Tony Thompson is the most sought-after drummer on the circuit. From Chic to the Power Station, from Madonna to the reformed Led Zeppelin he's laid down the smokin' beat that has made him top cat in the drum fraternity.

As drummer for Chic, Tony Thompson was a integral part of a sound that has become a genre unto itself. That quintessential Chic groove, epitomised by the monster 1979 hit single Good Times, has been imitated and emulated by countless artists.

Consequently, Thompson has become a hot property. David Bowie recruited him for Let's Dance and the eight-month Serious Moonlight '83 world tour. Mick Jagger called on Thompson's crisp drumming for his solo debut, She's the Boss. Madonna used him on Like a Virgin and Material Girl. Robert Palmer grabbed him for his latest release. Plus, Thompson, Palmer, and Duran Duran's John and Andy Taylor recorded together as the Power Station, named after the New York studio where the LP was recorded. And now he's sitting on offers from Bonnie Tyler, Ric Ocasek, Elton John and Men at Work.

Everybody wants to cop a piece of that groove.

But in spite of all this activity, the question remains: whither Chic? It's been three years since their last album, although the members (Thompson, Bernard Edwards, Nile Rodgers and vocalists Alfa Anderson and Norma Jean Wright) have all been busy on their own.

"Well, Nile's off doing his thing, and God bless him," says the 30-year-old drummer. "I don't know if we'll ever get together again with Nile, but Bernard and I have been talking about doing some things together. Bernard did mention to me that he's thinking about doing another Chic record with Nile, but I don't know. We haven't discussed anything. I think it would be a perfect time for it now. In fact, we have a whole album under wraps that nobody's ever heard. Rhythm tracks, anyway. It's smoking! Me and Bernard. Serious stuff, but I don't think anybody will ever get a chance to hear it. It's on the shelf."

Thompson doesn't like to sit on the shelf himself. He enjoys playing live before howling crowds, which is why he so enjoyed the Bowie tour.

"I hadn't been on the road for a while, so I was itching to get back," he recalls. "I had just finished up my parts on Let's Dance and was hanging around the studio when I overheard David talking to some people about doing a tour. So I told him, 'Hey, if you're looking for a drummer...' I've always been persistent like that." Thompson got the gig, along with two boyhood pals from Queens, New York: bassist Carmine Rojas and perennial Bowie guitarist Carlos Alomar. "We were thumpin', man," he enthuses, "these three black cats from Queens playing some serious Rock 'n' Roll behind David Bowie. It was hip. There's not too many white Rock 'n' Roll guys who are going to allow a lot of black cats to come in the band, which is unfortunate, because there are a lot of black cats I know who can play Rock 'n' Roll. Some people think that if you don't have blond hair and blue eyes, you can't play Rock 'n' Roll. But Bowie was cool. He just let us go out there and burn. People assume because I'm with Chic that all I can do is groove. But I was going out there breaking sticks night after night, having a fun time playing Rock 'n' Roll."

Thompson points out that he was raised on Rock 'n' Roll. "A lot of people assume that because I'm black I grew up listening to James Brown," he says, "but my major influences on drums were Ginger Baker and John Bonham. I remember hearing Ginger on Toad — that's what made me want to become a drummer. From then on I was a Cream fanatic. It was that or Hendrix or Led Zeppelin, I didn't know anything about the Commodores or James Brown. I didn't listen to that stuff. Cats would come up to me in school and say, 'Wow, man. You hear the new Commodores record?' And I'd say, 'No, you hear the new Blind Faith record?'"

"I'm constantly practising just to keep up"

Thompson began learning about the groove after hooking up with Chic mates Edwards and Rodgers. "When I originally joined Chic, I was really into the flash technique and all the fancy things that most drummers find necessary to have, and they really aren't" he explains, "I really learned by playing with Nile and Bernard that it's all about the groove. John Bonham knew that. He'd lay down a solid four, and when it came time for him to do a fill, he did it at the right time and place. He had big ears, just like Nile and Bernard. So I've learned to listen. Groove is the most important thing to me now. Equipment-wise, having a hundred drums and cymbals don't mean squat. It's all about laying down that solid groove. If you have no foundation all that other stuff you do on top don't mean nothing."

As a kid, Thompson used to beat on tables, the couch and anything else around the house that could stand up to his percussive assaults. His father finally relented and bought him a $60 Telstar snare drum and a little tin cymbal. "Man, I had Toad down on that snare drum and that cymbal! I remember sitting in front of the record player just bashing along to Toad. I would never go out, never play sports or anything. I'd just sit and listen to music and play all day long."

