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David Baynton-Power (born 29 January 1961,[1] inKent,England)[2] is a musician, best known as drummer of the long-existing English rock bandJames.[3] He has a recognizable and characteristic way of playing thedrums, moving hissticks in a circular motion as the songs build up.[4]
Progressive rock was his first real venture into playing drums, but Baynton-Power became a hugefan ofpunk rock and was part of thenew wave movement with his first real band, The Modernaires. They played some decent sizedgigs for a new band, but they soon split after moving toChester as their vocalist, who hasschizophrenia, announced he was leaving.
They soon re-formed with a new singer however, they realized that with the arrival of theWelsh TV stationS4C, if they changed thelyrics of their songs from English to Welsh they could make some profit. They changed their name to Brodyr Y Ffin (Welsh for 'Brothers on the Border') as their house in Chester was right on the Anglo-Welsh border, and quickly rose to the top of the Welsh scene, staying there for a few years.
However, their existence came to an abrupt end with a massive house fire, which resulted in the death of one of their members. Not long after, Baynton-Power was linked to James through another band's keyboardist, who was a friend of Andy Dodd – Dodd initially booked all the bands at theBand on the Wall venue inManchester. Dodd suggested Baynton-Power as a replacement forJames's previous drummerGavan Whelan in 1989.[5][6] According to the band's biographyFolklore byStuart Maconie, the band was particularly keen to hire Baynton-Power after lead singerTim Booth's psychic medium advised him to look out for a "Dave from Wrexham" as the band's new drummer.[7] Although Baynton-Power was initially uninterested in the offer of an audition, he finally relented after the band members offered to pay his train fare to Manchester. Following the audition they immediately offered him the role of drummer.[8]
Baynton-Power endured, remaining in James from that time through to their farewell tour in December 2001. He also played a big part in theproduction side of the later James albums, fromWhiplash onwards.
From 2002 Baynton-Power toured with the Welsh rock bandThe Alarm, spent more time with his family, and also worked as a freelancesound engineer in television.[9] In early 2007, he was confirmed as a member of the reformed James and joined them on their tour in April of that year, then played on their comeback albumHey Ma, released in April 2008.[10]
He has a daughter, Saskia.[11] Baynton-Power is the grandson of Harry Baynton-Power and Olive Turner, both composers for film and television.[12]
