Editing XTC (section)

====Andrews, Gregory and drummers====

Barry Andrews, XTC's keyboard player for their first two albums, emerged as a third solo songwriter on the group's second album ''Go 2'', and left the band shortly thereafter.<ref name="Mojo1999" /> His replacement, guitarist Dave Gregory, did not contribute songs, but was the only one in the band who could [[full score|score]] music, and frequently contributed orchestral arrangements.{{sfn|Farmer|1998|p=61}} Moulding said that when Andrews was in the band, Partridge had "no kind of foil" to work with, as both musicians were drawn to dissonant harmonies: "[Andy] used to like the real kind of angular, spiky, upward-thrusting guitar ... if one is angular, the other has to kind of straighten him out ... So when Dave came in, and was a much straighter player, it seemed to make more sense, I think."<ref name="LBAT09"/> Starting in 1982, Gregory extended his talents to keyboards as well,<ref name="Mojo1999" /> since Partridge and Moulding were not adept with the instrument.{{sfn|Farmer|1998|p=309}}

Gregory never presented a completed idea for a song to the band partly because he felt intimidated by Partridge's scrutiny.{{sfn|Farmer|1998|p=309}}{{refn|group=nb|During the sessions for ''Drums and Wires'' or ''Black Sea'', Gregory did present an original song, but it was rejected on the grounds that it was too derivative of [[Steely Dan]].<ref>{{cite tweet |user=xtcfans |last=Partridge |first=Andy |author-link=Andy Partridge |date=29 January 2019|number=1090264471774232581|title=WC-Re Dave songwriting, "He never presented a completed idea for a song to the band, partly because he felt intimidated by Partridge's scrutiny." He did bring up a song, either at DRUMS or SEA sessions. The rest of the band thought it too derivative of Steely Dan,so didn't pursue}}</ref>}} Since he "couldn't continue grinding out old blues clichés and [[power chord]]s," he decided to "think more in terms of the songs as the masters and the instruments as the servants."<ref name="Filter2007" /> Discussing Gregory's contributions to the group, Farmer writes of "a precision and correctness that carries through from his prerehearsal of guitar solos to ... his encyclopedic knowledge of guitars and who-played-what-on-which-instrument-with-which-amplifier-in-which-studio-on-which-record-under-the-influence-of-what-star-sign-or-guru-or-drug."{{sfn|Farmer|1998|p=309}}

Terry Chambers was the band's original drummer. He was described by Partridge as "the [drummer] that's been the most primitive, but probably the most thrilling for inventiveness, because he would blunder into [different ideas]."<ref name="oversight">{{cite web |last1=Bernhardt |first1=Todd |title=Andy Partridge: Providing XTC's Rhythmic Oversight |url=http://chalkhills.org/articles/TBAndy19980517.html |website=Chalkhills |access-date=25 August 2019 |date=17 May 1998}}</ref> One of his characteristic techniques was the use of [[cymbal choke|hi-hat chokes]].<ref name="LBAT09" /> After he left in 1983, the group employed a succession of session drummers for their studio recordings.<ref name="brenda"/> This included [[Pete Phipps]] (''Mummer'' and ''The Big Express''), [[Prairie Prince]] (''Skylarking'' and ''Apple Venus''), [[Pat Mastelotto]] (''Oranges & Lemons''), and [[Dave Mattacks]] (''Nonsuch'').{{sfn|Farmer|1998}} [[Drum machine]]s also began to be incorporated into the group's sound.<ref name="oversight"/> None of the studio drummers were accepted as official members of the band. Partridge explained that this was because the group did not tour and because "There's lots of local, interpersonal language that means nothing to anybody outside the band and is very difficult to bring people into."<ref name="George83"/>