David Baynton-Power

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Dave Baynton-Power (born David Baynton-Power, 29 January 1961, in Kent, England) is a musician, best known as drummer of the long existing English rock band James.

In his youth, when his family moved to Holyhead, Baynton-Power was what he describes as a "tearaway".^{[citation needed]} Out of the 2,000 pupils at his school, he had the worst attendance, and he found that in Holyhead there was nothing to do bar playing music.

Prog rock was his first real venture into playing drums, but Baynton-Power became a huge fan of punk rock and was part of the new wave movement with his first real band, The Modernaires. They played some decent sized gigs for a new band, but they soon split after moving to Chester as their vocalist, who was schizophrenic, announced he was leaving.

They soon re-formed with a new singer however, they realised that with the arrival of the Welsh TV station S4C, if they changed the lyrics 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 the Band On The Wall venue in Manchester. Dodd suggested Baynton-Power as a replacement for James previous drummer Gavan Whelan in 1989.

Baynton-Power endured, remaining in James from that time through to their final tour in December 2001. He has also played a big part in the production side of the later James albums, from Whiplash onwards.

From 2002 Baynton-Power toured with the Welsh rockers The Alarm, spent much time with his family, and also, as confirmed in the 2006 Q article, worked as a freelance sound engineer in television. In early 2007, he was confirmed as a member of the reformed James and will join them on their April tour.