Rick Buckler

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Rick Buckler (born Paul Richard Buckler, 6 December 1955, in Woking, Surrey, England), was the drummer and a founding member of The Jam, an English rock band that enjoyed considerable success in the United Kingdom from 1977 until disbanding in 1982. Although spearheaded by the songwriter Paul Weller, the rhythm section of Butler on drums and Bruce Foxton on bass guitar were an integral part of the Jam's sound and success. The Jam split at the behest of Weller.

Q Magazine reported in March 2006 that Buckler was dismissive of Weller's jazz leanings in the Style Council, when Weller played his ex bandmate tapes of his new songs. Weller has not spoken to Buckler socially for more than 20 years.

In 1983, Buckler joined 'Time UK', featuring himself, Jimmy Edwards and Ray Simone, both formally of 'MasterSwitch', as well as Danny Kustow from the Tom Robinson Band and Nick South of both the Yoko Ono Band and Steve Marriot's All Stars. Time UK sold nearly 60,000 copies of their first single, "The Cabaret". Buckler was reunited with ex Jam bassist and Time UK's Jimmy Edwards as 'Sharp', who recorded some songs for the short lived Unicorn record label. These recordings have subsequently been re-issued on a Time UK anthology.

Buckler started a furniture refurbishment business after Time UK's demise.

In November 2005 Buckler announced that he would be playing drums in 'The Gift'[1]. Featuring ex-Maximum High musicians Russell Hastings (vocals/guitar) and bassist Dave Moore, Buckler and his band have been playing Jam songs, which has both enabled the group to establish themselves within the live circuit and also allowed them to hone their talents. The band played some sold-out shows in London at the end of 2005, and in February 2006 embarked on a UK tour. Another round of dates were started in November 2006 and it was announced that Bruce Foxton would be playing bass on some Gift gigs soon - making the band 2/3 of The Jam of course, no doubt a tasty prospect for fans.

Ludwig Drums, Merc clothing, Lonsdale and All Mod Icon Magazine have all added their names as official sponsors of The Gift.