Pretenders' drummer recalls turbulent past

Pretenders drummer Martin Chambers has a unique history with the band. He was one of the original members in 1978, but he was fired in 1986.

Band leader Chrissie Hynde said at the time Chambers was canned because he wasn't playing his best. But Chambers has a different take.

"It's because I was playing so good," he said during a phone call from Philadelphia.

"Everyone in the group was playing their best and it was tight, very tight. I think Chrissie wanted to sound a little more rough. She wanted fresh blood. So she did what she thought she had to do."

Then, after nearly a decade, Hynde asked Chambers back.

"I think it was because she was trying to keep some foundation in the band," Chambers said about his return. "I mean, the band has a history of changes."

As one of the original members of the Pretenders, Chambers has seen half of the original band die — guitarist James Honeyman-Scott in 1982 and bassist Pete Farndon in 1983.

Chambers said he always thinks about what could have been if those two would have survived their drug habits.

"I think we would have gotten back together in the mid-'90s and been a force, an unstoppable force."

However, Chambers knows the "what ifs" aren't reality, but the band, which boasts two platinum and five gold albums, including two compilations and four top 20 singles, two of them top 10s, is.

He said it's always surprising how many people tell him how much the band's music means to them.

"What really gets me is when I meet younger bands and the drummers say that I'm the culprit that made them want to play drums in the first place," he said with a laugh.

As for his own influences, Chambers said he was more interested in playing guitar than drums.

"A friend of my brother used to come over and teach me how to play," said Chambers. "But eventually I realized that he wasn't really teaching me, but rather, just showing off."

The guitar-playing friend's name was Pete Watts, the original guitarist for Mott the Hoople.

"In fact, all the band members were an influence on me," said Chambers, who befriended drummer Dale "Buffin" Griffn. "I also liked jazz drummers Elvin Jones, Buddy Rich and Louis Hayes, and the rock drummers Charlie Watts and Keith Moon."