 1970s he found himself performing with Riff-Raff , Spooky Tooth and The Roy Young Band before becoming one of the original members of Stealers Wheel. Not staying too long with them either, he finally found a long term stint when he joined The Strawbs and remained with them for several years until 1977.
He joined up with the band Mainsqueeze for a while and his name remains on 1970s recordings of his that were re-issued.
In 1998 he and other old members of The Strawbs re-united to go on a world tour for their 30th anniversary.
In the field of musical education he has tutored many drummers who perform session work as well as in bands. He is has been s teacher at Chichester College.
Here he is on drums with The Strawbs performing “Hero and Heroine”…
Sources:
- http://www.strawbsweb.co.uk/@f/f_srch.htm
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rod_Coombes#Strawbs
- http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:3vfpxqt5ldke~T1
- http://www.rockmine.com/Y_Cyclo/YCyclo5.html
- http://theband.hiof.no/albums/mr_funky.html