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 “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