is cautious about describing himself as a musician, as opposed to someone who simply plays the drums. Yet he contributed an enormous amount to
As a teenager,
Gotobed was captivated by the drumming of
Cream's
Ginger Baker, but he didn't start playing until his mid-twenties. In 1975,
Gotobed joined his first band, an R&B group called the Snakes, not as a drummer but as vocalist. Featuring
Richard Wernham and
Nick Garvey -- who later formed
the Motors -- the Snakes released the single "Teenage Head." After the group folded,
Gotobed began teaching himself to drum.
Gotobed met
Colin Newman in the summer of 1976 and was lured to Watford Art College for a rehearsal with the nascent
Wire. By his own admission,
Gotobed had little ability, but he proved to be the man for the job and his pared-down, metronomic presence remained a distinctive landmark across the changing sonic landscape of
Wire's first three albums.
When
Wire went on hiatus in 1980,
Gotobed toured with
Fad Gadget, briefly playing on the album
Incontinent. Contributing to one track on the first
Dome album, he also played more substantially on
Newman's solo debut,
A-Z, and toured with him in 1981. Following work on
Newman's
Not To,
Gotobed left London and music behind to pursue an interest in organic farming.
By 1985,
Wire had emerged from hibernation and
Gotobed focused full-time on music again. During the making of
The Ideal Copy, however, he began to feel uncomfortable with
Wire's direction as the band started moving into a computer-based electronic environment. The recording of
Manscape brought matters to a head. Neither writing drum programs nor adapting his role within a new, digital
Wire appealed to
Gotobed: He was a drummer and felt the group no longer had a place for a drummer. Days before a 1990 tour, he left his bandmates, who continued as
Wir.
Although
Wire briefly regrouped in 1996 for
Bruce Gilbert's 50th birthday,
Gotobed did little kit-drumming in the '90s. Instead, he explored African drumming and devoted his energies to organic agriculture. At the invitation of
Susan Stenger in 1996, however,
Gotobed performed
Rhys Chatham's "Guitar Trio" with
Justine Frischmann,
Sonic Boom, and
Robert Poss at London's Purcell Room. In 1998, he joined
Stenger for the Barbican's American Pioneers night, contributing percussion to a
John Cage piece.
Having rejoined
Wire for live dates in 2000,
Gotobed began recording new material with the band in early 2002.
–
Wilson Neate, Rovi