Robert Gotobed is cautious about describing himself as a musician, as opposed to someone who simply plays the drums. Yet he contributed an enormous amount to Wire's sound, especially on the triad of classic albums: Pink Flag, Chairs Missing, and 154.

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 RB 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