Richard John Ploog (born 29 October 1962) is an Australian

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drums. Most contemporary western music ensemble, bands that play Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, or Contemporary R&B, R&B music include a drummer for purposes including timekeepi ...

, songwriter, producer and singer who was a member of rock band The Church between 1981 and 1990. Ploog also drummed for

Beasts of Bourbon Beasts of Bourbon were an Australian blues rock band formed in August 1983, with James Baker on drums (ex-Hoodoo Gurus, The Scientists), Spencer P. Jones on guitar ( The Johnnys), Tex Perkins on vocals (Dum Dums), Kim Salmon on guitar and Bo ...

in 1983,

Damien Lovelock Damien Richard Lovelock (21 May 1954 – 3 August 2019), known familiarly as Damo, was an Australian musician, sports broadcaster and writer. He fronted the hard rock band The Celibate Rifles from 1980 as their lead singer-songwriter and later ...

in 1988 and with fellow The Church member

Peter Koppes Peter Koppes (born 21 November 1955) is an Australian guitarist, best known as a founding and almost-continuous member of the independent rock band The Church. He is a multi-instrumentalist, also playing mandolin, drums, piano, and harmonica. ...

in 1991 for an album and tour. He is the father of Irie Ploog, Ruben Ploog, Ollie Ploog, Alice Ploog and Gene Ploog

Biography

Richard John Ploog was born on 29 October 1962 and is from

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

. As a

, he joined various bands including, The Name Droppers, The Brats and Exhibit A. In early 1981, at the age of 18, he replaced The Church's founding drummer, Nick Ward. In April the band released their debut album, ''

Of Skins and Heart ''Of Skins and Heart'' is the debut album by the Australian psychedelic rock band The Church, Note: Archived n-linecopy has limited functionality. released in April 1981 by EMI Parlophone. It peaked at No. 22 in the Australian Kent Mus ...

'' and the associated single, "The Unguarded Moment", which had been recorded late the previous year with Ward. Ploog's first recording with The Church was the five-track double single, "Too Fast for You" released in July. When ''Of Skins and Heart'' was released internationally ( Carrere for Europe,

Capitol Capitol, capitols or The Capitol may refer to: Places and buildings Legislative building * United States Capitol, in Washington, D.C. * National Capitol of Colombia, in Bogotá * Palacio Federal Legislativo, in Caracas, Venezuela * National Ca ...

for North America) it was re-titled as ''The Church'' with "Tear It All Away" replacing original track "Fighter Pilot...Korean War". On early record covers of ''The Church'', Ploog was incorrectly credited with all the drumming—Ward is not listed. Aside from drumming, Ploog also contributed song writing to The Church's releases. He also became involved in various side projects. Firstly, with

as a drummer in 1983 and then performing with its members,

Tex Perkins Gregory Stephen Perkins (born 28 December 1964), better known by his stage name Tex Perkins, is an Australian singer-songwriter who fronted the Australian rock band The Cruel Sea, but has also performed with the Beasts of Bourbon, Thug, Jam ...

on vocals and

Kim Salmon Kim Leith Salmon (born 24 January 1957) is an Australian rock musician and songwriter from Perth. He has worked in various groups including The Scientists, Beasts of Bourbon, Kim Salmon and the Surrealists, Kim Salmon and the Business, and Darl ...

on guitar and harmonica, as Salamander Jim in February 1984. He worked on

The Celibate Rifles The Celibate Rifles were an Australian punk rock band which formed in 1979 with a line-up that included mainstays Dave Morris on rhythm guitar and Kent Steedman on lead guitar; within a year they were joined by Damien Lovelock on lead vocals. Th ...

' vocalist

's debut solo album, ''Wig Wig Wig Wig World'' in 1988. Ploog left The Church after recording their seventh album, ''

Gold Afternoon Fix ''Gold Afternoon Fix'' is the sixth album by the Australian alternative rock band the Church, released in April 1990. It was their second album for Arista Records in the US and was expected to capitalise and build on the success of 1988's ''Sta ...

'' which was released in February 1990. According to

Steve Kilbey Steven John Kilbey (born 13 September 1954) is an English born Australian singer-songwriter best known as the lead singer and bass guitarist for the rock band The Church. He is also a music producer, poet, and painter. As of 2020, Kilbey has r ...

, he left the band "because of musical personal differences.

He was replaced by

Jay Dee Daugherty Jay Dee Daugherty (born March 22, 1952) is an American drummer and songwriter most known for his work with Patti Smith. As a member of the Patti Smith Group, he has been nominated twice to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Biography Moving to Ne ...

(ex-

Patti Smith Group Patricia Lee Smith (born December 30, 1946) is an American singer, songwriter, poet, painter, author, and photographer. Her 1975 debut album '' Horses'' made her an influential member of the New York City-based punk rock movement. Smith has fu ...

). Ploog joined The Church member

' group The Well to tour and record ''From the Well'' (1990) and ''Iridescence'' (1991). Ploog has also drummed for The Wigmen, The Deadly Hume, Funkicide, and The Sleep-ins. Ploog returned to live drumming in 2013 with a series of gigs accompanying

and

Mark Gable Mark Dixon Kitchen (born 8 September 1950), known professionally as Mark Gable, is an Australian musician who serves as the frontman and a founding member of the rock band The Choirboys (band), The Choirboys. The band was formed in Sydney in 197 ...

. He is also a member of Groom Epoch. The band have released three albums, '' Scalar Trails'' (2014), '' Solar Warden'' (2018) and ''

Initiation Initiation is a rite of passage marking entrance or acceptance into a group or society. It could also be a formal admission to adulthood in a community or one of its formal components. In an extended sense, it can also signify a transformatio ...

'' (2019).

References

;General * Note: Archived n-linecopy has limited functionality. ;Specific

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ploog, Richard Australian drummers Australian male drummers 1962 births Living people The Church (band) members