Not long after that, his father bought him a full kit, and Thompson was appeased for a while — until he saw Carmine Appice in concert with the group Cactus in the early '70s.

"He had his drum set that I had never seen before: two 28" bass drums, huge toms all over the place. I went home and begged my father for a kit like that. It took three years of begging, but I finally did get it, my first professional Ludwig kit."

He adds, "Back then I always vowed that one day if I ever made it to the point where I could afford it, I'd get tons of drums and tons of cymbals. Now I feel like I've got too much."

"I'm not into electronics. I didn't get this far using any of that stuff"

His current kit for both the studio and the road is a Yamaha Recording series with a cherry-red finish, including 24" bass drum, 6½"-deep snare and five toms: 12" x 8", 13" x 9", 14" x 10", 16" x 16" and 18" x 16". He endorses Yamaha drums, hardware and pedals. His bass pedal is from the CS-500 series. His heads are clear Remo Ambassadors and he uses a Remo Ambassador Black Dot on his snare. He also endorses Zildjian cymbals and carries six in his setup: two 18" paper-thin crashes in front, a 20" paper-thin crash on his right, a 20" ping ride, a 22" pang ("the loudest thing in the world") and a 20" swish over the ride cymbal. For his hi hat he uses 14" Quick Beats in the studio and 15" Quick Beats live. He endorses Power Tip sticks and uses no electronics.

"No, I'm not into electronics," he maintains, "I didn't get this far using any of that stuff, although I guess it's valid in some ways. Like, I'll use a Linn or something for handclaps once in a while, instead of using click track. I hate using click tracks; most of the recordings I've done — Bowie, Jagger, Diano Ross, Chic — I've never used click tracks. With me it's more of a natural feel; I think I can lock in pretty well. Now, if I do a session and the other artists want a click track, I'll say, 'Forget the click. Put some handclaps in there and just go with that.'

"In fact, when I did three tunes on the Material album, One Down, it was just me, the handclaps and a chart — no band! I did all the drum tracks first, then everybody else came in and overdubbed their parts. And I also did that on Power Station."

After years of laying down the groove, Thompson is now taking some time to study the drums. "I'm getting into the reading end of it and learning about polyrhythms and where drums are going now. I still take lessons from an old cat named Sam Ulano. He's about 65 years old and an incredible reader. He's teaching me all kinds of stuff, which is cool, because for so long I put most of my emphasis on time and groove and feel, just getting that snare, bass drum and hi hat locked in. I'm still into that, but I'm branching out a bit."

Thompson also studies from The Funk Drumming Workbook by New York-area drummer Chet Deboe (available through Deboe Publication (Contact Details)).

"I've never used click tracks. With me it's more of a natural feel"

Thompson practises on pads in his midtown Manhattan apartment or drives out to his mother's house in Queens, where he has a full kit set up. "I'll go out there and bang for hours and hours," he says. "My parents don't mind. I've been doing it for years."

His favourite drummers are Vinnie Colaiuta and Terry Bozzio, both graduates of the Frank Zappa school of discipline.

"I really admire those guys a lot because they can read so well," says Thompson. "And they've both played with Zappa, who is somebody I've always wanted to play with. I always wanted to get to that point — Zappa or Weather Report. Because when you play with those cats, you've got to be on the money and you have to have your reading down. I think it'd be a good test for me."

Thompson is proud to be among the fraternity of young New York drummers currently burning up the scenes, including Omar Hakim, Steve Jordan, Lenny White and Narada Michael Walden. He contends that there is a certain amount of friendly competition involved that spurs each of them on to new heights.

"The pride factor is definitely there. I mean, you've got to be serious to play here. I turn on the TV and see Steve Jordan burning on the 'David Letterman Show,' or I see Omar smokin' with Sting. You know, everybody's doing it here, and that only motivates me to go out and play my ass off every time I see these other smokin' cats. 'Cause if you don't approach it that way, you get lost in the shuffle. So I'm constantly practising just to keep up."

Thompson is also exceedingly proud to be a charter member of Chic. "I'm flattered when I hear that groups like INXS patterned themselves after us. But what's cool about the Chic thing is that it's respected by all musicians — Jazz, R'n'B, Rock 'n' Roll. People know Chic, so it feels good to be known as a part of that band. Yeah, I'm proud. It's not like walking around going, 'Hey, I'm in Frankie Goes to Hollywood,' if you know what I mean."